Amazon.com description: Product Description: Sacred Lies and Silences test some misleading impressions. The mere husks of religion can be hidden beneath a pious lie, or conversely, surprising religious depths beneath a disciplined silence. Examining these and other religious disguises, the book sifts out a balanced spiritual ideal, and a predictable range of distortion, both psychological and religious, triggered whenever this integration is threatened. Its cast includes anorexic yogis, cult victims, anarchists, Grand Inquisitors, televangelists, prophets and gurus and holy fools. A rich dimension in this work is the variety and interest of its case studies, drawn from the author's counseling, teaching, pastoral experiences, and his research in comparative religious traditions.