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TechnoratiWhat about the American tradition of respect for believers? "As a consequence of our silence on these matters, we live in a country in which a person cannot get elected president if he openly doubts the existence of heaven and hell." Harris looks at this reality with sheer incredulity: "In our next presidential election, an actor who reads his Bible would almost certainly defeat a rocket scientist who does not. Could there be any clearer indication that we are allowing unreason and otherworldliness to govern our affairs?"
In a fascinating section, Harris attacks the fragile house of religious liberalism, directing his scrutiny to Paul Tillich, one of the most perversely influential theologians in the history of the Christian church. Tillich, a native of Germany who taught at the University of Chicago and Harvard Divinity School, exerted an inordinate influence on Christian liberals at the middle of the twentieth century. Tillich lied both to himself and to believers, Harris alleges. As another famous atheist once observed, it takes one to know one--and Tillich was clearly an atheist.
As Harris insists, Tillich redefined the word "faith" so that belief in God was removed, and some version of a vague existentialistic experience remained--all based in Tillich's concept of an "ultimate concern." Thus, Paul Tillich plays his part in Harris's conspiracy theory. While Tillich may have been an intellectual, he lacked intellectual honesty. "Despite the considerable exertions of men like Tillich who have attempted to hide the serpent lurking at the foot of every altar, the truth is that religious faith is simply unjustified belief in matters of ultimate concern--specifically in propositions that promise some mechanism by which human life can be spared the ravages of time and death."
One of the most interesting features of Harris's book is its back cover. Endorsements--known in the publishing world as "blurbs"--include statements by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, notorious Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer, and Joseph C. Hough, Jr., president of Union Theological Seminary in New York City. One can only wonder if Dershowitz and Hough actually read the book.
Dershowitz, a Jewish agnostic, has built his reputation as a defender of civil liberties. Has he now decided that religious liberty is simply too dangerous for American society? If so, it would be most interesting to read Dershowitz's own version of this argument.
The statement by Joseph Hough represents the insanity of religious liberalism in its purest form. Union Theological Seminary represents the castle of protestant liberalism in America, proudly harboring various heresies throughout the last century. No informed observer of American religious life should be surprised by any inane idea emerging from that seminary's campus in Morningside Heights. Hough's endorsement reads: "Here is a ringing challenge to all Americans who recognize the danger to American democracy posed by the political alliance of right-wing religion and politics and the failure of the tepid and tentative responses by liberal persons of faith. While one might dispute some of the claims and arguments presented by Harris, the need for a wake-up call to religious liberals is right on the mark."
Assuming that President Hough had even the most minimal understanding of Harris's book--an assumption that would seem warranted given the fact that he endorsed it--one can only be reminded of Vladimir Lenin's prediction that, when it came time to hang the capitalists, the capitalists would compete for the contract to sell the rope. Continue »
