A weekly review of politics, literature, theology, and art.

Good God! (And Other Follies) takes a critical and satirical look at the wave of religiosity now sweeping the country. From faith-based initiatives to bans on stem cell research, from public postings of the Ten Commandments to attacks on evolution, American godliness has apparently never had it so good. Much of this behavior and even more of the God-talk accompanying it, whether fueled by passionate faith, cultural resentment, or political opportunism, is intellectually absurd. This book points out some of the features of the absurdity and moves beyond them back to the underlying fallacies," contradictions, and, at times, sheer nonsense that beset not only Christianity, but also Judaism and Islam as well. Book jacket.