Logic Matters 2008-03-18

"The Atheist Delusion"?

In the Guardian Review this last weekend, John Gray has a long piece entitled "The Atheist Delusion" in which he lambasts Dennett, Dawkins and the other usual suspects for their simple-mindedness about religion, for their intellectual sloppiness (e.g. the "memes" stuff), for promulgating quasi-religious myths of their own, for failing to face up to the evils perpetrated in the twentieth century in the name of atheist ideologies, and more besides.Yet Gray himself ends up writingNot everything in religion is precious or deserving of reverence. There is an inheritance of anthropocentrism, the ugly fantasy that the Earth exists to serve humans, which most secular humanists share. There is the claim of religious authorities, also made by atheist regimes, to decide how people can express their sexuality, control their fertility and end their lives, which should be rejected categorically. Nobody should be ...

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