The Fruits of Religion
Monday, June 1, 2009
43 Comments
Tags: Book Arts, CMYK, Coptic Binding, D.I.Y., Design, Handmade, Information Graphics, Leather, Philosophy, Religion, Slab-Serif, Typography
One of my first potentially controversial pieces, The Fruits of Religion is a book focused on faith and religion in humanity, and the sad ramifications thereof. A combination of statistics and information graphics, along with quotes from some of mankind's greatest thinkers, challenges the perception of faith in the world. I have not intended the book to be an assault on faith, nor do I pretend to have any of the answers; it is merely a call for accountability and awareness.
Your information graphics is beautiful :) Really lovely work Andy – Well Done!
Thank you very much Anastasia!
That is the most beautiful book I have ever seen. I am a active Jew (religious, if you so dare to call it) and still would love to have this in my ever expanding library. For sale? Production? Anything?
@Shaun – Thank you for your kind words. It is nice to get some feedback from religious people, as the book was certainly not intended to offend or alienate in any way.
This book is unfortunately not for sale and most likely will not go into production. I do have some plans to do some editions of books over the summer though, so stay tuned.
Beautiful book. I, personally, love books and appreciate that each spread is different from the next. I’m wondering how you debossed the letterforms on the cover. Also, love the colors!
@Emily – I did the embossing on the cover with the aid of a laser cutter. The cover is made from two thicknesses of book board, and on the top on I laser cut the letter forms out of it, saving all of the pieces. Then I glued the cut one to an uncut one of the same size, and when I wrapped the whole thing in leather I put the little pieces that were left over from the laser cutting back where they belong and put the whole thing into a book press.
Thanks for your comment!
love the book book. PMN Ceacilia is one of my favorite slabs as well. Been fond of Lubalin and Museo lately. The word spacing in the justified blocks is sometimes distracting (I keep seeing those blinding white spaces popping out) but overall the book is successful. How did you determine your color scheme for the world mapped sections?
@Ryan – Thanks for the comments. Make sure you check out Archer from H&FJ and Soho from Seb Lester if you’re diggin on the slabs. The color scheme is all cmyk, which was a purely aesthetic decision. There are some great, earthy colors that I could have used for these religions, but I wanted the colors to be more reminiscent of info graphics than the religions themselves.
Thanks again!
Beautiful book!
Is there any chance for seeing the full version? I mean, every page=)
Someone out there wants to give you money for this…namely me.
Who are you talking to about getting this published?? Someone? That would be way better than no one.
I REALLY want to read this book.
EXCELLENT! This probably sounds quite silly, but if its possible, I would LOVE a copy, I’ll pay up to $50 AUD. Email me.
Nice cover. I don’t think I would agree or approve of the content though.
Have a nice day and keep up the great design work – very inspiring :-)
…Or, well… I don’t encourage you to keep up with this blasphemous kind of design work. But just in general.
Do you mention any of the good fruits of religion in your book? Love, justice, liberty, anti-racism, patience, gentleness, etc. (I am a christian, so I know these things are a natural result of people getting to know Jesus, that does not mean I think all religions are good – islam, suicide cults, buddhism, and so forth I think are bad. But not belief in God)
Atheism and darwinism is by the way just as religious as religion.
Everybody believes in something. Faith isn’t evil.
And if am not mistaken, atheistic communism was responsible for many many deaths in russia under Stalin and all that. And many deaths under Hitler who believed the Arian race was higher and better. You know, they killed disabled people and several million jews because they would produce weak offspring. At least the disabled. Don’t know his argument for killing the jews.
Belief in evolution and that everything came from nothing, is dumb and dangerous.
The fact that man uses religion for his own good, does not mean that religion is evil, or that God is, neither that God does not exist, or that we would be better off without people believing in God or being religious.
What made you write the book?
Thanks everyone for the comments and feedback, it is really appreciated.
I especially thank you, Filip, for bringing a different opinion to the table. Discussion is always healthy.
First off, I must let you know that I agree with you in terms of Atheism and Darwinism. For the same reasons I will not identify as being from any religion, I will also not identify as an Atheist or Darwinist. I simply acknowledge that I do not know.
I also see what you are saying about neglecting to recognize the good fruits of religion. I would argue that Love, Justice, Liberty, Patience, etc. are all traits of good people, religious or not. I believe this quote from my book is very powerful, and holds some truth:
“Without religion, we would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”
It cannot be argued that some of the best, kindest, most loving people in the world are religious, but I believe they would be just as loving and kind without religion. I hope my book, if nothing else, gets people to think and recognize every facet of their religion and all of its repercussions.
Humans will accept a level of violence and bloodshed in the name of religion, and I think that is very sad. To answer your question, I made this book to raise awareness about the negative effects of religion, and to hopefully start a few badly needed conversations on the subject.
Thank you for your feedback Filip, it is always good to hear another side of the discussion. Please be aware of your own biases, and recognize that you seem to believe every religion, other than your own, is bad. Buddhism, for example, is one of the most peaceful religions, and is linked with far, far less murder and death than Christianity. Food for thought!
Hello Andy. Thanks for your reply.
Some more food for thought:
If people are good, why do they do evil things? If you let a child grow up without reproof or discipline, he’ll turn into a selfish brat, more likely than an angel. If we’re basically good people, why are we drawn to do evil when we know it’s wrong? If we were good people, why are we not rather inclined to do good consistently, rather than being tempted by evil – cheating on your spouse, avenging yourself, not forgiving, hating people, killing others, backbiting, etc. If we are good inside, other people’s actions should make no difference on how we react to them – forgiving or holding a grudge – feeling tempted to yell back insults and cuss words and curses, or to turn the other cheek when people insult us on purpose.
Why would some people be evil, and some people good? What would have caused this distinction? Their upbringing? Their ancestry? Coincidence?
I do not think there are any good people, at the core. And I suppose even violence and bloodshed are not necessarily evil in and of themselves – I would claim they can be used for good. Of course pain and killing is terrible, but to prevent a greater evil, don’t you think they can be good? The pain of getting a vaccine against a terrible disease is worth it.
Suppose someone was raping a child and then killing them, every hour. And that you were a policeman, ordained to uphold justice and liberty for all, what would you do, if the man resisted you when you were about to arrest him? You wouldn’t use violence? In that case, I would be for violence, to the extent necessary to stop the child molester, at least. Would it be loving (thinking of the many innocent kids), to let him go on in his abuse and cold blooded murder of innocent people? I think not.
If we lived in a perfect world, violence would never be necessary… but as we all know, the world is far from perfect! So I think sometimes punishment, and the fear of punishment, can be a good thing.
Or suppose you were holding a gun aimed at a suicide bomber about to blow up both himself and 300 other people. Would you not use bloodshed (as an appointed officer, having the job of making sure justice is done and that your fellow citizens can be safe) to stop the unjust murder of 300 random people? Shoot him in the arm to stop him or something, or maybe even be forced to take the life of the terrorist if that was the only way to stop it, or to be sure to stop the bombing?
I know these are very much extremes, and that this is not a political or religious forum (well, it kind of is, considering your book topic :-) …), but due to the nature of your book, blog post and comment, I allow myself to pose these questions and objections.
Have a lovely day! :-)
@Filip – Thanks for putting so much time into these responses; it is a great feeling to have my work incite such conversation.
That said, I wholeheartedly disagree with your position. First off, I choose to believe people are inherently good, if for no other reason, for my sanity. I cannot say I have any evidence of it, but I find it to be the most optimistic way of moving through the world. If believing that there are “no good people” is a facet of Christianity, or any religion, then add it to the list of reasons why I made this book.
Whether or not certain situations justify violence is a separate matter, and not so related to the discussion at hand. I was merely saying there is a certain amount of violence that people accept because it is related to some religious belief or ritual. I am only asking people to be as critical of their religion as they are of any other organization or institution they would call themselves a member of. Faith and religion seem, to me, to be sacrosanct in our society; I believe many are afraid to ask questions and call for accountability.
Your objections and questions are welcome, you too have a lovely day.
*then
Andy,
That cover is amazing. I love its simplicity. Is that leather? Is it solid leather or wrapped in leather?
I’m interested in binding a book of my own, but every time I psych myself up to do it, I get to the cover, become discouraged, and quit. But I just stumbled onto your site today and I’m already inspired to give it another try.
I’m half tempted to believe the content because it looks so gosh darn pretty!
But then I remind myself that there are no good or bad people. Truth is relative, and religion tries to give people something solid to believe in, which in itself isn’t good or bad, just one way to try and figure out this crazy world.
Like the death statistics … you use the number of murders due to religion to show an opposing view to religion. But murder was first prohibited by religion! Religion is greatly responsible for considering murder “bad.” This might be hypocritical, as religion causes many murders, but religion has set up our basic ethical and moral system. So a “good” person doing a “bad” thing is doing it because they aren’t following the rules religion has set.
Often “bad” comes from the ignorance of the followers, not of the religion itself. The main religions of the world are extremely complex but also have some real intellect in them that can easily be twisted when not fully understood by those ignorant of their own religion.
But anyway, I love your work, dude. Constant inspiration!
I was reading your answer Andy, and it strikes me that though you adopt a stance of “I don’t know” concerning religion, the way you view humans as intrinsically “good people” is interesting, considering you yourself state that you can find no proof of such a belief. Myself, I believe that people aren’t born as clean slates, but that they have several basic instincts that are curtailed by society. Society then, is why we don’t have everyone acting upon their basest desires everyday.
@Shea – Thank you for your feedback and thoughtful comment, always appreciated. You do make a very good point, truth is completely relative; what I may consider a terrible thing could be someone’s entire ethical foundation. Inversely, I am sure there are plenty of religious people that see my views as dangerous, hurtful, and detrimental to society. This certainly is a crazy world, and what I have at least tried to do here is show how I myself hash it all out.
Though I admit is scares me to think that some people rely on an institution to define or reinforce their moral and ethical beliefs, if there is someone out there that needs that faith to be a good person in this world, then by all means they should hold that faith dear. I just like to hope such people would be just as kind and good without religion.
I agree that ALL of the bad comes from the ignorance of the followers. Religion IS the people that follow it and nothing more. No religion has ever done anything good, or bad for that matter, only people do these things. Most religions, on paper, are Utopian. The problem is how people twist, warp, and rearrange the teachings to be what they want them to be. (see “KKK” etc.)
Thank you again for your comment. It is very fulfilling to hear that my work inspires people. Do you have some work I could check out somewhere?
@Chan – I CHOOSE to believe, despite lack of hard evidence, humans are intrinsically good. That is my faith. I do not put my hope on a distant deity or sacred idol, I put my hope in mankind and human nature. Society absolutely has an incredible, unavoidable effect on all of us, but in many ways i separate culture and society, which are impossible to opt out of, from the religions people choose to associate themselves with.
I fear I could pretty quickly stack up the evidence showing that people cannot possibly be intrinsically good, but that is not something I would want to do. I just try to be a positive force in the world.
Thank you for your comment and for taking the time to read the above comments!
Very nice work with the book, Andy. Also, love that blue and pink writing in the book. I like those two colors together =P
Your views on religion seem to be most similar to mine. I’m also “not sure”, agnostic, or whatever you want to call it. I was raised Roman Catholic, but ever since about 3 years ago, when I was 12, I started thinking more and more about what I actually believe in. I didn’t 100% believe in a god or deity, but I couldn’t rule out the possibility. My concern is with the world- and people.
Not sure what else I could write about my beliefs. It’s kinda hard for me to put it into words. In a nutshell, I pretty much agree with most of what you said.
@Matthew: Thanks for sharing your beliefs, it means a lot to me that people are inspired to, and feel comfortable sharing their beliefs on my humble blog.
Hello Andy! I just found this via Stumbleupon and I must say I love it! I agree with everything (that I could read anyway =)). I agree with many that have already commented, I would most definitely buy this if you were to make it available.
I also must say it’s lovely that you reply to all the comments!
@Stacia – Thank you kindly! I REALLY appreciate people taking the time to comment on my little blog here, so the least I can do is respond to most of them!
Hey Andy!! I also found you via stumbleupon! I absolutely love this.
I’d also be very willing to pay for a copy of this! Even if it was just an ebook.. though the binding is absoluuteellly gorgeous!! :D I’m in beautiful love with the typography- This is my kind of holy book!!
I agree with a lot of your beliefs- mostly about human goodness. I don’t think we need religion to be good. I believe religion just applies an extra layer of complexity on top of life. Sure it says good things, but what how it is interpreted is always different- which is why we so much bad. Religion just warps too much of life to get an actual clear view of what human nature and life really means. I think life would be much better without it. We don’t need religion to set standards.
On the idea of god, I believe I’m passed that- I’m not giving it a second thought anymore. Yes, I am trying to understand life- but I think this idea has just slowed us down enough. If there is/are (a) “god(s)”- I don’t believe it would be a being. Much less one/some/many/multiple that looked like us, hid- just so we would have to put complete faith into him/her/them/it, and could control everything, yet all we see everyday is very typical and the same. Miracles could very easily exist without god.
I believe, if anything, that, if there is something greater out there, it would be some incomprehensible connection between ‘existence’ and ‘life’- if both they are true in themselves :) If this were true, then I find no reason to be caught up worrying about it. We should just be happy, live and enjoy it. The downfall of humankind will be our dire need to understand.
But that’s just me going on and on :D
Let me know if you ever decide to publish, Andy!
Luke
Holy shit Andy. I just realized you don’t live too far from me! Ever hear of Souderton? :D
@Luke – Thank you for your comments. On the idea of God, I am reminded of an excerpt from Candide “If God did not exist, it would be necessary for man to invent him.” As a whole, humanity needs answers. Even though science gets better everyday, and we know more and more about the world around us, we will never answer the question of just what happens to us and our loved ones when we die. For those that need the comfort, there will always be a “God”, in some form.
Good to hear other people keeping the life-loving optimism up. That’s how I roll. I used to travel to Bethlehem pretty often, and I do recall driving by a Souderton. If you would like a pdf of the book, the print-ready file is available here: http://www.andymangold.com/iloveadobe/fruitsofreligion.pdf
Keep in mind however, that is PRINT ready, so the pages are out of order (set up to be double sided printed and bound in signatures of 2 sheets) and don’t ask about the url…
@Andy,
This makes me think how far we’re going to get as a species. God is fine, for the most part. It gives us hope and a feeling of comfort, but when we have to fabricate facts to be happy with life and turn it into these religions. Then argue of these fabrications. Fight, Divide, Kill over them.. it just really makes me question how intelligent we actually are.
Yea, its right around there. Thanks andy! I owe you a coffee :D It’s fine I’ll figure it out! Thanks dude!
Luke
Good work.
You pretty much seem to have the exact same view on things as I do. One difference though. I don’t see people as inherently good, or evil for that matter. In my opinion everyone decides for themselves who they want to be (unless a mental disability or traumatic event takes over, that can change a person beyond their will). Good and Bad are subjective to the society your in, and as others have stated, many of our views on what evil and good are are based off of religion.
I think people are mostly based on self guided morals. Many of which might be based on the society they live in. People also seem to be based on how willing they are to act. For example, a person might have strong beliefs, but are afraid to express them. A bad person doing a bad thing might be a person who is doing a good thing (in their mind anyway) and happens to be one of the few willing to do something about it. I guess, martyr would describe that pretty well.
I don’t know, I think I’m rambling…. sorry. I geuss the way I see myself: I’m a person who has morals of what he thinks society should be like. And I disagree with much of what society is. But I’m also a person who won’t really fight it (there’s really no way I could though) and I’m not really bothered that much by it…. laid back if you will.
Wow, now I’m really rambling….
Anway good work, out of curiosity how long did it take to make?
Andy,
First off, I am in love with all of your work, truly fantastic!
Second, thank you for sharing this book, and your comments. It is really interesting to hear you respond to the comments above & what inspired you to create this beautiful book. I wonder, what was your motivation to create it? Obviously it must be a topic that means a great deal to you, was it done purely in your free time then?
I am working on making a book for my thesis work that focuses on american agriculture and the controversies within and this was just the inspiration to keep me at it! I applaud they way you tastefully blended your perspective into the book, sharing your opinion without being condescending or all-knowing, as that is one of the hardest parts of designing a book I seem to deal with. But truly those info-graphics speak for themselves! Ah, well, thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings of an adorer or your work! Wonderful!
-Liz
Oh, and keep the optimism up! Life is good!
@Liz – Thanks for your kind words. This was completed for a school assignment, though my work is something I love doing, so I consider it my free time.
GO OPTIMISM!
@rynoxian – Thanks for the philosophical ramble! The book took me two weeks to make from start to finish, though that was a long with all of my other finals.
Thanks again for the comment!
I’m a strong believer in God and the Bible, but I actually agree with many of the sentiments of this book. The awful things religion does today are disgraceful and offensive to people who see they hypocrisy and evil of it all. I keep my faith as it teaches me why it’s wrong to kill, hate, or do harm to others. I believe what I believe because it makes sense to me.
From a design perspective, I think it’s an astounding book. Deceptively old-fashioned cover, but the inside is a modern work of art. The layout, color usage, and typography are all spot on and reinforce the purpose of the book. I particularly like the map overlay. That map style is often very overbearing as the colors are harsh, but your gentle coloring and transparency make it something that’s a joy to look at.
Daniel: Thanks so much for your feedback. That is precisely how I hoped this book would come across.
from a design stand point, this is totally beautiful.
Hi Andy. My name is Steve, a Creative Director from London, England. Stumbled across your website after doing a search of information graphics in Google. Think you have some great work……. nice stuff……..
@Steve: Thank you, I still have a lot to learn though. It is exciting to hear that you found my site on such a broad, and I am sure popular, search term!
its strange really. i’m a pastor and i don’t disagree. religion is something im not very friendly with and has been used to a abuse power, lord over people and start wars throughout history. what i like about Jesus, is that was the opposite of who he was.
his way of dealing with religion was flipping tables at the local church and saying that they’re completely wrong in their thinking. I understand people would take this love story and twist it into a religion to support their agendas, that it’s really man who has made a mess of it.
but for me it’s beautiful.
great design work.
johnny
@Johnny – Thanks for the thoughtful comment. One of my favorite quotes from Ghandi is “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” Man certainly has made a mess of it.
I think your work is amazing. I felt compelled to leave a comment after reading the comments for this book.
I fully agree that this book should be in production, and I would defiantly want a copy if it ever went on sale. Even if it wasn’t as high quality as the one on display.
I also want to say that I was in awe of the description of your own faith, which seemed to be intentionally as irrational as most religion. It is a perfect description of how people should feel in my opinion. If people cared about others as much as they do their religion the Earth would be a much better place to live.
Now there are two things from Flip I wanted to address and feel should be commented on. Why are other religions bad? He, nor does anyone that makes those comments, never clarified that. The only thing I can ever make of it, is because it isn’t his/her own religion. Now Flip mentioned “suicide cults” which are bad, and many Christian based, but says nothing for why the others would be as bad.
There is also the matter of the “there are no good people” comment Flip made. I know everyone seems to agree with you on the idea that people are inherently good, but didn’t Flip say he was Christian? I was raise in a Christian home and went to church most of my life. As I understand what I have read in the Bible is that people are inherently good. It is the temptations given from Lucifer that can make a person evil, and in turn God that will save you from that evil (according to the Bible at least). So I wouldn’t hold that comment, from one person, against religion. Most religions, and I do study theology, believe people are inherently good at their core. Even Lucifer himself was good to begin with, and held the position of the highest angel in heaven.
Thank you for letting me waste some of your free time with my rambling.
BlaX
@BlaX – Thank YOU for taking the time to “ramble”; it is always appreciated. It is nice to hear from someone who studies theology as well; there are a lot of varied voices getting in on this conversation, and I am honored to have such discussion on my humble little blog.