Amazon Book Description
- Over the past decade the Religion vs. Atheism debate has generated a lot more heat than light. With passionate advocates on both sides, it is possible we have lost sight of the real people and problems behind the controversies and conflicts.
- Where does the truth lie?
- In FAITHEISM Krish Kandiah asks us to take a long hard look at ourselves - and a more understanding look at each other.
- Written for both committed Christians and committed Atheists and everyone in between, this accessible and practical book can help all of us find a way to talk about the things that really matter to us in ways that encourage empathy, mutual understanding and respect and yet that don't shy away from tackling the hard topics. The ideas in this book can transform our relationships, our workplaces and our nation as it lays down a path for a genuinely more inclusive, hospitable and understanding society.
- Krish contends that whether you are a Christian, an Atheist or somewhere in between, we can all grow in our own beliefs and understand each other better.
- In this challenging exploration of the myths about Christianity and Atheism, time and again we will find the evidence shows that the truth on the ground is not what one might expect - and the potential for genuine understanding is far greater than the antagonists on either side would have you believe.
- Dr Krish Kandiah OBE is the founder of The Sanctuary Foundation. A charity supporting refugees to find welcome, work and worthwhile housing in the UK. A regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 2 and had written for the Guardian, the Spectator, The Times and The Mirror. He is recognised as an expert in refugee resettlement, child welfare reform, educational innovation and civil society mobilisation. Krish has led the charge on mobilising civil society groups and churches as they have supported recent arrivals from Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Sudan. He is a regular advisor to government. He was appointed by the Secretary of State for Education as the Chair of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board (2019-2021) where he brought strategic leadership to the finding of permanent loving families for children in the care system. He has helped to inspire and train thousands to care for vulnerable adults and children.
Notes
- Recommended by Sylvia, who'd bought a copy at the CRE (Christian Resources Exhibition)
- I expect to dislike the book, for the reasons given by the 'negative' Amazon reviewers below, but will give it a go.
- The book is - in general - warmly received on Amazon, but the 'positive' reviews aren't very insightful.
- I intend to write my own review in due course.
Amazon Customer Review - Moderately Negative - 'The Reconciliation Delusion'
- It was a noble thing to set out to write a book seeking to find common ground between thinking christians1 and thinking atheists. It has been thought provoking and has changed my thinking. However the problems with the text are significant.
- It gets off to a bad start when he sets his context. Krish claims he currently suffers more prejudice due his religious beliefs than for his Asian ethnicity and that christains today are widely regard as ‘deviant’ or ‘weird’. Firstly his comments about racism might well be true in his bubble but many Asians are routinely called ‘terrorist’ or ‘child molesters’ which I would consider significantly more insulting and personal than ‘bible basher’. Secondly his perception of being treated as deviant is laughable, he lives in a country where ‘God’ is the first word of the national anthem, the head of state is the ‘Defender of The Faith’, 26 church leaders are given automatic positions in our legislature and swearing on the bible is still largely regarded as the correct way to affirm a testimony to be truthful. He is clearly a very forthright christain, which I fully respect, but when you are assertive expect a reaction. If you push an ideology you question core values and people will be defensive, anyone in the business of ideological persuasion will be made to feel deviant (ask a politician). I feel he trivialises modern racism and exaggerates prejudice against christains, he has contextualised the world to his personal experience as a forthright christain in a cosmopolitan community – his experience is not typical of Asians or christains more generally.
- As for the body of the book he gets into difficultly in three main ways, firstly there is a ‘categories’ issue, secondly he fails to recognise his subconscious basis2 (fair enough, it is subconscious) and thirdly he does not understand the rationale for atheist unease with proselytising religion
- Krish assumes ‘atheism’ is in the same category as ‘faith’, which it is not. On forms we are often asked to declare our faith/religion/belief, there is typically a list of well know religions and a choice of awkward alternatives other/none/atheist etc. None of these are ever comfortable; to me even the thought of choosing a faith/religion/belief is itself nonsensical. When Krish ticks the christain box, he is stating one of his core values, he carries his faith with him and will call upon it in times of ethical or emotional difficulty. Atheism is not a core value – it is the product of core values, in my case I would regard my non-belief in spirits as a result of a ‘science’ core value and my ethical choices based on ‘humanism’. If I have difficult moral question to answer I’d look at in in scientific/humanistic way, atheism itself does not inform how I deal with the world. Krish gets himself into difficulty trying to square the decision making of Atheists with his decision making – we simply don’t operate in the same way.
- His christain sub-conscious bias comes forward in many ways but most striking is his treatment of Richard Dawkins. Dawkins can come across as a bit evangelical and does to some extent bring it on himself. Krish makes much about the title of Dawkins ‘God Delusion’ saying it is provocative, but is it really? Please come forward with some alternative suggestions. Dawkins believes god3 doesn’t exist; he believes people who believe in god believe in something that isn’t there – pretty much the dictionary definition of ‘delusion’. Dawkins is just vigorously asserting his belief in an unequivocal way – what else would you have him do? Lie a bit? Beat about the bush? Krish is clear that he thinks christains should be proud of their beliefs and be prepared to defend them vigorously. Hooray for that, but it needs to be a two-way acceptance. In one passage Dawkins is criticised for his answer to the question about whether on balance religion was a force for good or evil; Dawkins after a pause says ‘evil’. Naturally this leads Krish to attack Dawkins, so what would Krish have said had he answered ‘good’? You may disagree with Dawkins’s answer but he was only allowed ‘good’ or ‘evil’ and whatever answer you would give you have to accept given the wars, repression, violence, division, terrorism, church cover ups of child abuse etc where religion has been a significant factor the answer is not straightforward. What if Krish was asked the question, is Atheism a force for ‘good’ or ‘evil’? Clearly Krish believes theism is superior to atheism so could he really answer ‘good’, surely from his perspective the world would be better if we all believed; he’d have to do exactly what Dawkins did, pause and then give his best answer from the poor selection. I lost count of the number of times reference is made to the ‘selfish gene’ as being something Dawkins believes makes selfishness an inherited characteristic – it isn’t. This irritated me the most as Krish is clearly well read, he will know what the ‘Selfish Gene’ is and I can forgive much of what he says as sub-conscious bias but it is hard to see this as anything other than plain misleading.
- We are instructed by Krish to read the Old Testament in the context of the time it was written in; if we do we’ll understand God was not pro-slave owning. I found his logic a bit awkward on this but I’ll trust him. But I do insist then that when Marx’s ‘opium of the people’ is quoted, it is done so at least in the context of the whole sentence (including the words ‘the heart of a heartless world’). The passage as a whole is a work of touching humanity and the historical context provides ample justification for the ‘opium’ analogy. Krish is attempting to write a book about reconciling atheism with christainity, he is (rightly) critical of misrepresentation but repeatedly does it himself. I don’t doubt many of the texts Krish quotes from atheists feel like misrepresentation to him (and some probably are) but none are from texts that claim to be about reconciling differences. This book, because of its stated aims, should have higher standards – but it doesn’t.
- Finally on proselytising religion. Atheists are very uneasy about this not because in general we wish to supress ideas or limit freedom of speech. I also understand the argument that if you have the secret of an eternal life in paradise it would be selfish to keep it to yourself. The issue is this, it is a very bold claim to make that if you follow a particular religious path then you will be received into the kingdom of heaven, nobody selling a product could make a fraction of that claim without good evidence – and the evidence is at best inconclusive. Furthermore the nature of the path to take to ensure a passage into heaven is disputed not just between religions but also within them. From outside this looks very much like manipulation, further if you add a bit of ‘fire and brimstone’ (which Krish is careful to avoid) it looks a lot like a threat. How this is squared is tricky but to claim I am restricting your freedom speech because I don’t like your (as I see it) false claims, manipulation and threats really does fail to understand my perspective.
- So why 4 stars? I was recommended this book by a christain who I presume thought it would make me think about these issues more – and it has. The book was at its best when Krish was saying we should be honest about our beliefs, act together on things we agree on, don’t be quick to take offense and be proud of what you believe. If he had added don’t be afraid of your own subconscious bias (you can’t help it) that would have been even better. Krish is a thinking person with a big heart, this is a good book but with the wrong title and introduction. The book is basically a manifesto for a modern thinking practical christianity rooted in the New Testament, it could be titled ‘The Atheist Delusion’. It is clear about unity in action but it doesn’t succeed in unifying in debate partly because it applies all the same devices atheist writers are criticised for using. However ultimately I have come to realise the aim is unachievable mainly because the intellectual gulf between me and Krish is unbridgeable – but that’s okay. He is a good person doing good things, I’d be proud to have him as a friend, we would argue a lot but we can do so with pride, dignity and a mutual acceptance that the other is wrong (I would of course know I was right).
Amazon Customer Review - Negative - 'Horribly subjective and blinkered with a distinct lack of academic rigour & prowess'
- I'm currently working on a more extensive chapter by chapter review of this book, however, it really is hard going as the author is so deeply entrenched in his subjective bias from the get go..
- Non sequiturs, flawed themes and premises underlie the whole of the book, the most fundamental of which being the false dichotomy of comparing religious belief to race in terms of rights or equality, this is not only a deeply flawed argument from an intellectual perspective, but is also insulting not only to those fighting for racial equality but in particular to another community oppressed by religion and therefore unsurprisingly not mentioned or addressed directly in the book; LGBTQ... RELIGION IS A CHOICE, RACE AND SEXUALITY ARE NOT.
- The author also constantly goes from talking about 'religion' (in the flawed terms described above), directly and ONLY to Christianity. While the title sub-text speaks of 'Christians and Atheists', this in it's self is a flawed starting point for any discussion about these respective groups or attempt to reconcile them; ask many Atheists why they don't believe in a god and they'll likely answer "which god"? For Kandiah the point is moot; Christianity is the one true faith which has been unfairly treated by a secular world and is deserving of equal rights and considerations in the same way as people of colour or (god forbid!) gays!
- It is immediately noticeable that almost if not all of the recommendations in the front of the book are from christians, as are the positive reviews; it is a book will will comfortably appeal to the confirmation bias of a christian audience, but this is unsurprising as Kandiah has completely failed to even attempt to step outside of his highly subjective experience in order to attempt true bridge building or even make a sincere attempt to understand the 'other side' of his argument.
- As a BA (Hons) Theology graduate and former pastor I would expect SO MUCH MORE from a PhD, were I to have submitted work of this calibre it would have been very poorly received indeed.
In-Page Footnotes ("Kandiah (Krish) - Faitheism: Why Christians and Atheists have more in common than you think")
Footnote 1:
- Sic, passim. By failing to capitalise 'Christian' this reviewer does somewhat illustrate Kandiah's point about the prejudice against Christianity in the contemporary UK. No-one would write 'hindu', 'buddhist' or islamist'.
Footnote 2:
- Presumably 'bias' is intended here?
- Elsewhere, I've made a few minor changes to the punctuation and corrected a few obvious slips.
Footnote 3:
- Sic, passim. I suppose the lack of a capital is forced on an atheist. He wouldn't write 'zeus', but then Zeus is a proper name.
Book Comment
- Hodder & Stoughton, Paperback – 21 Feb. 2019
- On loan to Julie.
- Unbearable tripe.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)