Al Sharpton @ the New York Public Library
Al Sharpton now finds himself in the lime light for what others consider a prejudicial statement - about Romney and his apparently not being counted among the people of God - during a debate over the existence of God with Christopher Hitchens. The whole debate can be heard on-line here. Both employ some of the more heavily worn arguments, but both are actually quite entertaining and worth the time to hear. Sharpton forces Hitchens to differentiate between the idea of God and religion. It's an interesting argument, which Hitchens is able to turn around and essentially get Sharpton to admit his own agnosticism. With Sharpton, you know it will be entertaining; with Hitchens you ...Chet Raymo & Rational Thinking
From Chet Raymo's blog: Brownie, dwarf, elf, Zeus, enchantress, crop circles, genie, gnome, goblin, gremlin, hob, imp, leprechaun, UFO, mermaid, seraphim, unicorn, nymph, puck, siren, angel, sprite, demon, phantom, Osiris, poltergeist, virgin birth, spoon bending, Bigfoot, revenant, shade, shadow, Leviathan, levitation, soul, specter, spirit, ghoul, vampire, wraith, zombie, astrologer, seventy-two virgins, Athena, streets of gold, banshee, augur, auspex, miracle, clairvoyant, diviner, limbo, druid, dowser, fortuneteller, Beelzebub, dryad, haruspex, pyramid power, horoscopist, magus, medium, Thor, tarot, oracle, palmist, card reader, seer, sibyl, griffin, soothsayer, sorcerer, tea-leaf reader, witch, wizard, astrologer, augurer, answered prayer, Eros, clairvoyant, werewolf, transubstantiation, conjurer, diviner, enchanter, dragon, god, goddess, fortune teller, alien abduction, magician, ESP, magus, Cupid, alchemy, necromancer, Grendel, fairy, thaumaturge, warlock, witch, Elysium, Shangri-la, Holy Trinity, ...The Wrap-Up
Sullivan and Harris exchanged the final chapters of their dialogue on the question of faith and religion last week. Like many such conversations, few were probably converted on the basis of either's argument; however, Harris was able to emphasize his assertion that spirituality has a place in atheism and Sullivan was able to forcefully articulate that his view of liberal democracy was a better way to safeguard against militant fundamentalism (of its religious & secular forms) than Harris' rejection of religion all-together. In trying to address the global crisis we agree upon, I have two responses. The first is classical liberalism, as expressed in the American constitution, and constructed by Hobbes, Locke and their Enlightenment successors. That ...Is Lou Dobbs A Freethinker?
In a further sign that the apocalypse is nigh, yesterday night Lou Dobbs interviewed Christopher Hitchens for Hitchens' new book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and, if one were of the mind to read between the lines, can come away with the distinct impression that Dobbs is a bit of a freethinker in matters religious. Dobbs manages to expand on Hitchens' previous Daily Show interview with Jon Stewart and draw Hitchens out on his argument that one of the problems of traditional religious thinking is that it elevates faith above all else, which creates any number of problems of which our current battle with Islamic fundamentalism is only the most painful example of....eSkeptic: Science Will Never Explain Everything
Today's eSkeptic newsletter had an interesting essay from Robert Ehlrich on the topic of what science does and does not prove, and why science is a trustworthy means of knowing reality: Ideally, scientists who find a discrepancy between theory and experiment must either admit that the experiment was done incorrectly or consider the theory to have been disproved. In the case of a well-established theory, scientists will do everything in their power to find flaws in the experiment before considering the theory to be invalid. In effect, they must put themselves in the role of an extreme skeptic, which is just the opposite of the special pleader who finds excuses why the experiment and theory fail to agree. To do otherwise ...2007 LA Times Festival of Books
The 2007 LA Times Festival of Books Religion & Culture Panel spoke this weekend on CSPAN and is available for watching here. It has an eclectic group of authors who spoke including Zachary Karabell (Peace Be Upon You: The Story of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence), Christopher Hitchens (God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything), Jonathan Kirsch (A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization) and headed by Thane Rosenbaum. It's about one hour long and worth the time to hear the wit of Hitchens and the more nuanced arguments of the other panelists on a ...Book Review: God is Not Great
This then becomes the great prize of humanism, and consequently that which religion most fears, that man should see his own errors for what they are and all that is and see himself as the only savior he will ever have. While we may have need of divine intervention, in much the same way as we may need another deposit in our bank account or a mentor to speak to the errors of our ways, such need has no relevance to what is, what was, or what might be. That religion makes so much of what was and what is yet to come is to suggest, as Hitchens does, that it might not be worthy of entrusting with ...Hitchens & the Inevitability of Iraq
Christopher Hitchens has a new article at Slate on Ali Allawi's new memoir, The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace in which Iraq as a fractured state on the cusp of implosion (our involvement or not) should be recognized. From Hitchen's essay: Without needing or wishing to soften any critique of post-invasion planning, I would propose that this analysis has a highly unsettling implication. Hell was coming to Iraq no matter what. This point is undergirded by another one, which is that hell was already making considerable strides in Iraq in the decade before 2003. Again, Allawi's cool analysis and careful evidence darkens this already black picture. All the crucial indices, from illiteracy to unemployment to ...Totalitarianisms Revisited
This is an article I wrote some time ago which did not get picked up; because I am still working on the idea, I wanted to get it out into the public in order to get feedback from those who might have something to contribute to my thought process. At the moment, China holds the potential to become a beacon of insecurities for the West. Politicians aware of the underlying economic disquiet which colors their electorate, even now in times of relative stability, are likely to intensify the focus on China’s role in job loss and lowered standards of living once the issue with illegal immigration is no longer politically expedient. Similarly, the powerful community of ...Andrew Sullivan & Sam Harris Conclude
We are left with the impression that the desire to be accepted as a homosexual by society colors a lot of Sullivan’s religious sympathies. Sullivan’s flowing literary style has always had a pensive, almost angst filled, character which the recent Bush Administration and its misadventures in Iraq have only intensified. On one hand, Sullivan would have us believe that religious moderation can be trusted to guard against its fundamentalist tendencies, but his own religious belief offered no such advance warning with President Bush and his current dance with religious nationalism. Sullivan wants Harris to believe that moderate religious belief can distinguish a symmetric worldview which allows ideas to be discarded when found to be antiquated, but retains ... « 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.”
Themes
Now Reading
Search
Favorites
Personal Writing
Theology
Categories
Meta Data