America is a schizophrenic place. For all our love of technical wizardry and modern conveniences, we still hold on to extremely traditional morays that make us puritanical in comparison with older societies. Our moral center is formed from a number of influences, but old-time religion plays a significant role in how we embrace life, and how other societies view us.

Stephen Frederick Uhl’s Imagine No Superstition: The Power to Enjoy Life with No Guilt, No Shame, No Blame is a treatise on religion in America and its ill-effects upon the human condition. Uhl draws from his background as a former Catholic priest turned atheistic child psychologist in his look at the crippling ‘don’t do as I do, do as I say’ attitude of the Christian church and its hierarchy. Uhl is unsparing in his criticisms of Christianity and religion in general, showing his former brethren in the church to be one part humanitarian and three parts con men.

Imagine No Superstition begins with a brief autobiography of Uhl, and his decision to join the priesthood based upon his mother’s familial connections with the church. Essentially, Uhl was raised to be a priest just as a number of his male progenitors were. This introductory section is brilliantly written. It shows Uhl to be a young man eager to please his mother even though he had lingering doubt about the church throughout his seminary years. The vulnerability Uhl displays during his younger years will be recognized by young people today straddling the fence between full religious indoctrination and a life free of archaic rules meant to keep flocks of believers credulous.

As the chapters on Uhl’s personal journey towards atheism end, Imagine No Superstition examines the ersatz nature of all religions, rooted as they are in anachronistic customs that have no place in the real world of the 21st century. With a combination of well-documented research and a biting wit, Uhl addresses the futile nature of belief, noting that belief acts more like a shield from adult responsibility than a place where one can find answers to difficult problems.