Sunday 16 December 2007

The Four Horsemen

How cool is this? Dawkins, Dennet, Harris and Hitchens all together in a room, having a conversation about religion. Hitchens is almost as arrogant as I would be if I was as clever as him and had read as much as he has. Dawkins appears to be terribly shy, but always have something to say. Dennet clearly knows he knows what he's talking about and he's comfortable just saying it, while Harris is probably just glad to be in the same room as the others (although everything he says is definitely worth listening to).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it'll be better to believe that there is a God somewhere who actually run this universe. Jesus of Narvaez is but one God that came into being after a series of Gods. Think of all the Greek Gods that existed before Christianity. A belief in a higher order tend to give you more spiritual security as well as a sense of purpose in life. You may have to made up a God of your choice, but spiritualism does have its purpose in life.

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Anonymous said...

The Atheist wave seems to have lost some momentum, or is that just me?

I quite agree with Hitchens that the supernatural ought to be clearly distinguished from the numinous. I don't agree with Dennett that externalising spiritual moments -- that is, crediting them with a source outside your own self -- doesn't add anything to such an experience, even if the externalisation turns out to be delusional. When you trick yourself into believing that what you experience comes from a source that somehow goes beyond your own self, doesn't that make the experience much more powerful and more intimidating?

One question is, of course, to what extent the "victimization" believers experience roots in a natural desire on their part to be controlled by an external force. I imagine a lot of people quite enjoy ascribing what happens to them to forces lying outside their control. Relieves you of a lot of responsibility, after all.