Posted on 10/18/2006 5:25:05 PM PDT by wagglebee
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A fresh wave of atheistic books has hit the market this autumn, some climbing onto best-seller lists in what proponents see as a backlash against the way religion is entwined in politics.
"Religion is fragmenting the human community," said Sam Harris, author of "Letter to a Christian Nation," No. 11 on the New York Times nonfiction list on October 15.
There is a "huge visibility and political empowerment of religion. President George W. Bush uses his first veto to deny funding for stem cell research and scientists everywhere are horrified," he said in an interview.
Religious polarization is part of many world conflicts, he said, including those involving Israel and Iran, "but it's never discussed. I consider it the story of our time, what religion is doing to us. But there are very few people calling a spade a spade."
His "Letter," a blunt 96-page pocket-sized book condensing arguments against belief in quick-fire volleys, appeared on the Times list just ahead of "The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins, a scientist at Oxford University and long-time atheist.
In addition, Harris' "The End of Faith," a 2004 work which prompted his "Letter" as a response to critics, is holding the No. 13 Times spot among nonfiction paperbacks.
Publishers Weekly said the business has seen "a striking number of impassioned critiques of religion -- any religion, but Christianity in particular," a probably inevitable development given "the super-soaking of American politics and culture with religion in recent years."
Paul Kurtz, founder of the Council for Secular Humanism and publisher of Free Inquiry magazine, said, "The American public is really disturbed about the role of religion in U.S. government policy, particularly with the Bush administration and the breakdown of church-state separation, and secondly with the conflict in the Mideast."
They are turning to free thought and secular humanism and publishers have recognized a taste for that, he added.
"I've published 45 books, many critical of religion," Kurtz said. "I think in America we have this notion of tolerance ... it was considered bad taste to criticize religion. But I think now there are profound questions about age-old hatreds."
The Rev. James Halstead, chairman of the Department of Religious Studies at Chicago's DePaul University, says the phenomenon is really "a ripple caused by the book publishing industry."
"These books cause no new thought or moral commitment. The arguments are centuries old," he told Reuters. Some believers, he added, "are no better. Their conception of God, the Divine-Human-World relationship are much too simplistic and materialistic."
Too often, he said, the concept "God" is misused "to legitimate the self and to beat up other people ... to rehash that same old theistic and atheistic arguments is a waste of time, energy and paper."
Dr. Timothy Larsen, professor of theology at Wheaton College in Illinois, says any growth in interest in atheism is a reflection of the strength of religion -- the former being a parasite that feeds off the latter.
That happened late in the 19th century America when an era of intense religious conviction gave rise to voices like famed agnostic Robert Ingersoll, he said.
For Christianity, he said, "It's very important for people of faith to realize how unsettling and threatening their posture and rhetoric and practice can feel to others. So it's an opportunity for the church to look at itself and say 'we have done things ... that make other people uncomfortable.' It is an opportunity for dialogue."
Larsen, author of the soon-to-be-published "Crisis of Doubt," added that in some sense atheism is "a disappointment with God and with the church. Some of these are people we wounded that we should be handling pastorally rather than with aggressive knockdown debate."
These are also probably some of the same people Harris says he's hearing from after his two books.
"Many, many readers feel utterly isolated in their communities," he said. "They are surrounded by cult members, from their point of view, and are unable to disclose their feelings."
"I get a lot of e-mail just expressing incredible relief that they are not alone ... relieved that I'm writing something that couldn't be said," Harris added.
Or a civilization devises a system of morals and then invents a higher power to give them enforcement.
Try a simple logical exercise: If God said murder is okay, would you agree that it is okay? If no, then is murder wrong because God said it's wrong, or is murder simply wrong?
For another example, slavery was allowed under God's word (the Bible) and existed for a very long time in Christian societies. Today it is not acceptable in Christian societies. God's word -- and his morals regarding slavery -- remained the same, but the society evolved and decided that slavery was no longer moral despite God's word.
I don't get this.
Not sure if God "gives a damn about us or not"?
After sending His Son to die of the cross to take all of our punishment, just to redeem us and win us BACK to Himself?
Could there be any question?
".......and the breakdown of church-state separation......."
OK, my BS meter just went off.
How, exactly, has Pres. Bush "broken down" separation of church and state? They don't bother to elaborate.
Agitators who know how to make a buck find a market in U.S.
OK but don't get "Left Behind".
Therefore my heart shall resound like a harp for Moab, And my inner being for Kir Heres. Isaiah 16:11 (New King James Version)
Gee, that read differently than what you posted, didn't it? Let's check the next one.
Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, When the Egyptians pressed your bosom Because of your youthful breasts.Ezekiel 23:21 (New King James Version)
Hmmm, well you really hosed up that one, didn't you! Next?
27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?" 2 Kings 18:27 (New King James Version)
Hey, you seem to have gotten that one right at least. Congratulations, you scored a 34%. That's a failing grade just about anywhere.
Yes, there is a lot of wisdom in the Bible, but fools are allowed to post nonsense about it in spite of it.
Honestly, no Christian has ever been able to explain this to me, and I've read a LOT of apologetics. Jesus is God, correct? God is an omnipotent, omniscient and eternal divine being, right?
So God comes to Earth in his aspect of Jesus Christ, knowing what will happen. This divine and eternal being does a lot of good on Earth, then is subjected to physical death for stirring things up too much. God goes back home to continue his rule.
Now, given that God is omnipotent and eternal, it seems that a little crucifixion wouldn't seem like much to him. At worst it was a slightly unpleasant end to a business trip.
So the end question is, where is the sacrifice?
I have to agree. I doubt most of these books are sincere scholarship, just the authors looking to exploit a market. I haven't bought any of these recent books.
There is a "huge visibility and political empowerment of religion. President George W. Bush uses his first veto to deny funding for stem cell research and scientists everywhere are horrified," he said in an interview...
His "Letter," a blunt 96-page pocket-sized book condensing arguments against belief in quick-fire volleys, appeared on the Times list just ahead of "The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins, a scientist at Oxford University and long-time atheist...
These are also probably some of the same people Harris says he's hearing from after his two books.
"Many, many readers feel utterly isolated in their communities," he said. "They are surrounded by cult members, from their point of view, and are unable to disclose their feelings."
"I get a lot of e-mail just expressing incredible relief that they are not alone ...
Uh, if Harris is right, we are ALL quite, quite alone. So "lonely" atheist, stop whining and take it like the random, pointless freak of a mindless, meaningless universe that you believe yourself to be.
Morality is entirely esoteric...
Plato’s Euthyphro is a great illustration. Socrates advances the argument to Euthyphro that, piety to the gods, who all want conflicting devotions and/or actions from humans, is impossible. (Socrates exposed the pagan esoteric sophistry.)
Likewise, morals are such a construction of idols used by the Left as a rationale for them to demand compliance to their wishes in politics, which most often are a skewed mess of fallacies in logic. Morals are a deceptive replacement for the avoidance of sin.
An atheist who says I am immoral is no different than a rabbi or preacher saying I am a sinner. They just slap a new label on it hoping nobody will notice - - they replace the idea of "avoiding sin" with "morals."
Try an experiment. The next time you are confronted by a neo-pagan, New Age animal rights eco-fascist who claims humans were not "designed" or "meant" to eat animal flesh, ask them about the origin of their creationist philosophy. Inherent in such a claim is the idea that there is a "designer" or some divinity of "meaning" in human existence. Would they apply this to abortion, embryonic stem cells, or homosexuality? No?
You know, the great atheist "boom" of the 1960's combined with "mind expanding" drugs gave birth to "New Age Spirituality" -- another religion. And a very primitive, irrational one at that. Perhaps, scientifically, the human brain is hardwired for religion. This is likely for a good reason. Whether one is a Christian, like myself, or any of a number of advanced religions, they are better off for the fact in this life and likely beyond. The more primitive religions don't always work so well for the world community (ie. the murder cult within Islam or the similar Aztec rites of sacrifice).
Feel better?
It is simplistic to argue that the Bible explicitly commends or permits slavery. The Mosaic code speaks of slaves as being such for 7 years, at the end of which the slave was freed. If the slave wished to stay with his master, then the master could if he wished pearce the slave's ear with an awl which made him a slave for life.(Our nation's beginnings included the use of Indentured servants by some folks who worked usually for a period of time no greater than 7 years to pay for their passages to the New World, an acknowledgement of the Hebrew system by our Puritan forebears)
The NT did not condone slavery per se but rather taught that slaves should remain subject to their masters even though they had become Christians. It did teach however that in Christ all were one, "There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, all are one in HIM"!
So much for scriptural approval...The whole of the Bible speaks of the available freedom from the SLAVERY from sin.... thru Christ Jesus!
Atheism elevates the reason of man over the wisdom of God...and that makes the atheist fell superior. And there is no accountability for one's actions.
Where do I begin. It's a great question but one that astounds me no less.
I don't know how you could describe being crucified as "slightly unpleasant".
It has been called one of the most horrific and painful forms of execution invented.
And this was only the beginning.
He went on to take the punishment for the sins of all mankind, so that He could purchase our redemption...not because He had to, but because He loved us.
This is beyond incredible.
Can you imagine someone you commit an unspeakable crime against, such as murdering his entire family coming to your trial and offering himself to die in the electric chair so you could go free?
What God did through Christ is such a magnificant act of mercy toward us, that come Judgment Day, there will be absolutely no question that God has done everything possible to save us, those who reject salvation have nobody to blame but themselves.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Our concept of God comes from Judaism, specifically Abraham which Christianity, Judaism and Islam all claim as a patriarch--but only Christians regard Jesus as the Son of God. Although I do not believe Islam to be a legitimate religious belief because of its inherent Mohammad-inspired violence, I am somewhat of a universalism Christian in that I believe everyone who strives for a Jesus-like life of goodness and mercy has a chance at salvation but the question today is how many are leading such a life? I think that God the Father is mighty P.O.ed with us in allowing Satan so much control (i.e. look at deteriorating American families, entertainment venues where sex and violence dominate, porn, drugs, alcohol, crime, AIDs, etc., etc., and, giving the devil his due, such avoidance of evil things is the only reason that I give Muslims credit with certain religious tenets and practices). So the question really is a question.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
The DBM have been pusing atheism since Time published a cover story titled "God is Dead" back in the 1960s.
Atheism IS a religion, or worldview. It does not get a pass just because it elevates man to position of God. The playing field is level.
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