It's beyond me to understand some of your beliefs.
You belittle Jesus Christ and say he's no more or less than the other prophets, and you say that horrific evil is simply a lack of goodness and that Satan is utter nonsense.
I in no way belittle Jesus, that is the job of fundamental Christians. Jesus is a Manifestation of God, what I am saying is that God loves all of His humanity and has educated all of them, not just the Jewish, Middle-Eastern humans. You are the one declaring that all religions other than Christianity is the work of Satan. I mean talk about hubris and gross prejudice.
As for Richard E Gallagher, he needs to head off for treatment himself. If evil is of a substance then it has its origins with God, there is no other conclusion, is that what you believe, God produced evil and that evil exists in the same dominion as God as some counter force. That's utter rubbish.
Evil is a void, a vacuum a nothingness that as soon as ignorance goes so does evil. Replace it with love, morality and virtues and it no long exists because it didn't exist in the first place.
That's not to say that evil does not exist in the sense that there is mental illness and ignorance all around us, but it is not of substance unto itself, if it is then God is also Satan.
I will read his book, but don't go all bumper sticker, the devil's greatest trick is for humans to think that evil exists as a force. Humans are animal and spirit and the animal nature is capable of extremes of ugliness.
My eyes are open and that's why I try to be patient with fundamentalist Christians.
