Who We Are: Welcome Paul Gehrman (Author of Kaleidoscope)

Hi, my name is Paul Gehrman (Author of Kaleidoscope). I grew up in a fairly religious environment in Texas. I went to protestant church most Sundays and I was a believer into my twenties. Although I knew fairly early on that religion was judgmental, divisive, and extraordinarily hypocritical, I still believed most of the dogma until I began to appreciate the explosive explanatory power of Darwin’s ideas and how religion was ultimately an assault not only on science, but on human knowledge generally. After 9/11, I felt compelled to write about the dangers of religious belief, including its dreadful depiction of humanity as inherently dirty, sinful, etc. I spent four years writing, which resulted in the publication of my novel, Kaleidoscope, in 2009.


Now that I’ve completely extricated myself from the hold of religious dogma, I have great appreciation for how manipulative and vicious religion can be, particularly on children, who are frightened into believing with threats of eternal torture, ostracism, etc. This is unethical to say the least. I think all people of goodwill should vigorously oppose this thought cancer in the hope that we can move humanity past superstition, bigotry, homophobia, etc., and to a place where reason, knowledge, and intellectual honesty are highly valued.