Our correspondent at The Economist reviews what looks to a provocative new book by Philipp Blom, A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment.
Blom sets his book around the happenings of an exceptional Parisian salon — that of Baron Paul Thierry d’Holbach — who hosted the likes of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Denis [...]
Tags:A Wicked Company·atheism·Baron Paul Thierry d’Holbach·commonsense dualism·counter-Enlightenment·David Hume·Denis Diderot·enlightenment·godless·magical thinking·materialism·mechanistic·Parisian salon·Phillipp Blom·Rousseau·soul beliefs·Voltaire
Anyone studying religion will sooner or later read Sigmund Freud’s classic, The Future of an Illusion (1927). I was engaged in my fifth reading today and came across this passage:
Thus I must contradict you when you go on to argue that men are completely unable to do without the consolation of the religious illusion, that [...]
Tags:atheism·fear·helplessness·lack of telos·loss of parents·loss of protection·meaninglessness·neurosis·religious delusion·religious illusion·replacement with god·secular·secularization·separation anxiety·Sigmund Freud·The Future of an Illusion
Among the non-academic public, there is a general perception that university professors are irreligious. As someone who has long been in and around academics, I have shared this perception and commented on it just the other day. The actual numbers, it turns out, tell a different and surprising story.
In a recent article, Amarnath Amarasingam discusses [...]
Tags:academics·agnosticism·Amarnath Amarasingam·atheism·biologists·college professors·evolutionary atheism·evolutionary theism·intellectuals·intelligentsia·John Haught·Neil Gross·professoriate·pyschologists·religiosity·religious·skepticism·Solon Simmons·university professors
This tale begins with Dr. Michael Blume, an evolutionary biologist who writes Homo religiosus — The Natural History of Religion. His early studies focused on “neurotheology,” or the myriad ways in which naturally evolved aspects of brain-mind give rise to supernatural beliefs. His current studies focus on the second pillar of evolutionary success — reproductive [...]
Tags:Bristol University·Craig James·Damascus Road Conversion·Daniel Dennett·Explaining Religion Conference·fertility·Homo religiosus·memes·memetics·Michael Blume·mind virus·neurotheology·Pauline moment·Ralph Tanner·reproduction·reproductive fitness·Richard Dawkins·Sue Blackmore·The Biology of Religion·The Meme Machine·The Religion Virus·The Social Ecology of Religion·Vernon Reynolds·virus of the mind
In a recent post, I commented on a recent Pew Forum survey finding that atheists-agnostics have greater knowledge of religions in general and Christianity in particular than do the believers in those faiths. This has ruffled more than a few feathers in the communities of the faithful, especially American Christians who have always displayed a [...]
Tags:Adam Hamilton·agnosticism·agnostics·Alan Cooperman·atheism·atheists·Epiphenom·explaining atheism·explaining unbelief·historical amnesia·intelligence tests·IQ scores·Mitchell Landsberg·Pew Forum·Pew Forum on Religion·religious ignorance·Satoshi Kanazawa·search for truth·survey of religious knowledge
Among scientists, physicists seem to be the most likely to believe in some version of an all powerful sentient being or force. While very few of them are willing to say what such a being or force might be, religionists are always keen to claim such statements as “evidence” for their gods.
I have always understood [...]
Tags:Big Bang·deism·design·laws of physics·physicists·Richard Dawkins·Stephen Hawking·theism
As most social and critical theorists know, Karl Marx asserted that the “criticism of religion is the premise of all criticism” (Critique of Hegel, 1843). This is a startling foundational statement coming from Marx, who also thought that the criticism of religion was complete — a key accomplishment which enabled him to proceed with his [...]
Tags:Christopher Craig Brittain·critical theory·criticism·Critique of Hegel·Essence of Christianity·evolutionary history·Frankfurt School·Friedrich Nietzsche·God is Dead·God is Not Dead·historical materialism·human constructions·Karl Marx·Lectures on the Essence of Religion·Ludwig Feuerbach·Marxism·Max Horkheimer·Max Horkheimer on Religion·metaphysical truths·mystification·Sigmund Freud·social theory·supernaturalism
Over at HuffPo Religion, Princeton’s dean of religious affairs explains how entering freshmen can “find their religion” during their four years at college by asking (and attempting to answer) three questions:
1. What do you believe?
2. What does your neighbor believe?
3. How do those beliefs affect the choices you and your neighbor are making about how [...]
Tags:college freshmen·entering class·finding religion·interrogating religion·losing religion·Paul Raushenbush·Princeton dean·skepticism
In an odd article that attempts to situate Anne Rice’s very public proclamation that she is leaving the Catholic Church within the larger context of American Christianity, Los Angeles Times religion reporter William Lobdell makes two apparently contradictory claims:
American Christianity is not well, and there’s evidence to indicate that its condition is more critical [...]
Tags:American Christianity·Anne Rice·atheists·Catholic Church·Christian diversity·Christian God·Christian nation·Christianity in America·Christopher Hitchens·Civil Religion·Cordoba Center·evangelicals·exclusivism·Ground Zero·intolerance·Islam·Islamic center·Max Fisher·mosque·Muslim·nationalism·Pew Forum·religious diversity·religious freedom·sacred space·Stephen Merino·unaffiliated·United States·William Lobdell
As many know, Christopher Hitchens (the cheeky British gadfly of God) has esophageal cancer. Although he announced this and took a break to undergo treatment, I noticed last week he had resumed writing some columns. Yesterday, I found this recent video interview over at The Atlantic; it is simultaneously heart-wrenching and moving.
It is heart-wrenching because [...]
Tags:afterlife·atheist·cancer·Christopher Hitchens·David Hume·deathbed·gadfly of God·God is Not Great·Hitch-22·immortality·James Boswell·Jeffrey Goldberg·prayer·Samuel Johnston·Scottish Enlightenment·The Atlantic·video interview
