As a religious sceptic, Bill Medley investigates the five major world religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, from a layman's perspective. He attempts to see what can be known, if anything, about a 'God' or an 'afterlife' from logic and tangible evidence.
Originally written as a letter to his sister-in-law, in Religion is For Fools! he shares his findings with her and tries to address her objections.
Bill Medley worked as a professional entertainer for fifteen years. His stand-up comedy routines sometimes included satires on religion. Here he gives it a more serious examination.
Review - Ian Matthews Auslan Christian Books
When it come to apologetics, it is safe to say this book is pretty unique. Rather than a systematic defence of Christian doctrine, starting with the conventional aspects such as the conventional arguments for the existence of God or natural law, here we have an award-winning Australian comedian-turned-preacher writing to his (real life) sister-in-law with his honest reflections on the issue of faith.
The book has an refreshingly light and approachable tone, but underneath this is a well-structured approach that starts with the various claims of world religious leaders (noting only Jesus claimed to be God and using C S Lewis’ ‘madman, liar or God’ argument), before moving on to consider the resurrection, the reliability of Scripture and prophecy – chapters called ‘Once Upon a Tomb’, ‘Did Ancient Writers Get RSI’ and ‘How To Lose a Prophet’ – before looking at the implications for this conclusion.
To be honest, I wouldn’t have read this book based on the cover and titles – I found them quite off-putting. However, the humourous approach and especially the respectful way it deal with other world religions impressed me considerably. A clever and creative approach to the often dry and abstract world of apologetics.
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