Richard Dawkins & Rowan Williams throw down
A couple of days ago it was the feast of the Archangels, the messengers, and today I saw some news stories that were about getting messages across ...
There was a story in The Guardian about Richard Dawkins on a speaking tour of US universities - Atheists arise: Dawkins spreads the A-word among America's unbelievers - which says in part ...
Britain's leading atheist is spearheading a campaign in America to challenge the dominance of religion in every day life and in politics, insisting that the millions of US godless deserve to be heard too ..... Religion is palpable in US schools, places of work and public institutions. God is invoked by soldiers and politicians in a way that would seem inappropriate in Britain. George Bush used God as one of the reasons for invading Iraq. In Congress, where godlessness can equate with being unelectable, only one representative, Pete Stark, is prepared to admit to being a non-believer. According to a study published last year by the University of Minnesota, Americans distrust atheists more than any other minority group, including homosexuals, recent immigrants or Muslims ....
I noticed Dawkins has a debate set for October 3 at The Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham, Alabama, with Dr. John Lennox, Reader in Mathematics and Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science, Green College, University of Oxford ... the topic - the existence of God. You can read more about it here.
As it turns out, Dawkins is not alone in giving lectures .... another story I saw was about Rowan Williams, who will be returning to Swansea, Wales, where he will give a public lecture at the university there on October 13, titled "How To Misunderstand Religion" .... the lecture will coincidentally address the religious arguments against popular scientific beliefs such as those promoted by Dawkins ..... Williams to challenge Richard Dawkins’ ‘God Delusion’.
I can't help wondering if these talks/debates do any good - is each side only preaching to its own choir and the message lost on everyone else? The third news story I saw today was also about messengers and messages ......
San Francisco's Grace Cathedral welcomes Presiding Bishop
Divine messengers "act to drive out fear," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in her homily marking the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels observed September 30 at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. "That may be the best test of the messenger's source," she added. "When the message is about fear or hate, we can be sure that it comes from an unholy messenger" ....
You can read her full sermon here.
There was a story in The Guardian about Richard Dawkins on a speaking tour of US universities - Atheists arise: Dawkins spreads the A-word among America's unbelievers - which says in part ...
Britain's leading atheist is spearheading a campaign in America to challenge the dominance of religion in every day life and in politics, insisting that the millions of US godless deserve to be heard too ..... Religion is palpable in US schools, places of work and public institutions. God is invoked by soldiers and politicians in a way that would seem inappropriate in Britain. George Bush used God as one of the reasons for invading Iraq. In Congress, where godlessness can equate with being unelectable, only one representative, Pete Stark, is prepared to admit to being a non-believer. According to a study published last year by the University of Minnesota, Americans distrust atheists more than any other minority group, including homosexuals, recent immigrants or Muslims ....
I noticed Dawkins has a debate set for October 3 at The Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham, Alabama, with Dr. John Lennox, Reader in Mathematics and Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science, Green College, University of Oxford ... the topic - the existence of God. You can read more about it here.
As it turns out, Dawkins is not alone in giving lectures .... another story I saw was about Rowan Williams, who will be returning to Swansea, Wales, where he will give a public lecture at the university there on October 13, titled "How To Misunderstand Religion" .... the lecture will coincidentally address the religious arguments against popular scientific beliefs such as those promoted by Dawkins ..... Williams to challenge Richard Dawkins’ ‘God Delusion’.
I can't help wondering if these talks/debates do any good - is each side only preaching to its own choir and the message lost on everyone else? The third news story I saw today was also about messengers and messages ......
San Francisco's Grace Cathedral welcomes Presiding Bishop
Divine messengers "act to drive out fear," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in her homily marking the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels observed September 30 at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. "That may be the best test of the messenger's source," she added. "When the message is about fear or hate, we can be sure that it comes from an unholy messenger" ....
You can read her full sermon here.
posted by crystal | 4:52 PM
6 Comments:
You know, I really do believe that people have a right to say what they want, even if it makes them look like idiots. (One British writer put it that only in the US do people have the God-given right to make a damned fool of themselves.) But I think both people on the God Delusion debate need to chill. On the one hand, people like Dawkins are no better than the foursquare fundies across the alley from me, who keep trying to get me to go there. On the other, people like Rowan just give him free publicity.
Hi Garpu,
Yep, I think people should be able to say whatever they think too. That's a great thing about here, that everyone, whether we agree with them or not, gets the opportunity to give their honest opinion - like the president of Iran speaking at Columbia.
I was just wondering if debates change anyone's mind, or if they're more a kind of entertainment like a sporting event, where each side roots for their representative but no one changes sides.
Even then, maybe it's worth it just to have all the opinions out there, extant.
Ack! Dawkins! My arch-nemesis rears his head yet again. ;o)
Did I tell you how he made me give up my 'Discover' magazine subscription? He was vicariously stalking me through their blatantly anti-religion articles. It's a long, sad, and scary tale of woe and deception. I won't bore you with the details.
I hear him in my head sometimes.
don't tell.
I hear him in my head sometimes.
... that explains so much :-)
"Americans distrust atheists more than any other minority group, including homosexuals, recent immigrants or Muslims ...."
Wow, they must really, really, really, really, rally hate atheists then!
I don't really know anything about the "debate." I know atheists - or any "ists" - can be just as strident and self-righteous as religious people. You see it in political debates as well.
I am concerned, though, about religion having too much say in our country right now. I find post 9/11 America a pretty scary place - kind of early 18th century or something.
I don't really know any religious perople in real life - am I wrong in thiinking most people are not believers? On last Easter Sunday, not a single Jesus movie on TV yet the president wields his beliefs like a mace .... it's schizophrenic.
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