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Earl Doherty

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The Morning After
(November, 2004)

     The Age of Reason website was launched in the aftermath of a catastrophe: the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.  A recasting of this website now follows in the wake of another catastrophe suffered by the American nation, perhaps the greatest in its political history, the re-election of George W. Bush to the Presidency on November 2, 2004. Or perhaps it is simply the expression of a wider catastrophic development in the United States itself. One commentator on the morning of November 3 had this to say. He quoted a reporter who early in the previous evening had suggested that the high voter turnout should favor John Kerry, that people had been standing in line even before dawn on voting day. In the opinion of this reporter, people did not stand in line in the early morning simply to say "Nice job" to the incumbent, that this was likely an indication of the nation's desire for change. By late in the same evening, we all realized how wrong this judgment was. The commentator then observed: "No, but they were willing to stand in line in the early morning in order to ban gay marriage, to outlaw abortion and stem-cell research, to say no to liberal progressive ideas." No doubt he would have included the suppression of the teaching of evolution in the schools in favor of biblical revelation and "theistic science" as the touchstones of education and government. All these things the Bush administration has openly stood for, and in a second term will probably do its best to achieve.

     On election night, several commentators and political spokespersons put forward the opinion that if re-elected, George Bush would do his best to unite the country, to engage in compromise to achieve that end. Well, we heard those assurances when he was campaigning in 2000, and they immediately went out the window in his first administration. To believe it will be any different this time would be the ultimate naivete.  Bush and his cadre of evangelicals will be working to achieve all those reactionary aims so many voters stood in line before dawn to support. The most fortunate feature of his first four years was that no vacancies came up on the Supreme Court; this term he will almost certainly have the opportunity to appoint two or three chief justices. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, there will be social upheaval, and a return to back-street abortion. If gay marriage is outlawed, human rights as a universal principle will be dealt a severe setback. A further strengthening of the anti-evolution atmosphere in education will render future generations of Americans even more scientifically illiterate than they already are and compromise progress in many areas of science and critical thinking. The general anti-intellectual and anti-liberal stance of much of the American populace will be further encouraged, while secular principles and humanistic values will be in ever greater danger of being swamped by religious fanaticism and superstition. While the rest of the developed world is moving increasingly toward social and intellectual enlightenment, America sinks more and more into medievalism.

     Through the first four hours of election night commentary on CNN, in all the analysis by the likes of Wolf Blitzer and Jeff Greenfield as to why Bush was doing better than many expected and finally looked to be winning re-election, the word "religion" never crossed anyone's lips. Much was said about Iraq, but it was generally agreed that Bush was winning despite Iraq. Finally, someone being interviewed voiced the idea that issues like the economy, the lost jobs, the difficulties in Iraq, were being ignored by Bush supporters in favor of his stance on "values," a code word for conservative and even fundamentalist religious positions. Exit poll sound bites from voters in favor of Bush which were aired by the networks almost unanimously gave the reason as "I feel safer under Bush than I would under Kerry," referring to the war on terrorism. But as the days following the election pass, it has become clear that a vast number of votes were determined not by security or Iraq, but by religious interests. When about half of the U.S. population styles itself born-again Christian and part of the evangelical movement, while an even greater number believe in Jesus Christ as Son of God and Savior and in the inerrancy of the Bible as the word of God and source of all ethics, when a great majority subscribes to the existence of Satan as a force of evil in the world and to the ultimate damnation of much of the human race as unbelievers, it comes as no surprise that religious convictions, and the knowledge that George Bush and his administration share those convictions, were the deciding factor for many.

     This began to be borne out the day following the election in a CNN interview with a group of evangelicals who said that they simply didn't care about anything else. That sentiment has been repeated by many in the days since. Perhaps these Christians also wanted Bush in power when the Rapture arrives, or the second coming of Christ (or perhaps the Antichrist). We know that expectations like these are part of Bush's own convictions and those of many he has surrounded himself with.  Not only are domestic issues being undermined by the evangelical mentality of the government, we can be sure that its foreign policy, especially that relating to the Middle East, is also being perilously influenced by this primitive outlook on the world and the nature of reality.

     The Bush administration is incapable of bringing the country together because it insists on moving backward instead of forward. The American nation is polarized between the reactionary and the progressive, between the incompatible poles of Religion and Rationality. Following the election, Republican commentators warned the Democrats that they could never hope to gain power until they addressed the issues "dear to the hearts and minds" of so many American voters. But we all know what those issues of heart and mind are: depriving women of their reproductive rights, keeping gays and lesbians a sub-class in the population, promoting anti-science in the classroom, introducing faith and bible-based principles into social programs, and generally dismantling the wall between church and state. It is to be hoped that the Democratic Party is incapable of surrendering so much of its integrity. The Republican Party has done so because it has been hijacked by the Christian Right, whose spirit is now firmly ensconsed in the halls of government, both in the Administration and Congress; the Judiciary will come next. Like the government they have installed, these religious fundamentalists have no desire for compromise, indeed they are incapable of it. A liberal-minded writer interviewed the next day lamented that the Republicans had made no effort to approach or win over people like himself, the liberals, the centrists, those who might not have agreed with all of their agenda; they had proven that they didn't need anyone beyond their own ranks, that they could do it on their own.  The writer's comment was that the future of the country looked "scary." This is probably an understatement.

     Ironically, the religious right traditionally claims the high moral ground; it is their justification for seeking to impose their agenda on the nation. And yet, it is precisely they who are capable of resorting to the most dishonorable and unscrupulous tactics to further their success. When you are convinced that you hold a monopoly on "truth" anything goes; the end justifies the means. The blatant misrepresentation of John Kerry's war record by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was initially tacitly endorsed by the Bush campaign, but even they had to distance themselves from it when it became exposed for the fraud that it was. Even at that, the Republicans followed it up at their convention with a shameful disrespect of the Kerry record, this on behalf of a man who had avoided wartime service altogether and may not even have fulfilled the duties of his stay-at-home substitute. This was only a part of the vicious trashing of Kerry the Republicans indulged in, despite the fact that the Democrats at their own convention had taken the high road and avoided objectionable extremes of criticism against their opponent.

     Such tactics are far from unusual and nothing if not true to character. Many of us know the story behind the film soon to be  released called "Heart of the Beholder." It tells of the campaign by a Christian Right group in St. Louis during the 1980s which drove a video store out of business and ruined the family running it because they refused to remove from stock what the religious organization considered objectionable films, including The Last Temptation of Christ. That campaign involved the acquiring of knowledge about sexual indiscretions on the part of a local District Attorney, whom the group proceeded to blackmail into harassing and bringing false charges against the owners of the store. Books could be filled (and have been) detailing the underhanded and fraudulent tactics of creationists to pull the wool over the eyes of a gullible public and insinuate their religious doctrines into the science classrooms of the nation. School boards and hospital boards have been infiltrated by fundamentalists bent on imposing their own agendas and moral codes, and even when thwarted, they keep coming back. When God and truth are on your side (the hallmark of all fanaticism), there is no giving up and almost anything is permissible.

     There is no shortage of horror stories that can be told about the activities of zealot Christian groups. With that kind of force in society, compromise and accommodation is difficult if not impossible. The gap between religion and rationality has become too great. Paradoxically, the country responsible for the greatest scientific progress and technological innovation in world history is also becoming the most intellectually regressive of all the developed nations. The country with the longest standing constitution, and one of the most enlightened, is in the process of dismantling key principles of that foundation. The world's proudest democracy is threatening to halt the advance of human rights and freedoms. In a world moving increasingly toward scientific and rational understanding of ourselves and our universe, the majority of its citizens are turning their backs on the future and championing a primitive past. Our Age of Reason is becoming an ever more elusive goal.

     Is there a solution? Not, it would seem, an immediate one. Only time, and the ongoing efforts of the more rational elements of society, can hope to reverse the situation. As for myself, I am turning this Age of Reason web page into a "forum" with regular postings of news, reports, articles and comments on issues relating to rationality and the struggle against the ignorance and superstition that is threatening to engulf us all. (Because of its ongoing currency and datable material, some might call it a "blog," but additions will be less frequent than daily and not always weekly, and not restricted to up-to-the-minute pieces; and they will usually be longer than the average blog item.) Others, too, will be contributing to it. I invite suggestions and critiques, including recommendations for reprints from other sources.



New Items


Commentaries

November 26, 2006: Two Champions of Reason and Science
     Reviews of Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
followed by:
Harper's Folly
     A response to the Harper's magazine review of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion by Marilynne Robinson, a smug and pretentious defamation of science and scientists by a not-so-subtle champion of religion.
Comment by E.D.

October 1, 2006: Götterdämmerung
     Has the world finally reached a tipping point where religion and competing gods are concerned?

July 26, 2006: Are evangelicals living in an asylum...or should they be committed to one?
     In evangelical churches around the nation, Christians are celebrating the latest round of war in the Middle East as a prelude to Armageddon.

June 7, 2006: Which one of the following two articles is a joke?...And for how long?
     A comment on two articles from the Internet: one a report on Bush's Constitutional amendment proposal against gay marriage, the other a report on a Republican convention in Texas.

February 6, 2006: Deliver Us To Evil
     Yet another sexual abuse scandal has surfaced in the Catholic Church involving a high-ranking priest and young boys. What are we doing to our children, and why doesn't the whole sordid business come crashing down?

August 28, 2005: The End of Faith?
     A review of one of the most powerful indictments of religion ever published: Sam Harris' The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. Don't miss this book.

July 8, 2005: The Elephant in the Room
     Bob Geldoff and his Live 8 concert have been playing at the wrong club. Is the blame for the Africas of the world being laid at the wrong door?

July 1, 2005: Of Priests and Prostates, Cabbages and Kings...
     Musings on why we let religion and its representatives do what they do to us.

June 18, 2005: "The way this country is going..."
     Should finding Jesus let you off the hook in matters of Law & Order?

April 7, 2005: Obituary
     Remembering John-Paul II.

March 25, 2005: Terri Schiavo and the Religious Right
     Is Terri Schiavo still "alive"? And who is being served by the evangelical opposition to the long overdue death of her body?

March 6, 2005: Resisting Evolution
     In the latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer, an excellent critique of creationism and why the message isn't getting through to creationists, by Dennis R. Trumble. A few excerpts and comments.

January 10, 2005
: God and Tsunamis
     The agonized question "Where was God?" has echoed around the world since the Asian tsunami disaster. Attempts in the media to answer it have been less than satisfyingor honest.
Comment by E.D.

November 26, 2004: Are We Facing an American Taliban?
     A comment on Joe Bageant's "The Covert Kingdom" (November 26 under Articles and Reprints: see right column).
Comment by E.D.

November 16, 2004:  Invasion of the Mind Snatchers: What is Happening to America?
     Thoughts on a CNN Special about the evangelical community and its influence on the U.S. election.
Comment by E.D.

November 10, 2004: "NYPD Blue" Finds God
    Last night, in an uncharacteristic plot twist on TV's toughest cop show, TV's toughest cop was visited by an 'angel' in the form of his deceased former partner to learn that there is a God after all. Is Steven Bochco caving in to the new political-religious atmosphere?
Comment by E.D.


Articles and Reprints

February 10, 2008: Two Indictments
     "If Dante had given his Inferno another level, it would have been for priests who prey on kids." With an appended short review of Peter de Rosa's Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy.

July 1, 2007: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies?
     Will Armageddon come about because some people believe in it? If you're an Americanor even if you're notbe prepared for the scariest thing you've ever read.

May 7, 2007: The Dangers of Militant Atheism
     A recent editorial rant against "militant atheism" in a Canadian newspaper prompted a counter-voice of reason, an indicator of the current turning of the tide against the privileged position of religious belief.

November 26, 2006
: Are we finally getting tough on religion?

     A California forum on science and religion attended by Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris pulled few punches in warning that "the world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief."

February 6, 2006: The Banality of Ignorance
     At the latest version of the 'Scopes Monkey Trial' in Dover, Pennsylvania, an array of witnesses for Intelligent Design displayed a  less than informed basis for their machinations to get ID into the classroom. Commenting on excerpts from a Harper's magazine account of the proceedings.

October 15, 2005: "The Politics of Ignorance"
     A comment by Sam Harris widely posted on the Internet, plus another quote from his book The End of Faith.

August 28, 2005:
"Religion Itself is the Fount of Most Evil"
     Reprint of an article in the British "Sunday Herald" of July 24, 2005, following the London subway bombings. An excellent companion piece to my review of Sam Harris' book The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.

June 29, 2005:
And they shall be given Dominion over us all...
     The Dominionist wing of the Christian right is gaining ascendancy in America. Chris Hedges at Harper's online recounts his attendance at one of their conventions, where madness reigns.
Feeling the Hate

June 18, 2005: And they wonder why we find religion so scary...
     When true believers rise in their rapture, will they leave a ruined planet behind? A look at Bill Moyers' view as the "delusional" comes in from the fringe to threaten the survival of us all.
There Is No Tomorrow

December 6, 2004: Scalia in shul: State must back religion
     A frightening 'take' on the U.S. Constitution by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. This kind of twist would enable a majority minded Supreme Court to impose just about anything of a religious nature on the country. (Circulated recently on the Internet.)

November 26, 2004: The Covert Kingdom - Thy will be done as it is in Texas
     An article by Joe Bageant, senior editor at the Primedia History Group, Winchester, Virginia about the Christian Reconstruction movement. Possibly the most powerful and the scariest thing you've ever read on the Christian Right in America.

November 22, 2004: It's Still Open Season on Atheists in this Country
     A column in the St. Petersburg Times in August says it all about being an atheist in America. Fear of non-belief has become stronger, it seems, than any other prejudiceand the only one that's still politically correct.

November 16, 2004:  A Los Angeles Times article on the Erosion of Common Sense
     Circulated on the Internet back in May, "Enlightenment dimming: Reason and secularism under attack" by Francis Wheen sounds a warning call all the more apparent and urgent following the re-election of George W. Bush.

November 7, 2004:
  Will We Survive the Flood of Religious Disinformation?
    Frank Zindler has kindly permitted me to reproduce a good portion of his article "Disinforming the Faithful" which appeared in American Atheist, Winter 2003-2004. It reveals not only the extent of the brainwashing that believers are subjected to in evangelical Christian circles, but the strength and organization of this movement dedicated to producing a flood of literature in support of Christian propaganda and rationally untenable world views.


Links and Announcements

Age of Reason Reader Feedback
Send E-mail to Earl Doherty
(There has now been a fair amount of feedback on the new Age of Reason site, and most of it has been posted, with comments in reply. Following that, feedback on my review of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" which includes some very interesting reaction to the film itself pertinent to the issues discussed above.)

Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-Examination of Lee Strobel's 'The Case for Christ' - Excerpts from the Book

The Passion of the Christ:
A review by Earl Doherty of Mel Gibson's controversial film.
Comments welcome for the Age of Reason Reader Feedback

Vardis Fisher's "Testament of Man": An in-depth review and commentary on the most important body of historical fiction ever produced: Vardis Fisher's "Testament of Man." This monumental series of eleven novels by an American rationalist author of the mid-20th century traces the development of religious and moral ideas from the dawn of intelligence two million years ago to the apex of Christian power in the Middle Ages.

Now Available in Book Form - Revised and Expanded!
Dare To Think For Yourself : An inspiring new book by American writer Betty J. Brogaard recounting her personal journey from unquestioning religious faith to a lifestance of rational inquiry and a naturalistic view of the world.  Betty's work, revised and expanded, is now available in book form.  We thank Betty for letting us feature her book on the Age of Reason website for over a year and to publish comments on it, with her responses, in a special Feedback. We wish her success, and urge all those who were moved by "Dare to Think for Yourself" to consider adding it to their library, or obtaining a copy for someone they know who could benefit from it.
Available from: www.publishamerica.com
Click on the "Online Bookstore" tab, and type in the Search box: "Dare to Think for Yourself"

Recommended Links


http://www.evolutionary-metaphysics.net/
Examines the conflict between science and religion, and helps to dispel the myths and superstitions that have long been used as an excuse for political and religious extremism. Offers an easy-to-read step-by-step explanation of natural evolution, extends the theory of evolution to include the struggle for political power and the development of advanced technology, unravels the true stories behind the formation of the traditional religions, and explains why modern democratic values must continue to replace traditional religious moral values.

* * *

From the "Final Summation" of
Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-Examination of Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ

     Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Lee Strobel concluded his book with a homily, and I would like to respond with one of my own. He endeavored to show the consequences of an acceptance of the Case for Christ as he has presented it, the ‘evidence’ that Jesus is the Son of God, atoning Savior through blood sacrifice on the cross, bestowing by his death the grace of God for forgiveness and eternal life. Mr. Strobel offered the personal example of his own transformed life, the inevitable companion piece to that other kind of transformation in the next world. There is no question that Christianity, like all religious belief, offers perceived benefits to its devotees. Otherwise, religion would have little appeal and would long since have died out. But like Mr. Strobel’s Case for Christ, those benefits are often based on a distortion or wishful misreading of the evidence. 
     And they come at a price.
     The believer is transformed because the faith on which those benefits depend turns the real, knowable world inside-out. It creates otherworld entities and dimensions of alleged reality which are unsupported by scientific and rational evidence. It draws the focus of attention and energy away from the present world of day-to-day existence where we lead our actual lives, to a dimension which may well be pure fantasy, and thus the real world gets neglected, disparaged, distorted; it becomes populated with concepts which can only be detrimental to humanity’s enlightenment. Belief in angels and devils and personal savior gods has never produced one iota of real human progress. Conviction of salvation comes attached to required doctrines of faith, and not all are going to adopt those doctrines; many will have other, rival faiths of their own. Such differences create divisions between people, families, societies, nations; they have formed a long line of unbelievers, heretics, infidels, those in league with evil forces, leading to inquisition, witch hunts, religious wars.
     Those required faith doctrines produce a heightened and unhealthy sense of sin, guilt and fear, and an alienation from our physical selves. They create places of dreadful punishment, whose resident demons spill over into the present world, threatening, torturing the mind, distorting reality. Those doctrines impede scientific advancement and a proper understanding of the world, how it formed, evolved, how it gave rise to ourselves; and we are deprived of the exhilaration at perceiving such an amazing history and development. They interfere with the ability to exercise our minds, our faculties for critical thinking, to hone our own innate wisdom in creating ethical systems to arrive at beneficial moral behavior. When ethical conduct is based on divine fiat in hallowed, petrified writings, when human wisdom and evolving conditions are prevented from exercising any role, morality’s rules become ossified, imposed, fearful of change, unable to accommodate progress.
     If commendable human behavior and the fulfillment of individual and collective potential is our ultimate goal, there are far more efficient ways of achieving such things than through a collective rush to irrational faith. If, on the other hand, the attainment of personal immortality, eternal life for each individual consciousness in some heavenly utopia, is the goal, then we may be grasping at the greatest unreality and irrationality of all. Nothing in the observable universe suggests that such a goal is possible, or written into the scheme of things, much less that it might be desirable from the larger point of view. What the observable universe does suggest is that human happiness and fulfillment may indeed be achievable, but only through understanding ourselves and the world we live in, accepting that we are all part of a naturalistic universe, and doing our best and wisest to operate in harmony with it. If, within that context, it may be possible to perceive something of larger significance, of greater identity for the individual, the route to discovering such a thing must lie in a fuller comprehension of our observable universe through reason and scientific investigation.
     The Case for Christ does not lead us in that direction. For this, and for the failings of the case itself, I ask the jury and the larger court of public judgment to set Mr. Lee Strobel’s own verdict aside, and bring us a step closer to entering upon an Age of Reason.


 
INGERSOLL'S VOW

Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) was a famous attorney and orator whose brilliant lectures drew thousands. As a political figure, he came close to achieving the Republican party's nomination for governor of Illinois, but prejudice and intolerance denied him the opportunity because he was an atheist.

When I became convinced that the universe is naturalthat all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide worldnot even in infinite space.

I was freefree to think, to express my thoughtsfree to live to my own idealfree to use all my faculties, all my sensesfree to spread imagination's wingsfree to investigate, to guess and dream and hopefree to judge and determine for myselffree to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the pastfree from popes and priestsfree from all the "called" and "set apart"free from sanctified mistakes and holy liesfree from the fear of eternal painfree from the winged monsters of the nightfree from devils, ghosts, and gods.

For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thoughtno air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wingsno chains for my limbsno lashes for my backno fires for my fleshno master's frown or threatno following another's stepsno need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.

And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brainfor the freedom of labor and thoughtto those who proudly mounted scaffold's stairsto those whose flesh was scarred and tornto those by fire consumedto all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.


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