Not a lot for background reading this week, due to the holidays. I won’t even be there on Monday. But, I think this is a really important topic and I wanted to link to a few articles and opinions I’ve come across, even though I read neither humanist nor religious blogs/magazines/etc. (Yes, I know there is a vast literature these days on atheism, like Dawkins and Harris. I figure you are familiar with that.)
Links –
- Intolerance, whether targeted against atheists, or perpetrated by them - is what I was hoping we could discuss how to stop.
. - A philosopher pleads for an Atheism 2.0 [Link fixed - oops]- that atheists pick out the best parts of religion and learn from it! A must-view, 19-minute video lecture by philosopher Alain de Botton.
. - The crushingly large percentages of Americans that believe in God, pray regularly, etc. My point is not that they are right, of course, but that religion in America is not fading away. Still, as you probably know, the proportion of us who are ”non-religious” (20%) including atheist (around 3%) is the highest ever recorded in surveys.
. - Is the uptick in atheism a reaction to the religious right-wing? Yeah, likely.
. - Can we be spiritual without religion? This scientist defends the idea.
. - A thoughtful defense of Christian biblical teachings minus the obsessive literalism we hate (and our crazed Christmas season consumerism). I recommend.
Enjoy your meeting! Jim will have copies of the new schedule for January – April.
Santa may make a guest appearance. Can’t guarantee anything though–don’t know that he’s really a reliable fellow LOL