Via Chris Hallquist, an interesting paper by the atheist philosopher Simon Blackburn, titled "Religion and Respect" (24pp. PDF).
Worth noting as an abbreviated summary of the paper is the H.L. Mencken quote referenced by a commenter on Hallquist's post:
"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."
Hey Jim, you need to catch up on your stack of books! I'm sure that somewhere in there is Louise Antony's "Philosophers Without Gods", from which the Blackburn piece is taken. I blogged about it here last August. I really think that it belongs in the canon of "New Atheist" books, along with the works of Dennett, Dawkins, Grayling, Hitchens, Harris, Carrier et al.
ReplyDeleteI don't have it and it wasn't on my wish list--thanks very much for the pointer, it's now on my wish list at the "highest" priority.
ReplyDelete