Edward J. Mike, PhD

About the Author

At a young age, I determined to dedicate my life to promote Christian values as a Catholic priest. Following four years studying languages and philosophy, I was chosen to be among a small group of American seminarians who are selected annually to live at the North American College in Rome and study at the renowned Pontificia Università Gregoriana, taught by the top Jesuit theologians. But I was traumatized to discover that the Vatican is a corrupt business with little in common with the Christian values I had dedicated my life to promote. The idealists among us banded together to survive emotionally. I graduated with honors and strove to be an exemplary Christian, serving my fellow man.

As a parish priest, beside typical church duties, I became a much sought-after counselor of the parishioners, with referrals from attorneys and physicians as well. Fluent in Spanish, in the summer I ministered to the (legal) Mexican migrant farm workers who flooded northern Michigan to harvest cherries and other crops. I was the court translator and said Mass in barns.

Increasingly, my values clashed with church practices until I concluded that, to maintain my integrity, I had to move away from organized religion. My success as a counselor led me to a PhD in Clinical Psychology, and I was soon in great demand as a psychotherapist. Moreover, I have a marvelous wife, and we have two daughters.

Recently, responding to the need of a rural hospital for a neuropsychologist, I was soon in great demand to provide physicians in a wide catchment area with neuropsychological assessment, primarily of patients brain-damaged in accidents or suspected of dementia.

I have always been active in various causes. The forces at work to replace our constitutional republic with a totalitarian communist government are now the overriding concern, so I determined to retire and write this book that has been percolating in my mind for many years. Research finds that atheists and Christians share the same values and equally strive to live moral lives and my theology showed how we can all join forces. I contrast communism with the values of civilization and show how to salvage it. This book is a call to action.