it was pretty hard not to notice that the 20th century was probably the worst one yet, and that the big causes of all the death and destruction had rather little to do with religion.
Naziism and soviet-style communism are dead and burried, but Christian fundamentalists are still pushing creationism and morality laws while their Muslim counterparts have a tendancy to explode from time to time. The great troubles of the 20th century were rooted in zealotry and dogmatism, which are the elements of religion that the current crop of atheist authors find most objectionable. Religion is just the mask they're wearing this week.
One might similarly ask why religion itself is doing such a booming book trade lately . Are the theists worried that their own story - have faith in God and everything will be OK - is being proven irrelevant? This is glib, of course, but only as much so as Shweder's take on the Enlightenment.
"The most obvious answer is that the armies of disbelief have been provoked. Articulate secularists may be merely reacting to the many recent incitements from religious zealots at home and abroad, as fanatics and infidels have their ways of keeping each other in business."
Yes, it is the most obvious answer, which makes me wonder why you summarily dismissed it.
I think actually, whether or not he's straight on on all points, brings up some good points to think about, even to say he's wrong. One should never dismiss points on such serious subjects or with such serious claims without truly thinking the matter over, as it does one a disservice in letting one's brain go unused and unexercised.
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it was pretty hard not to notice that the 20th century
was probably the worst one yet, and that the big causes of all the
death and destruction had rather little to do with religion.
Naziism and soviet-style communism are dead and burried, but Christian fundamentalists are still pushing creationism and morality laws while their Muslim counterparts have a tendancy to explode from time to time. The great troubles of the 20th century were rooted in zealotry and dogmatism, which are the elements of religion that the current crop of atheist authors find most objectionable. Religion is just the mask they're wearing this week.
One might similarly ask why religion itself is doing such a booming book trade lately . Are the theists worried that their own story - have faith in God and everything will be OK - is being proven irrelevant? This is glib, of course, but only as much so as Shweder's take on the Enlightenment.
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That's got to be one of my favorite lines in quite some time.
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"The most obvious answer is that the armies of disbelief have been
provoked. Articulate secularists may be merely reacting to the
many recent incitements from religious zealots at home and abroad,
as fanatics and infidels have their ways of keeping each other in
business."
Yes, it is the most obvious answer, which makes me wonder why you summarily dismissed it.
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