My book gets trashed!

Dear Readers;


Dear Readers;
Not only am I getting lots of requests for a free copy of my book, which makes me very happy, but also lots of comments and CRITICISM as well, which makes me even happier!

I have been holding a conversation with a guy called Camille Cazedessus II (born December 8, 1938, also known as “Caz“, is an American editor and publisher. Known for his work about pulp fiction, he has published over 200 issues of fanzines on the topic since 1960 under the titles ERB-dom, The Fantasy Collector and Pulpdom. He has also written and taught Western history.)  and what started out as a friendly critique of my book “A brief history of what went wrong with Western Religion” has turned into a rather nasty tirade as the conversation progressed!

Allan, you say:We have to learn how to tame our “base instincts” and then by following the example of the prophets attain a “state of grace” in our daily living.
If there is a negative or “evil force” in this universe, then it is exemplified by the aggressive, base instincts that compel us to try and convert other people to our way of thinking rather than to “show by way of example!” The age old saying “Do as I say, not as I do!” can no longer be used as an excuse for humanity to shirk the responsibility of becoming accountable for its actions. In other words, it is time for the human race to “grow up,” leave its infancy behind, and become fully functioning members of “God’s great plan!” Whatever that is! Remember, we are just not that smart, …..yet!
 And with a statement like that, I’m certainly not going to pass your book on to anyone. I may continue…but only if you ask.-Caz
 

Dear Caz
Continue reading if you want……., or don’t!  I have a message but I don’t want to force it on anyone. Whether you are open to new ideas, or not, is up to you.
Allan

 

Allan;You don’t mention a lot of events, of course, but to leave this out is most unfortunate: “Mamluks cleanse the Lavant of all Christians by 1291, at Acre, massacring or enslaving everyone.”
Caz
 

Dear Caz; Thank you for that, and in case anyone doesn’t know who the “Mamluks” were………………, now ya do!

Allan; Again: page 29 & 30There is no information that “Dream Time was a very common belief  amongst not only the aboriginals of Australia, but to some extent both the Neanderthals….”We know NOTHING about the religious/spiritual beliefs of Neanderthals.Why would you say that?
Caz

Dear Caz; As you have no doubt read in my book, “As an example of our first beliefs, the early Australian Aboriginal Culture was essentially identical to the religions practiced by hunter-gatherer societies worldwide.” this, my dear, includes the Neanderthals, who happened to be hunter-gatherers as well!

Religious behaviour is thought to have emerged by the Upper Paleolithic, before 30,000 years ago at the latest,^[1] but behavioral patterns such as burial rites that one might characterize as religious – or as ancestral to religious behaviour – reach back into the Middle Paleolithic, as early as 300,000 years ago, coinciding with the first appearance of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. Religious behaviour may combine (for example) ritual, spirituality, mythology and magical thinking or animism – aspects that may have had separate histories of development during the Middle Paleolithic before combining into “religion proper” of behavioral modernity.There are suggestions for the first appearance of religious or spiritual experience in the Lower Paleolithic (significantly earlier than 300,000 years ago, pre-Homo sapiens), but these remain controversial and have limited support

So you see Caz, Animism was the common denominator in the development of Religion
Allan

Allan; Again, your quote, p 33  This Indus Valley Civilization also formed the foundation for every European language in one way or another!NO!
Little is known of its origins but it is likely that an early form of the Basque language was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European -Wiki
Not looking good.
Caz
 

Dear Caz;
You are a smart cookie, and yes the Basque language pre-dates the Indo-European languages, but they are the foundation of most of today’s languages while the Basque stuff is very localized.
The Indo-European languages are a family (or phylum) of several hundred related languages and dialects. It has about 439 languages and dialects, according to the 2009 Ethnologue estimate, about half (221) belonging to the Indo-Aryan subbranch.^[1] It includes most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia, and was also predominant in ancient Anatolia. With written attestations appearing since the Bronze Age, in the form of the Anatolian languages and Mycenaean Greek, the Indo-European family is significant to the field of historical linguistics as possessing the longest recorded history after the Afro-Asiatic family.
Allan.

 

Allan

One of your immediate problems is you make assumptions. I am not a cookie.Now you’re going to re-lecture me on what the Basque language is.
Just admit it, you were WRONG.
-Caz

Then he followed it up with this;

Allan:I often read the last paragraph of a treatise just to check things out. Here’s yours: In 1918 Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo and this ended the Hapsburg dynasty and also started the First World War.
wrong…off by 4 years. That would be 1914.
Not a good sign, but I will read more.
-Caz
 

Dear Caz;
THANK YOU, Of course the war started in 1914 and ENDED in 1918. That was a typo, I didn’t catch it because not only did I write, but I edited the whole damned thing myself. I will change it immediately.
Allan
 

And then, just to make his point, he sent this:
I have always been open to new ideas, where is  yours?  You sound like a religious preacher, lots of grandiose opinions about “Good;  I’ll leave you with one I made up some years ago: “There are no absolutes, damn few certainties and much about which we know nothing.”
-Caz

WELL, Let me tell ya, boys and girls, your otherwise humble reporter and author was not about to walk away once the hammer had been thrown down…., so I sent this:
 

C.E.  Sorry about the gender mix-up, but you sounded so much like a bitch that naturally I assumed you were a woman.You are also not a smart cookie, more like a hash brownie, since you are delusional as well.
As far as new ideas in my book……., if you had read it properly you would see that that I make no assumptions about who, or what, God is.
Just what God is NOT!
I realize you are a book editor, but you have never written a book of your own, (Fanzines don’t count) so please don’t try and trash mine!
 

That’s when I got the kiss of death, folks!

Sir: You are being a bit rude, I did not call you a name of any type. But, OK you are a yellow noodle bastard. I have no interest in talking to morons, and you are confirming yourself as one. Your book is just another religious tome of bullshit opinions, sprinkled with some history.
Get lost.
-Caz

And that’s all he wrote!
Your yellow noodle bastard!
Allan W Jansen

Once again folks, if you want a FREE PDF copy of the book, write to allanjanssen@rogers.com or get the book itself go H E R E !