"And some of these people -- not all, by any means -- seem to be secular fundamentalists. They have as bigoted a view of religion as some religious fundamentalists have of secularism. We have too much dogmatism at the moment. Take Richard Dawkins, for example. He did a couple of religious programs that I was fortunate enough to miss. It was a very, very one-sided view."

What a crock. Dawkins is the exact opposite of a bigot or a dogmatist. His views are not based on prejudice but on judicious review of the evidence and a laudable commitment to rationality over superstition.

Armostrong strikes me as an overzealous phony. She has some deep need to have religious views but she struggles with the fact that religion is obvious bunk.

She also makes up lame excuses such as her claim that the afterlife is a red herring. A red herring? I have a close member of my family who is dying of cancer. Tell her that the afterlife is a red herring.

Ok, let me see if I understand this. You read a brief interview about Armstrong and concluded she's full of it. You believe religion is worthless. You're duped into believing Dawkins makes perfect sense. And because someone you know is dying, the afterlife isn't a red herring, but what? Actually exists? Does Dawkins explain how that might happen? Wow, I missed that.

Do you believe the world just came together through chance, and then heaven materialized like a rabbit out of a hat? With this kind of magic David Copperfield built an empire. Maybe you could too.

Her claims that the sages in so-called "Axial Age" did not care about matter such as the afterlife or theology are incredibly untrue-amongst other things she has said about them. To claim that only Christianity or Islam is "obsessed with the afterlife" disregards Hinduism, and many ethnic religions (some of which currently are undergoing revival attempts). Her constant siding with the religions and their supporting forces that replaced the older ones annoy me, and if anything should be a sign that she's not as tolerant as she likes to pretend to be. She has obviously no real understanding of the life and times of the actual Greek philosophers, and her protrayal of the pro-indo-europeans in her new book is very old fashioned and certainly not up to date with current scholarship. And the fact that some university and college professors assign her books to their students really, really frightens me.

Sad that I just now read this fascinating interview with Karen Armstrong. I just hope she never took the time to read most of these comments. Amazing how many folks think they "know" what the truth is...Open up your hearts and minds, folks. Life is indeed an endless mystery. We need more people like Karen Armstrong pointing this out and reminding us about the hard work involved getting at the unsayable.

I was thrilled reading this interview. My own sense of wonder and a quest for meaning is stated quite well in her words.

My only beef with Karen's words is the use of the word religion in any positive context. Just as she feels the Western, common view of God is infantile, so is the use of the word religion as it is unconsciously understood from years of indoctrination.

We have boxed the term religion into the same tough-skinned mold as the word God. The mere use of the word religion is dogmatic and filled with traps, it seems. Religion conjures up a meaning, a set of values that are hard and unquestionable, thus, it seems, removing the ability to search with an open mind into what Being encompasses.

I hope she soon rejects that word with the same dexterity that she has disavowed our immature ideas of God within our entirely limited consciousness.

Al C

... I find that what Armstrong says about religion is intuitively true and am surprised that her perspective is not shared by most people who have a post elementary level of education.

The sad thing is that while there is a great deal of interest in religion today, there is a kind of Gresham's Law in operation by which TV religion with its pontificating, puffed-up, ignorant little men with microphones stands in the way of people who are truly seeking spiritual enlightenment.

What I particularly like about her approach is her understanding of how religions originally developed as a response to particular historical situations, which is something that religion in the US seems to completely ignore.

Instead of seeing Islam as something sinister, if we see Mohammed's teachings orginally as a way of providing a better way forward for primitive warmongering tribes who worshipped stones, then we will be a lot closer to understanding the true spirit of Islam, as well as understanding better how some of the extreme manifestations of that faith are just as far off track as the perverted religion of people like Pat Robertson.

Religion is fantasy, wishful thinking, imagination, belief in The Great Invisible Friend, an attempt to feel significant by "knowing God" through a disguised, self-deluded belief in magic (whether magic ritual, magic belief, or pretending to understand magic ("sacred") texts . . . ), i.e., a manifestation of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Thanks, Karen Armstrong . . . you do contradict yourself a little bit, but you do hit the nail on the head (even if you are unaware when you do it . . . . ) .

I've recently come into material about the moral system of the afterlife and found resonance in it for my present and eternal life. Curious readers may find the following links of interest. I have not read the letters to the Editor on this interview. Please forgive any duplication of information.

THE SPIRITS' BOOK by Allan Kardec (1804-1869) a French educator, a meticulous codification of the moral system of heaven in 1, 019 organized , numbered questions and answers. http://www.spiritwritings.com/kardec.html

The classification of souls is also found in Kardec's book in "book 2 chapter 1" http://www.spiritwritings.com/kardecspiritsbook2chapt1.html

(There are 4 books within this book)

LIFE IN A WORLD UNSEEN - medium Anthony Borgia, author spirit Monsignor Hugh Benson.,1871-1914, http://anthony3741.tripod.com/lifeintheworldunseen/index.html

TEACHINGS OF A QUIET MIND by White Feather , contemporary medium Robert Goodwin, http://www.whitefeather.org.uk/page4.htm

A LAWYER PRESENTS THE CASE FOR THE AFTERLIFE 2006, by Victor J. Zammit

http://www.victorzammit.com/book/4thedition/index.html

TEACHINGS OF ZARETH, channelled from 1976-1981 in Vancouver BC at public gatherings. http://www.angelfire.com/ok/ZarethsGraphics/TCon.html

TEACHINGS OF SILVER BIRCH channelled by Maurice Barbannell 1902 - 1981)

http://www.angelfire.com/ok/SilverBirch/index.html

Deepak Chopra MD says that birth and death are the parentheses of life.

SIGNED ........Joy......(1947.........- )..................