Voltaire declared that if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him: in this lively, highly accessible book Don Cupitt argues that we did just that. He traces the development of the gods from the anthropomorphic spirits of agrarian societies to the tithe-collecting landlord of the earliest urban religions - "the only way you could make a nomad into a citizen was by putting the fear of a god into him," notes Cupitt in one of his typically wholehearted turns of phrase (elsewhere, he observes that Donald Duck offers many of the characteristics of a god) - and argues the case for a humanistic future in which religion, disassociated from supernatural belief, would instead provide a set of global rules for civilised behaviour. His no-nonsense, irreverent style makes this book an appealing read, but will undoubtedly enrage the converted - or should that be the unconverted?
Arminta Wallace