Andrew Fiala is Chair of the Philosophy Department and Director of the Ethics Center at Fresno State University. He has authored 6 books and dozens of articles focused on ethical, political, and religious questions, including two books published with Rowman and Littlefield: The Just War Myth and What Would Jesus Really Do?

• PrefaceChapter 1: Against Religions, Wars, and States Argument and MethodCivilization, Authority, and BullshitCosts and Benefits: A Preliminary AccountConclusionChapter 2: Five Principles of Criticism Methodological ConsiderationsThe Individual Liberty PrincipleThe Caring Community PrincipleThe Skeptical PrincipleThe Peace PrincipleThe Cosmopolitan PrinciplesConclusionChapter 3: Agnosticism and AtheismSkepticism about Religion Individual Liberty and ReligionGenuine Community, Universal Justice, and PeaceConclusionChapter 4: Religion, The Military, and the Secular ChallengeThe Unholy Conjunction of Religion, Politics, and Violence Toward a More Secular UnionThank God for the First Amendment Science and Religion in the Public SphereConclusionChapter 5: Religion, The Family, and Criminal JusticeReligion and Demography Women and ChildrenViolence Against ChildrenFree Will and Criminal JusticeConclusionChapter 6: Skeptical PacifismThe Peace PrincipleAgnosticism and The Just War TraditionMilitary Service, The Individual, and The Community Atheism, Cosmopolitanism, and PacifismConclusionChapter 7: The War-System, Profit, and the Failure of Just War Ethics Standing Armies and Spending PrioritiesThe War Racket and Just War TheoryA Case Study from the Eastern Mediterranean Defense Contractor ProfitsArms Dealers, Power, Politics, and the Revolving DoorGlobal Profits and Unjust Arms DealsConclusionChapter 8: One-Sided Wars: Torture, Nukes, Religion, and Collective Narcissism Good Guys and Bad GuysReligion and the War on TerrorNuclear Madness Humanitarian InterventionsConclusionChapter 9: Social Contract Anarchism and Cosmopolitan DemocracyAgainst the Organic Platonic State Skepticism and the Liberal Social Contract TheoryIndividual Liberty, Nation-States, and Genuine CommunitiesThe Cosmopolitan Principle and The Peace Principle ConclusionChapter 10: Civil Religion, Voting, and OligarchyPatriotism, Civil Religion, and Military ServiceVoting, Consent, and Political PowerThe Money ProblemA Constitutional Crisis? OligarchyGetting Away with MurderConclusionChapter 11: State Violence, the Prison-Industrial Complex, and ImmigrationCivilization and State Violence Restorative Justice and Police BrutalityDrug War ProfitsDeterring CrimeConvicting the InnocentDefining Crime and Defending PunishmentThe Prison-Industrial ComplexConclusionChapter 12: ConclusionBibliography

Andrew Fiala’s book is a fascinating argumentative essay on political philosophy, whose author boldly undertakes the colossal task of convincing his readers that humanity should abandon the religious, military and state institutions it has known since the dawn of its history. Basing on rational scepticism and humanistic morality, Fiala severely criticises the present status quo as deeply irrational, immoral and unjust, and distinctly places himself on the side of atheism, pacifism and anarchism. Despite certain theoretical difficulties, this book is an important, interesting and defiant voice in the ongoing debate on humanity’s political social troubles in the globalized reality of the 21st century.

Andrew Fiala is Chair of the Philosophy Department and Director of the Ethics Center at Fresno State University. He has authored 6 books and dozens of articles focused on ethical, political, and religious questions, including two books published with Rowman and Littlefield: The Just War Myth and What Would Jesus Really Do?

• PrefaceChapter 1: Against Religions, Wars, and States Argument and MethodCivilization, Authority, and BullshitCosts and Benefits: A Preliminary AccountConclusionChapter 2: Five Principles of Criticism Methodological ConsiderationsThe Individual Liberty PrincipleThe Caring Community PrincipleThe Skeptical PrincipleThe Peace PrincipleThe Cosmopolitan PrinciplesConclusionChapter 3: Agnosticism and AtheismSkepticism about Religion Individual Liberty and ReligionGenuine Community, Universal Justice, and PeaceConclusionChapter 4: Religion, The Military, and the Secular ChallengeThe Unholy Conjunction of Religion, Politics, and Violence Toward a More Secular UnionThank God for the First Amendment Science and Religion in the Public SphereConclusionChapter 5: Religion, The Family, and Criminal JusticeReligion and Demography Women and ChildrenViolence Against ChildrenFree Will and Criminal JusticeConclusionChapter 6: Skeptical PacifismThe Peace PrincipleAgnosticism and The Just War TraditionMilitary Service, The Individual, and The Community Atheism, Cosmopolitanism, and PacifismConclusionChapter 7: The War-System, Profit, and the Failure of Just War Ethics Standing Armies and Spending PrioritiesThe War Racket and Just War TheoryA Case Study from the Eastern Mediterranean Defense Contractor ProfitsArms Dealers, Power, Politics, and the Revolving DoorGlobal Profits and Unjust Arms DealsConclusionChapter 8: One-Sided Wars: Torture, Nukes, Religion, and Collective Narcissism Good Guys and Bad GuysReligion and the War on TerrorNuclear Madness Humanitarian InterventionsConclusionChapter 9: Social Contract Anarchism and Cosmopolitan DemocracyAgainst the Organic Platonic State Skepticism and the Liberal Social Contract TheoryIndividual Liberty, Nation-States, and Genuine CommunitiesThe Cosmopolitan Principle and The Peace Principle ConclusionChapter 10: Civil Religion, Voting, and OligarchyPatriotism, Civil Religion, and Military ServiceVoting, Consent, and Political PowerThe Money ProblemA Constitutional Crisis? OligarchyGetting Away with MurderConclusionChapter 11: State Violence, the Prison-Industrial Complex, and ImmigrationCivilization and State Violence Restorative Justice and Police BrutalityDrug War ProfitsDeterring CrimeConvicting the InnocentDefining Crime and Defending PunishmentThe Prison-Industrial ComplexConclusionChapter 12: ConclusionBibliography

Andrew Fiala’s book is a fascinating argumentative essay on political philosophy, whose author boldly undertakes the colossal task of convincing his readers that humanity should abandon the religious, military and state institutions it has known since the dawn of its history. Basing on rational scepticism and humanistic morality, Fiala severely criticises the present status quo as deeply irrational, immoral and unjust, and distinctly places himself on the side of atheism, pacifism and anarchism. Despite certain theoretical difficulties, this book is an important, interesting and defiant voice in the ongoing debate on humanity’s political social troubles in the globalized reality of the 21st century.

Andrew Fiala is Chair of the Philosophy Department and Director of the Ethics Center at Fresno State University. He has authored 6 books and dozens of articles focused on ethical, political, and religious questions, including two books published with Rowman and Littlefield: The Just War Myth and What Would Jesus Really Do?

• PrefaceChapter 1: Against Religions, Wars, and States Argument and MethodCivilization, Authority, and BullshitCosts and Benefits: A Preliminary AccountConclusionChapter 2: Five Principles of Criticism Methodological ConsiderationsThe Individual Liberty PrincipleThe Caring Community PrincipleThe Skeptical PrincipleThe Peace PrincipleThe Cosmopolitan PrinciplesConclusionChapter 3: Agnosticism and AtheismSkepticism about Religion Individual Liberty and ReligionGenuine Community, Universal Justice, and PeaceConclusionChapter 4: Religion, The Military, and the Secular ChallengeThe Unholy Conjunction of Religion, Politics, and Violence Toward a More Secular UnionThank God for the First Amendment Science and Religion in the Public SphereConclusionChapter 5: Religion, The Family, and Criminal JusticeReligion and Demography Women and ChildrenViolence Against ChildrenFree Will and Criminal JusticeConclusionChapter 6: Skeptical PacifismThe Peace PrincipleAgnosticism and The Just War TraditionMilitary Service, The Individual, and The Community Atheism, Cosmopolitanism, and PacifismConclusionChapter 7: The War-System, Profit, and the Failure of Just War Ethics Standing Armies and Spending PrioritiesThe War Racket and Just War TheoryA Case Study from the Eastern Mediterranean Defense Contractor ProfitsArms Dealers, Power, Politics, and the Revolving DoorGlobal Profits and Unjust Arms DealsConclusionChapter 8: One-Sided Wars: Torture, Nukes, Religion, and Collective Narcissism Good Guys and Bad GuysReligion and the War on TerrorNuclear Madness Humanitarian InterventionsConclusionChapter 9: Social Contract Anarchism and Cosmopolitan DemocracyAgainst the Organic Platonic State Skepticism and the Liberal Social Contract TheoryIndividual Liberty, Nation-States, and Genuine CommunitiesThe Cosmopolitan Principle and The Peace Principle ConclusionChapter 10: Civil Religion, Voting, and OligarchyPatriotism, Civil Religion, and Military ServiceVoting, Consent, and Political PowerThe Money ProblemA Constitutional Crisis? OligarchyGetting Away with MurderConclusionChapter 11: State Violence, the Prison-Industrial Complex, and ImmigrationCivilization and State Violence Restorative Justice and Police BrutalityDrug War ProfitsDeterring CrimeConvicting the InnocentDefining Crime and Defending PunishmentThe Prison-Industrial ComplexConclusionChapter 12: ConclusionBibliography

Andrew Fiala’s book is a fascinating argumentative essay on political philosophy, whose author boldly undertakes the colossal task of convincing his readers that humanity should abandon the religious, military and state institutions it has known since the dawn of its history. Basing on rational scepticism and humanistic morality, Fiala severely criticises the present status quo as deeply irrational, immoral and unjust, and distinctly places himself on the side of atheism, pacifism and anarchism. Despite certain theoretical difficulties, this book is an important, interesting and defiant voice in the ongoing debate on humanity’s political social troubles in the globalized reality of the 21st century.