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Hard to Believe: A Beginner's Guide to Heresy

by Paul M. Roddick

227 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-0054; ISBN 1-4120-8299-4; US$22.60, C$25.99, EUR18.56, £13.00

Hard to Believe: A Beginner's Guide to Heresy is, for the emerging skeptic, like a cup of coffee on a cold winter morning. It can make your day.

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About the Book About the Author Excerpts Catalogue Information

About the Book

Hard to Believe: A Beginner's Guide to Heresy reflects the author's respect for the positive role that religion plays in the life of most of humanity, and at the same time his abhorrence of the recurring brutal impact of religion on the evolution of the human race.
Interwoven with this well documented and thoughtful study, is the author's own story of his conventional introduction to religion by his traditional Protestant parents, his early instruction in Christian theology and ethics in a village United Church in northern Alberta, and his lifelong reassessment of religious creeds and practices, and the role they should play in his life.
The fundamental premise of Paul Roddick's exposition is that religion - every religion - rest on two pillars: theology and ethics. The former (throughout the history of mankind) has been marked by cruelty and repression, and by constant and bloody conflict. The latter, on the other hand, has provided us with definitions of morality and codes of behaviour which encourage and enable us to live together in peace and harmony.
This is a book that will hold the attention *and command the respect - of both self-confessed intellectuals, and those who think The Da Vinci Code is a very good read. It is a book which opens far more doors than it closes.
For readers who are encouraged to continue their "search of truth", the books listed by Paul Roddick in the bibliography are available in your local library, or for web surfers, on eBay. This book (as its title suggests) is only a beginning. Whatever your religious roots, age or occupation, what you really believe is an issue worthy of careful consideration, and a question that will never go away.

Reviews

Paul: I want to thank you for the gift of your book. It took an unusual time to completely read it because I found that Betty had appropriated our copy many times when I went looking. We congratulate you on your fascinating writing, a great improvement over that deadly dull stuff you churned out 40 or more years ago for the Preparatory Committee on Collective Bargaining.

I'm not at all sure that organized religion in this country will withstand your masterful assault on its conduct. Our ordained, and their faithful parishioners, are unaccustomed to having the intricacies of their theology plumbed by such a fine analytical mind. Your book, once it finds its way to the top ten bestsellers, will, I predict, double the rate of decline in the main-line churches. On the other hand, you are so unexpectedly solicitous about the ethical intentions of the religionists that eight straight hours of good sermons, I surmise, might just propel you into becoming a regular church-goer. I'll see what can be arranged!

I find myself just one shade removed from your heretical position, and a good push from behind could place me well to your left. I define my current position as skeptical Christian. I am not convinced that highly ethical behaviour, such as extraordinary kindness, altruism and compassion, can be dismissed as wholly self-generated independent of any conception of God. Otherwise, I am indistinguishable from a humanist. My view of the well-spring of ethical behaviour is complicated by ethics being part of our cultural heritage – at least for many. I stick it out as a church-goer, grateful to say at least that I find it elevating there to rub shoulders on occasion with the rare few who exemplify in their lives such admirable behaviour.

I found your chapter on "Good and Evil" especially compelling, and one of the best analyses of the subject that I have come across. I do have a minor question about a statement in the preceding chapter, on page 189, where you state that "--- control of the universities by ecclesiastical authorities remained until well into the nineteenth century". With reference to Cambridge and other English universities, that may well be true but certainly not in this country. The Roman Catholic Church did not yield its hold on Laval, St. Francois Exavier and the University of Ottawa until the mid 1900's when forced to do so in order to attract government funding. Similarly, when Betty & I enrolled at McMaster in 1948, it was operated as a subsidiary of the Baptist Convention of Quebec and Ontario. (Much to our eager relief, the then principal, Dr. George Gilmour, a remarkably liberal fellow given his time and position, had just opened the campus to dances!) If I recall correctly, Queens remained under the thumb of the Presbyterian Church until the late 50's. Canada rarely leads the pack!

Please keep in touch…

Brian Hartley

Dear Paul; I have at last finished reading your book which I thought was a wonderfully interesting book and the title most apt. My main complaint to you is that you roused my mind to such activity that it kept me awake for hours, pondering many things. At this point I could well drop the challenge to put my thoughts to paper in the face of such erudition and philosophy as you exhibit. However you did get my mind working and for what it is worth here are my comments.

I think I was fortunate in that religion was a part of my life from my very earliest memories. During the war years who could not be moved while singing "for those in peril on the sea" or "keep our loved ones in thy care" and the lovely Nunc Dimittis at the end of Evensong, when we knew we were probably going to face a night of bombing.

The times were very emotional and the church offered the solace of prayer, and we learned to pray very earnestly. However, with the war came the realization that religion did not have all the answers, and I noticed a rebelliousness rising in me at all the platitudes that were being delivered from the pulpit – and I didn't think my attendance at church was doing me much good.

I read and re-read much of your book, and was fascinated by its content. I will end up by saying that I am enormously impressed that you would set out to write such a book, and managed to collate your thoughts in such a way that we, the readers, must struggle to gain the nuggets and the insights which your writing offers.

Thank you Paul for giving us an insight to your learning…

Audrey Barrass

Shortly after I began reading Paul Roddick's "HARD TO BELIEVE A Beginner's Guide to Heresy", it stimulated a memory from my teenage years in the 1930's. My second cousin, a Roman Catholic priest, was at our kitchen door wanting to get in and yelling out to my mother, " Irene let me in. Irene, I need a cup of tea and a scone". He was being deliberately locked out. Soon, though, he was in the kitchen and he and my mother were enjoying a Scottish breakfast together. My mother had done her Presbyterian duty by barring a priest from our home. Then clan and blood triumphed over bigotry and they were once again enjoying each other's company as they did as children.

In those days I had to lock up my bicycle on Sunday and attend church three times. I could not go to school with my catholic neighbours, attend their parties or dance with them. I realized that, as I continued to read Roddick's text, I have been a heretic all my life, a product of the worst aspects of a religious training. Once I left home to serve in the Air Force I never again attended a church service except for christenings, weddings and funerals. Yet I am thankful I grew up in a Christian tradition. The lessons I learned in Sunday school served me well during my lifetime. Recently, after a lifetime away I returned to my hometown and visited our Presbyterian church accompanied by my second wife a Catholic. It was comforting to sit again in the family pew. The beauty of the building, the words and music of the hymns, and the rituals of the service were satisfying and reassuring. Once again, Roddick's text stimulated me to reflect on the significant role religion played and continues to play in my life.

Roddick, now in his eighties, deliberately tells us enough about himself to enable us to understand why he is a heretic. We are shown how his life unfolded, seemingly very much a matter of happenstance, much like our own lives. He was raised on a farm, attended a rural school, served as a soldier in the war, was educated at a prestigious university, had a career as a bureaucrat, and raised a family, and now, blessed with an enquiring mind and concerned about the social issues of to-day's world he tries to convince himself and us that there is a better explanation than pure chance to our lives. To do this he deliberately explores for answers as he examines the cultural, historical, instutional, psychological, genetic and other aspects of the key role that religion has and continues to play in human affairs. He concludes that we must find ways to provide for the benefits that flow from participation in the social dimensions of church activities while avoiding the dangers of following the dictates of blind faith. He leaves us with these challenges.

Roddick would seem to have had some difficulty selecting a title for his book. The term heretic does help to describe the state of mind that would free one up to explore for ways to liberate us from the mess we find ourselves in by setting aside rational behaviour in the favour of blind faith. What he really seems to want us to do is to become aware of the perilous consequences of not facing up to the realty of the power of mankind's need for meaning in life to generate forces that can destroy us. He argues that it will help us contribute to solutions if we sort out our own muddled thinking in matters of faith and religion. Roddick took four years to write this book. It is to be read a little at a time allowing for reflection and evaluation of his arguments. One can only benefit by doing this.

George Roper

This is a very personal book, both for the author and for the reader, more so I think than any book that I have read over the past ten years. Of course, this statement demands definition but by the time this piece is complete it will not I think, be necessary.

The author Paul Roddick now in is mid eighties takes the reader an a long and close look at many if not all of the aspects of religion which have concerned him over the years. If l am not mistaken, the issues he discusses are of concern to many thinking people Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with the arguments and conclusions presented is really irrelevant. Mr Roddick has an excellent command of the English language and an impressive vocabulary He presents the issues clearly and discusses each in depth in depth leaving the reader to accept or reject the views expressed.

The umbrella under which Mr Roddick addresses the various issues is Religion in its broadest sense, and specific aspects of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Under this wide umbrella he tackles such items as mind and soul, good and evil, reasoning and beliefs, dogma and myths, intelligent design and creationism, charity and much else. The overall theme running thru all of the discussions is that much of the substance if not all, is man's creation and is not the consequence of theism.

This sounds like a Herculean task and so it is. But the author makes it easier and interesting by the approach he has adopted. Roddick has collected the opinions of various philosophers, political scientists, writers and just ordinary "Joes" from books, magazines, newspapers. on a wide variety of subjects as they relate to religion. He quotes from this material often, .whether the authors agree or disagree with each other or with the opinions he has expressed The result is a thorough look indeed at the subject under discussion. I should add, to avoid confusion the author defines a number of terms he uses including atheist, heresy, apostate and others but oddly he omits the word sceptic. Obviously this is because he does not use the word but its omission puzzled me a little as I suspect that it applies to a lot of people.

The author also has a neat personal touch with regard to his material. Often the discussion is lofty, perhaps erudite is a better word and he brings the subject down to earth with a brief personal comment laced with a good drop of humour. He uses metaphors, similies and aphorisms frequently. They are always simple designed to tickle the readers sense of humour and to nail his point home. The author has read well in a number of areas and he draws on this background frequently.

I found the subject matter on the whole absorbing however I did not find the book an easy read By this comment I do not mean that the various arguments presented are obtuse or anything approaching it but I did find that the logic of the structure of the book frequently escaped me . This is perhaps due to the complexity of the material or to my own limitations or to both.

Had this book been written fifty years ago it would have raised more than a few eyebrows but today I don't think so, well maybe just a few. Much has changed and today many thoughtful and penetrating questions are being asked It follows then this book is timely as are others like it Not raising the ultimate question but getting close to it. All perhaps edging their bets and who can blame them!

Cy Barrass

About the Author

Paul Roddick grew up and went to school in a rural community in Alberta, north of Edmonton. He joined the army, as a signalman, in 1942 and crossed the Atlantic to England in August of that year - arriving at the mouth of the Clyde on the morning of the disastrous Canadian raid on Dieppe.
In 1946 he enrolled at Queen's University in Kingston - graduating in 1950 with an honours degree in English and History. During his student days he wrote the libretto for (and produced) an opera, Evangeline... He also edited and produced Tricolor '50 , the yearbook for his graduating year.
Following graduation he returned to the U.K. where he was employed for two years with the Colonization & Immigration Department of Canadian National Railways. When he returned to Canada in 1953, he joined the Federal Public Service, and for the next 29 years was involved in a variety of activities, including a major role in the development and implementation of a system of collective bargaining for the Public Service of Canada. His last assignment before his retirement was Public Service Commissioner for the Yukon Territorial Government.
Hard to Believe: A Beginner's Guide to Heresy, was begun in 2001, soon after the 9-11 attack in New York, and published in June 2006. The attack on the Trade Towers, and its aftermath, has dominated the news throughout these years, and continues to do so. The author's preoccupation with the significance of this event - in religion and in world politics - is reflected in his Preface, where he writes of "reaching out to a variety of writers for inspiration and understanding, some born long before me, some of my own generation, but most belong to younger generations. What I began as a monologue in 2001, has become in 2005, a forum."
Since his retirement Paul Roddick has lived in Edmonton, Brockville, and for the past ten years in Kingston. While in Brockville he wrote a weekly column for the Brockville's Recorder and Times. He celebrated his 84^th birthday on August 1^st, 2006.

Excerpts

Catalogue Information