[This week in my Introduction to Philosophy course, we’re reading Galileo’s “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina” — published exactly 400 years ago — in which he argues that free inquiry in the sciences is compatible with religion rightly understood. Here is a re-posting of my Galileo and the Modern Compromise.] IN HIS OPEN LETTER […]
Galileo on religion and science (Introduction to Philosophy this week) Read More »
Theist vs. Atheist — What Should You Believe? John C. Wright and I have completed our series of articles debating key issues in religion. The full seven-round series is available at EveryJoe.com’s dedicated page and here at my Theist vs. Atheist page. Translations into Portuguese are forthcoming. Here is the Table of Contents with links
The full Theist vs. Atheist debate series Read More »
In my Philosophy of Religion course, this week we are reading excerpts from the Koran and Seyyid Qutb’s influential Milestones. The Koran has many bloodthirsty passages as well as many suggesting qualified live-and-let-live policies. So we take up the question of whether Islam is essentially a religion of violence or peace. Qutb offered an influential
Seyyid Qutb and Islamism this week Read More »
The opening of my final column in the Theist vs. Atheist debate series at EveryJoe: “To evaluate religion’s track record we need to specify our evaluative benchmarks and identify whether we are evaluating religion generically or a particular religion. “A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, and my primary benchmark is this: Does it
Religion and the Verdict of History [new Theist vs. Atheist series column] Read More »
The opening of John C. Wright’s final column in the Theist vs. Atheist series debate at EveryJoe: “The question for this final column of the debate between Catholic and Atheist is this: Has religion been on balance good or bad for humanity? “Alert readers may have noticed in previous columns that nearly every question contains
The opening of my latest column in the Theist vs. Atheist debate series at EveryJoe: “We live in good times for religion and politics. The great majority of us are free to practice or not religion as we choose. That has been rare in human history, as politicians have generally enjoyed using religion as a
Is Political Evil Built Into Religion? [new Theist vs. Atheist series column] Read More »
The opening of John C. Wright’s latest column in the Theist vs. Atheist series debate at EveryJoe: “The question for this week is whether religion is good or bad for politics. “The wording of the question is charmingly misleading, akin to asking whether economic theory is good or bad for politics, without bothering to distinguish
Is Religion Good or Bad for Politics? [new Theist vs. Atheist series column] Read More »
The opening of my latest column in the Theist vs. Atheist debate series at EveryJoe: “The quest for a meaningful life comes naturally to us. As infants we delight in exploring the world and developing our powers — hearing and seeing and tasting, crawling, eye-hand coordination, vocalizing, and social interaction with parents, siblings, and family
Making Life Meaningful Without Religion [new Theist vs. Atheist series column] Read More »