[lbo-talk] The God Delusion

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 10/24/06, www.leninology. blogspot.com <leninology at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yoshie wrote:
>
> > For that purpose, it is generally not advisable to debate theological
> > questions with theists.  For, after all, theology is only relevant to
> > believers.  Instead, we ought to approach all religions mainly as
> > social phenomena, ways for people to organize themselves into social
> > networks for the purpose of mutual aid and political mobilization, and
> > study various theological views only in so far as they aid the
> > understanding of religions as social phenomena.  Once we understand
> > religions in this way, we can then see which congregations have to be
> > a part of any potential coalition on the Left.
>
> Dawkins is one of a few liberal British commentators who see religion
> as uniquely dangerous. There was a documentary recently by British
> Labour party member and actor Tony Robinson about the End
> Timers which, like a similar documentary by Dawkins,
> tended to blame every single problem on those who believed
> too firmly in religion.  The stuff by former CIA agent
> Robert Baer describing suicide attacks as a 'cult of death' is in
> this vein too.  Sam Harris takes this position to its ultimate logic.
> Dawkins and Robinson are merely misguided, of course,
> whereas Sam Harris is a despicable piece of shit.

I haven't read Sam Harris myself, but Alexander Saxton (who has his
own book on religion out:
<http://monthlyreview.org/rathp.htm>) says that Harris pretends to
reject all religions and proceeds to "a vitriolic and _selective_
polemic against Islam."  Then, to top it all off, he, no consistent
naturalist, ends up peddling a wooly notion of spirituality.  Who
might eat up such an unappertizing mash?  Saxton surmises:

<blockquote>The constituency apparently aimed at -- which we can
expect to be increasing numerically on both shores of the (North)
Atlantic -- is that younger, computer-educated, affluent (or aspirant)
set, doing well (or hoping to do so) in the information age, who style
themselves secular realists, yet remain awash in virtual
spiritualities.  Such folk might be expected to feel some uneasiness
at collaborating with religious fundamentalists of the Bush-Republican
type.  Harris rather subtly invites them to focus their transcendental
hopes on the global -- and neo-liberal -- free market upon which our
upcoming World Order (presumably) will be based . . . but only after
the cleansing "war with Islam" has been brought to satisfactory
conclusion.  ("Faith in the 'War with Islam,'"
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/saxton191006.html>)</blockquote>
-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>