Sam Harris & Reza Aslan
Harris & Aslan (author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam) had a debate at the Los Angeles Public Library recently for CSPAN2 Book TV. You can see their exchange here. One particular weakness of Harris' argument, which you will see him address in detail here and more fully during the wonderful Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival symposiums, is the cultural significance of religion and its related necessity to human tradition. Harris, being wholly non-religious, can fully distance himself from all of religion while struggling to understand the historical, cultural and traditional mores which people relate to religion. He might be factually correct, but at ...Obama & Fox News
Chomsky, for all his numerous ideological faults and contextual oversights, wrote a prescient book Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media which suggested the intertwining of advertising and journalism as a means for publicizing dissent would suffer because the media model being popularized has an inherent indebtedness to corporations and their agendas. The Fox News channel is perhaps the perfect example of this fear come to fruition; no media outlet escapes human subjectiveness, but standards for limiting this interference do exist, which have been overlooked by this particular channel. Their recent coverage of Obama has been only the most recent example of their pronounced bias. No one need be a supporter of Obama ...Sullivan & Harris Continued
Their exchange continues, most recently by a contribution from Harris: The endurance of religion in general, and Christianity in particular, is not much of a mystery--and it is certainly not so mysterious as to lend credence to ancient miracles. No doubt there are many factors that have contributed to Christianity's success. The problem of sunk-cost is surely one: just look at how much attentional, emotional, and financial resources people have invested in this religion. No one is eager to realize he has been wasting his time. Realizing that the core claims of Christianity are illegitimate would be tantamount to a Christian admitting, "I have been wrong all these years." It is no surprise that people keep their shoulder to the door, ...A Christian Agnostic
From the 1965 classic by Leslie Weatherhead, The Christian Agnostic: " ... [a Christian agnostic is someone] who is immensely attracted by Christ who seeks to show his spirit, to meet the challenges, hardships and sorrows of life in the light of that spirit, but who, though he is sure of many Christian truths, feels that he cannot honestly and conscientiously ’sign on the dotted line’ that he believes certain theological ideas about which some branches of the church dogmatize.”Faith’s Betrayal
The particular brand of Christianity I was raised in made an almost conscious decision to avoid the difficult questions. We wallowed in rules in order to prevent the penetrating light of reality force us to answer hard questions, many of which would have required admitting the limits of human knowledge and experience. Consequently, the really big questions, what most people view as matters of individual faith – believing in a singular God you could know personally, this God creating the universe, sending Jesus to die for your sins – did not require faith, but the smaller issues did. Somehow it was profoundly relevant to have your hair 1” off all collars and ear cartilage as it was ...Andrew Sullivan & Sam Harris … Continued
Andrew Sullivan's most recent post in response to Sam Harris' last letter is up and worth reading. My thoughts on their correspondence can be read after the link.New York City - February 10-15, 2007
This trip was originally to end on the 14th, but Mother Nature had other plans. Not only is the 14th Valentine's Day, but it's also my wife's birthday. The good news is that I did not forget (really I didn't!), and that I have a series of great surprises planned for her, of which being stranded in NYC for this Northeaster to blow over was not one. Needless to say I'm bummed out at missing the day, and working on rationalizations on why the only two blizzards we have had in Indianapolis have both occurred while I have been traveling, thus leaving Jen to shovel the driveway both times. Pictures from my trip to NYC follow ...Carl Sagan’s Infinite Apprecation of a Finite Question
Recently having finished Carl Sagan's The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, I was profoundly moved to read the recent coverage of the book in the New York Times: Some of the books that resulted, such as Richard Dawkins’s “The God Delusion,” have been criticized as shrill, but Ms. Druyan said: “People like Carl and Dawkins are more serious about God than people who just go through the motions. They are real seekers.” ... Near the end of his book, Dr. Sagan parses the difference between belief and science this way: “I think if we ever reach the point where we think we thoroughly understand who we are and where we came from, ...Philadelphia & Washington DC - February 5-8, 2007
Pictures from on my way to the Carnegie Endowment's first debate of 2007 on US-China policy - military issues specifically. Washington was freezing, but it was a nice couple of days, including time in Georgetown and the Holocaust Museum. Then on to Philadelphia for a business meeting and, on my free night, a 76ers game.US-China Military Policies and Agendas
Back in Washington this week to attend the Carnegie Endowment's debate series on "Reframing China Policy: The Implications of China's Military Modernization." My analysis of the debate, and the more general questions US policy makers are wrestling with can be read at Asia Times here. « Previous EntriesAbout MysteriousFaith
“If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm.”
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