“How would it affect us if the critisism were proved correct?” ["At least as much evil has been done by secular nations as religious ones."] – Aaron
To begin with, the notion of ‘evil’ is weak at the very least. Ignoring the term and/or supplanting it with something like ‘ignorant acts’ results in something quite unlike criticism as I see it. It more appears to match reality as such. On Nov 18, 3:03 pm, Aaron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > "At least as much evil has been done by secular nations as religious > ones." > > This critique of secularism is more insightful than we usually give it > credit for. > > Sure, the simplistic version is easy to counter: Look closely at any > "evil" secular state and you'll see that the problem is not > secularism, but a quasi-religious commitment to some ideology or > personality. As Sam Harris famously quips, "I know of no society in > recorded history that ever suffered because its people became too > reasonable." > > But the real force of this criticism is its implicit indictment of > human nature. Without a robust religious tradition (so the argument > goes), people will inevitably attach themselves to something else, be > it a personality, nationality, political ideology or racial/ethnic > group. The attachment will be every bit as irrational and dangerous > as religion. Possibly more. That's just how people work. > > This criticism is not so easy to reject. We can point to all the > individuals who get along just fine without religious convictions, but > that's beside the point. A people does not always behave like an > individual. We have Europe, I suppose, but the jury is still out > there. Will liberal values hold up against the passion of Islam? > Will "liberalism" itself become quasi-religious, persecuting the un- > PC? > > Theoretically, this is an emperical question. It says nothing about > the objective truth of any religion, of course, but it might inform > our politics or social impact strategies if it were true. Most of us > are not merely interested in getting rid of religion. We want to > improve society. How would it affect us if the critisism were proved > correct? > > Aaron --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
