By Khepra Ka-Re Amente Anu. $19.95; iUniverse; 231 pages
This book does not address the concerns of the LGBT community, as the giant letters "LGBT" on the cover suggest. According to the back-cover blurb, Anu has written the book "… for all people … who are disgusted with the judgmental and discriminatory way that religions project and impose their beliefs onto the lives of others in the self-righteous name of God." No bias there, right? "Anu," the blurb goes on, "provides source material for readers to counter and fight back."
Okay, so this led me to expect this book would provide counter-arguments against specific religious passages often cited as to why same-sex love is wrong. Such books do exist, but this is not that type of book. It could be an intriguing companion piece to such a book, though.
Anu is a heterosexual African-American male who has spent the last 25 years studying the influence of astronomy and African religious myths on dominant world religions. He considers himself a developing historian.
Anu appears to have done his homework in assembling passages from the Christian Bible, the Torah, the Koran, and passages representing Hinduism and Buddhism. By far, the majority address organized religions' views on slavery. As one might guess from the subtitle, Anu opposes these positions and uses them as a basis for his critique.
Here's an example of passages from his chapter on creation myths. Anu quotes a Rig Veda (Hinduism) hymn: "At first neither being nor nonbeing. There was not air nor yet sky beyond." A passage from the Agganna Sutta (Buddhist): "… there was just one mass of water, and all was darkness, blinding darkness." From the Koran (Islam): "And Allah has created from water every living creature." According to Anu, the similarities in these myths stems from their origin in African/Kemetic/Egyptian/Anu/Ethiopian stories.
Anu does have one chapter on "Religion, Slavery, and Same-Sex Marriage." Ah, I hoped, here's some content that fulfills the promise of the title. He makes the point that political, civic and social leaders who are against same-sex marriage base their views "…on discriminatory and judgmental anti-LGBT religious scriptures that are nothing more than man-made myths and fables." His point is, therefore, one need not give such writings much cred for they don't represent the word of God. Of course, if he were to posit this argument to someone who believes in these scriptures, he probably wouldn't be taken seriously.
Anu states the anti-LGBT religious community will have to be "forced" to accept the fact that consenting adults have the civil and human right to marry. Who or what is going to force them? Not anything found within the pages of this book, best I could tell.
Most of Anu's chapter on same-sex marriage is related to slavery scriptures. He quotes passages from the Bible and the Koran and discusses the Hindu caste system. He does give Buddhists a pass on slavery. While his anger may be well-placed, isn't the topic of slavery a book other than what his title and the blurb suggest? He would say, perhaps, any religion that says it's okay to enslave should not be trusted with its positions on same-sex marriage. "Religion has no moral authority or credibility when it comes to social issues." Anu does not like religions—period. He calls believers of any religious faith who pass judgment against LGBT people as "cognitively and intellectually challenged."
All that said, Anu's book does provide, side by side, fascinating samples of passages from different religions so that the reader can see the similarities. If you find this sort of cultural/historical comparison of interest, Lifting the Spiritual Self-Esteem of the LGBT Community may be well worth the purchase.
Anu's bibliography consists of secondary sources and many website references. No citations are used.
