Myths of the Tribe: When Religion and Ethics Diverge

Why are the histories of religions preaching love and compassion soaked in blood? The answer lies not in human failure to follow religious teachings, but in the very structure of organized religion itself-and "Myths of the Tribe" provides the evidence you need to understand this uncomfortable truth.
You've been taught that religion provides humanity's moral foundation, that faith communities represent our highest aspirations for peace and brotherhood. But what if the opposite is true? What if organized religion's claim to infallible truth makes violence and persecution not aberrations but inevitable outcomes? David Rich spent decades examining this question, tracing religious conflict from prehistoric animism through ancient civilizations, medieval Europe's Crusades and Inquisitions, the Holocaust, and contemporary warfare across multiple continents. His findings are disturbing: every religion, when wielding political power, has persecuted those holding different beliefs. The pattern repeats with such consistency that it cannot be dismissed as coincidence or human corruption of pure teachings. Rich demonstrates that religious founders-Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha-were nonviolent reformers whose actual teachings bear little resemblance to the institutions established in their names. The Catholic Church that burned heretics contradicted Jesus's command to love enemies. The Islamic caliphates that waged holy wars contradicted Mohammed's synthesis of peaceful traditions. The problem isn't that humans fail to follow religious teachings-it's that institutional religion, claiming exclusive access to divine truth, logically must view all other beliefs as heretical and damnable. Rich's analysis draws on religious history, philosophy, ethics, psychology, and contemporary conflict data to build an irrefutable case that organized religion's fundamental structure generates the very intolerance and violence it claims to prevent.
If you've ever wondered why religious conflict persists despite humanity's technological and social progress, "Myths of the Tribe" provides answers grounded in historical evidence rather than comfortable platitudes. Rich doesn't advocate for religion's prohibition-he advocates for rational examination of institutions previously considered beyond criticism. Your understanding of why humans fight over belief systems will never be the same.
Originally published by Prometheus Books and now fully updated for the 21st century, Myths of the Tribe: When Religion and Ethics Diverge reveals how organized religions have evolved from survival-based rituals to powerful systems of control that shape how we think, vote, and live. Drawing from anthropology, cosmology, philosophy, and history, Rich exposes how religious dogma-when treated as infallible-has fostered intolerance, justified violence, and suppressed scientific discovery. Myths of the Tribe illustrates how our organized religions and their myths impact our personal and political lives, including sex, science, morality, poverty, drugs, criminality, and ethics.