Thursday, May 24, 2007

Kate's Letter Review

Hey,

You can find my review of Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation here.

I was actually kind of disappointed by this book, and I'm gonna try and read something from the other side now. I consider myself agnostic and have always been pretty critical of organized religion, but for some reason, Harris' book didn't really fuel those feelings in me; it kind of pushed me in the other direction. I think it will be easier to think about once I hear from the opposing side. The most important thing that it made me realize is just how pointless this whole battle is. He says that interfaith approaches don't work because by the very principles of religion a devout believer of one religion is going to think that every other religion is incorrect. But this is the exact same way the war between atheists and religious right is, and the battle between evolution and creationism. For one to be right, the other must be wrong. There's no middle ground, so I think the real issue should be, how can we even begin to talk about this in a civilized way? I'm starting to wonder if we can at all. What do you think?

Kate

3 comments:

chickenpox said...

wow kate always finishes the assignment like half a week earlier than everyone else.

what a baller.

chickenpox said...

^ that was alex

Lauren said...

I've been reading Dawkins, and he makes a big point about how you can't have a "Catholic child" or a "Jewish child" etc because children are not old enough to make up their minds about religion. This makes me think that if children are taught to think critically and think for themselves (so that they are capable of giving up the book of Genesis OR the Origin of Species) that maybe those children could come up with a civilized discussion on the subject.

I agree with you, that it is close to impossible to have any resolution to the argument.