Churches throughout the world's developed nations are losing members in droves. As a result, parishes are downsizing or consolidating to remain intact-- in many cases to just survive. There must be a reason, and this author opines that antiquated Church doctrines are no longer relevant to 21st century minds. If religions are to remain viable entities in our rapidly accelerating world, they must be willing to re-examine their outdated doctrinal systems to better resonate with an educated populace. Primitive man created his gods and goddesses-and fi nally "God"-- in his own image, believing that these entities manipulated the forces of nature that were beyond his own ability to control. In doing so, he imbued his divine creations with his own best-and worst-attributes because they were what he witnessed around, and about, himself. His gods, like their mythological counterparts, were often powerful, tyrannical and self-aggrandizing beings, demanding praise, worship and blood sacrifi ce; gods who would wrathfully smite those who would not bow down in worship to them. But that was then, and this is now. Instead of rigid religious rules and antiquated beliefs, our psyches crave an inner directed experience of the Divine from which we can derive a sense of value, purpose and meaning for the lives we live. This book hopes to sound a wake-up call to the world's major religions before they fi nd themselves placed on dusty library shelves, among other "quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore." i Unless this reconstruction can happen, religion, as it has existed for millennia, cannot help but wither and die.

Churches throughout the world's developed nations are losing members in droves.As a result, parishes are downsizing or consolidating to remain intact-- in manycases to just survive. There must be a reason, and this author opines that antiquatedChurch doctrines are no longer relevant to 21st century minds. If religionsare to remain viable entities in our rapidly accelerating world, they must bewilling to re-examine their outdated doctrinal systems to better resonate with aneducated populace.Primitive man created his gods and goddesses-and fi nally "God"-- in his own image, believing that these entities manipulated the forces of nature that were beyond hisown ability to control. In doing so, he imbued his divine creations with his ownbest-and worst-attributes because they were what he witnessed around, andabout, himself. His gods, like their mythological counterparts, were often powerful, tyrannical and self-aggrandizing beings, demanding praise, worship and bloodsacrifi ce; gods who would wrathfully smite those who would not bow down inworship to them. But that was then, and this is now.Instead of rigid religious rules and antiquated beliefs, our psyches crave an innerdirected experience of the Divine from which we can derive a sense of value, purposeand meaning for the lives we live. This book hopes to sound a wake-up call to theworld's major religions before they fi nd themselves placed on dusty libraryshelves, among other "quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore." i Unless this reconstructioncan happen, religion, as it has existed for millennia, cannot help butwither and die.