Just found an awesome site for freethinkers! Maybe some of you are already aware of it, but for those who haven't seen it, check it out here. It's called ebonmusings. Lots of great stuff in defense of freethought/humanism/atheism. Also has science info and
dozens of links.
0 Kudo
Cool Site--New to Me
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 agnohumanist |
Cool Site--New to Me |
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Posts: 88 03/30/08 22:05:23 |
Last Edited By: agnohumanist 03/30/08 22:08:17.
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neuralgourmet |
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Posts: 64 03/31/08 00:01:33 |
He's really good. He's participated in, and hosted, Carnival of the Liberals many times.
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Skeptigator |
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Posts: 158 03/31/08 09:51:32 |
The author's name is Adam Lee and he also runs the Humanist Symposium which is a blog carnival. I have actually contributed to one of the carnivals in the
past, I think it was this post, http://skeptigator.com/2007/07/15/on-what-basis-do-you-decide-what-is-good/
The current symposium is at Mind On Fire, http://www.mindonfire.com/2008/03/30/humanist-symposium-17/ The Humanist Symposium home page and guidelines: http://www.daylightatheism.org/symposium/ BlogCarnival submission form: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_1412.html E-mail to contribute an entry or volunteer to host: ebonmusings@gmail.com |
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agnohumanist |
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Posts: 88 03/31/08 19:28:10 |
Thanks, skeptigator and neuralgormet, for the further info on the site and author. I am impressed with what I've seen of that site so far. Very
well-reasoned, well-written articles. Here's another thing I was intrigued by this weekend. Just caught "Speaking of Faith" on NPR on my car
radio when the host was interviewing--strangely enough for a show of that name--a humanist/atheist! The conversation--at least the part I listened to--was
very good. Unfortunately, I was able to listen only a few minutes, but I plan to find it on the show's archives and listen to the whole thing.
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neuralgourmet |
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Posts: 64 03/31/08 21:18:12 |
agnohumanist wrote: Hmm... You don't mean Greg Epstein (the "Humanist chaplain") do you? [On edit: I see you do. Here's a direct link to the MP3 for anyone who wants to listen.] Ugh. I don't have much respect for him as he likes to bandy about the ridiculous phrase "atheist fundamentalist": CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A group of renowned Humanists, atheists and agnostics will gather at Harvard in April, to take on an unlikely opponent: atheist "fundamentalists." It's not clear from that PR that he's the one using the phrase "atheist fundamentalist" but he was also quoted in a NY Times article (which I can't seem to get to anymore) explicitly using the phrase. Here was PZ's take on Epstein (with which I agree): Greg Epstein promoted humanism in a kind of sermon, and he ended it by singing us a song. He speaks well, but I am not enthusiastic; he's basically advocating a new view of the enlightenment that adopts almost all of the apparatus of a religion except god-belief. Maybe that would work for a future post-theist generation, but for me, in a place where religion still has a strong hold and to which I react against, it's a bit creepy. I don't want to see the enlightenment coopted by a new religion, I want to see a cleaner break, with new institutions that owe little allegiance to the old. Unfortunately, atheist fundamentalist is a term that's taken off. I'm not quite as uppity as PZ, and I believe Dawkins makes a fundamental error in conflating religious belief with religious institution, yet I've been branded an atheist fundamentalist often enough and all too often by so-called liberal Christians. It's a shame too, because I do think human beings need some of the things religion provides such as community, fellowship, tradition, spirituality (in the sense of wonder and awe of the universe). We most certainly don't need religion to have those things though.
Last Edited By: neuralgourmet 03/31/08 21:23:53.
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agnohumanist |
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Posts: 88 04/01/08 19:53:33 |
Neural, thanks for the info on this guy. As I said, I only caught a few minutes of the broadcast (and haven't had time to listen to the archive), so I
didn't hear it all. If he uses that term "fundamentalist atheist," I'll be disappointed like you. Most times I've heard or read that
phrase, it's used in a straw man attack--very unfairly and misleadingly. Gotta tell you, though, it was great just to hear a self-professed
atheist/humanist on a mostly religious show--and he was treated very well by the host, Christa Trippet (sp?), at least in the part I heard. I figure that most
people who listen to that show are religious, so it was probably a great opportunity for a humanist to present a reasoned view of things in a
nonconfrontational situation.
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Narly9999 |
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Posts: 36 04/02/08 21:00:12 |
I love the opening on that website. could read that stuff for hours..
It's not what you believe but what you believe to believe in.
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neuralgourmet |
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Posts: 64 04/03/08 06:22:29 |
agnohumanist wrote: I had a chance to listen to the full show and I have to agree with you. It was pleasant to hear a decidedly atheist voice within the context of a show that is directed to believers and I agree that the host handled the discussion very well. He didn't use the "atheist fiundamentalist" smear although he did reassert once that he believes there are some atheists who accuse liberal/moderate believers of enabling fundamentalists (his language was stronger) but it was a small part of the interview and overall I think he's a positive force for promoting acceptance and understanding of humanism. As for whether or not he does the same for atheism in general I'm not so sanguine, but I also think we need all sorts of voices, even those I might disagree with. I just wish he went to as great lengths to understand what Dawkins, PZ, Harris, Dennett (especially Dennett!) are saying as he does to understand believers. BTW: Did anyone hear Austin Dacey on Point of Inquiry? From POI's website: Austin Dacey argues that secularism has lost its sense of moral direction, ceding ground to religious positions it never should have. He explores the impact this has on the secular left's criticism of the New Atheists, and its approach to radical Islam. He discusses the reasons secular liberalism doesn't ally itself with the secularizing elements in the Islamic world, and why he thinks it should, also addressing "Islamophobia" and the "American Taliban." He explains why questions of conscience and morality, whether religious or secular in origin, should not be excluded from public discourse -- contrary to prevailing secular liberal opinion -- and also in what sense they should (and should not) merely be matters of private belief and freedom of conscience. I wasn't familiar with Dacey beforehand but found myself agreeing with him quite a bit. Very interesting discussion and maybe something to talk about at
the meeting some time? Here's a link to the MP3.
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