Uncle Arthur's bedtime stories

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Summary: God and Uncle Arthur
Review: If you have ever doubted that God takes a hand directly in the lives of children, or that he tramples out the grapes of wrath among them, or that punishment for greed and vanity is swift, sure, inevitable and irrevocable, or that compassion is like a great, warm mother, read Uncle Arthur. His stories have the power to rivet children to the spot. They know he is talking about them. Each story is a moral or Biblical lesson entire. For example, Johann is driven out of the house into the snow on Christmas Eve by "an angry and brutal stepfather." Turned away from fine, large houses, where do you think he finds unquestioning and loving mercy? The cottage of a poor old woman. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My chldren..."

Rating:
Summary: liked it once but now...
Review: When I was about seven, I used to make a point to read Uncle Arthur whenever I was at the dentist or doctor (the only place I ever found the books) and I enjoyed them. Now, at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, I sometimes flip through the whenever I'm back in the waiting room and I find that my opinion has changed drastically. The stories are quite cute and many of the values are universal, but as a non-Christian I feel uncomfortable reading some of them. I'm particularly concerned by Maxwell's apparent belief (implied in a story about a broken radio) that one cannot be a good person if one is not a practising Christian. Also in the same story he tells his young audience that Jesus would "have to get rid" of those who had not opened their hearts to him. I take this to mean that those who are not Christians are doomed to hell. I realize that this is religious doctrine and that the stories were written with a certain audience in mind, but all the same I would not feel comfortable knowing that this book was being used in my child's school (particularly in a city as diverse as Toronto.) There are other ways to teach moral values without giving the impression that one group of people is better than another.