Showing posts with label Richard Dawkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Dawkins. Show all posts
Friday, 18 May 2012
Friday, 10 February 2012
Thursday, 19 May 2011
The Four Horsemen of the Anti-Apocalypse
An open letter to Messrs. Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens
By Michael Shermer
Since the turn of the millennium, a new militancy has arisen among religious skeptics in response to three threats to science and freedom: (1) attacks against evolution education and stem cell research; (2) breaks in the barrier separating church and state leading to political preferences for some faiths over others; and (3) fundamentalist terrorism here and abroad. Among many metrics available to track this skeptical movement is the ascension of four books to the august heights of the New York Times best-seller list — Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation (Knopf, 2006), Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell (Viking, 2006), Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great (Hachette Book Group, 2007) and Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) — that together, in Dawkins’s always poignant prose, “raise consciousness to the fact that to be an atheist is a realistic aspiration, and a brave and splendid one. You can be an atheist who is happy, balanced, moral and intellectually fulfilled.” Amen, brother.
Whenever religious beliefs conflict with scientific facts or violate principles of political liberty, we must respond with appropriate aplomb. Nevertheless, we should be cautious about irrational exuberance. I suggest that we raise our consciousness one tier higher for the following reasons.
1. Anti-something movements by themselves will fail. Atheists cannot simply define themselves by what they do not believe. As Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises warned his anti-Communist colleagues in the 1950s: “An anti-something movement displays a purely negative attitude. It has no chance whatever to succeed. Its passionate diatribes virtually advertise the program they attack. People must fight for something that they want to achieve, not simply reject an evil, however bad it may be.”
2. Positive assertions are necessary…
3. Rational is as rational does. If it is our goal to raise people’s consciousness to the wonders of science and the power of reason, then we must apply science and reason to our own actions. It is irrational to take a hostile or condescending attitude toward religion because by doing so we virtually guarantee that religious people will respond in kind…
4. The golden rule is symmetrical. In the words of the greatest consciousness raiser of the 20th century, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his epic “I Have a Dream” speech: “In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” If atheists do not want theists to prejudge them in a negative light, then they must not do unto theists the same.
5. Promote freedom of belief and disbelief. A higher moral principle that encompasses both science and religion is the freedom to think, believe and act as we choose, so long as our thoughts, beliefs and actions do not infringe on the equal freedom of others. As long as religion does not threaten science and freedom, we should be respectful and tolerant because our freedom to disbelieve is inextricably bound to the freedom of others to believe.
As King, in addition, noted: “The marvellous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.”
Rational atheism values the truths of science and the power of reason, but the principle of freedom stands above both science and religion.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Legends #5: Ted Haggard
Haggard once made a very lucrative living from preaching about the evils of homosexuality and selling places in heaven. After a year long hiatus during which time Haggard temporarily transferred careers and instead encouraged people to invest in pyramid schemes, Haggard returned to his career selling places in heaven. He is not gay.
His legend status is tenuous but he did manage to cause one of the biggest scandals in the history of the American church and simultaneously piss off at least 25 million people. Which kind of makes him a legend. He isn't gay.
In November 2006, it emerged that despite not being gay and like most straight people do, Haggard had had a three year relationship with escort and masseur Mike Jones. But is not gay.
As a consequence of his extra-marital affair, the church took quite a financial hit costing 44 people their jobs. There are also the people whose eternal souls will not be saved as a consequence of them turning away from Jesus in light of the hypocrisy shown. Despite all this, Ted Haggard is definitely not gay.
Like most loving Christians, his flock turned the other cheek as Jesus taught them and exiled Haggard from the state of Colorado. He was allowed to return a year later. During his exile Haggard underwent therapy and came to terms with not being gay but pointed out that he was now a "heterosexual with issues".
Interview with Richard Dawkins
Haggard was once interviewed by Richard Dawkins on the subject of evolution. A visibly exasperated Dawkins tried to correct some of the fundamental creationist misconceptions Haggard held but found it like trying to teach algebra to a gerbil. Haggard suggested that Dawkins should be less arrogant about his learning and that he wasn't arrogant because he "knows so much more". But apparently isn't gay.
Accommodation
Haggard lives very modestly in a hovel, worth $715,000.
Ted Haggard gives some advice on why you shouldn’t be gay
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