Monday, July 2, 2012

A great article on the naivete and lack of empathy of secularism by Richard Smyth in the New Humanist, with a couple more article recommendations as well

Everyone should read this article: http://newhumanist.org.uk/2823/down-with-secularism.  It is an excellent article by an Atheist, Richard Smyth, arguing against the naivete (and lack of empathy, as he puts it) of most modern secularism which tries to establish Agnosticism as the official worldview of the nation by rhetoric rather than substantial argument by defining religion as a "private matter" and trying to make laws demanding that religious people should not be able to influence public laws and policies by their views.

I can't describe the good things he says in this article.  You just have to read it!  Please do!  It's not that long.  : )

And while you're at it, read another great article along similar lines by another Atheist, none other than my good friend and podcast co-host Jason Cooperrider: http://utahfreethinkers.com/religion-and-politics-combating-potential-and-existent-theocracies-without-resorting-to-attempts-to-privatize-religion/

And if you want more, take a look at some of the excellent writings of Steven D. Smith, a law professor at the University of San Diego.  You can start with this article - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1911399 - and then go on to some of his excellent books - http://www.amazon.com/Steven-D.-Smith/e/B001HOF65W/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1341247344&sr=1-1

OK, that's it for now.

2 comments:

RichardSmyth said...

Hi there. Richard Smyth here. Thanks very much for your kind words about my article; glad you liked it.

If you have time and can be bothered, I'd be grateful if you could correct the bit about my being an "Atheist/Agnostic"; I'm not - I'm simply an atheist.

Carry on freethinking. If anything, think freer...

Mark Hausam said...

I've changed "Atheist/Agnostic" to "Atheist." I wasn't sure which one you would identify more with (although I would have guessed Atheism).

Thanks for commenting! I'd like to follow your articles further, so hopefully we'll have the opportunity to talk again before too long. I'm sure you would enjoy conversing with my Atheist friend Jason Cooperrider as well. Read his article (also mentioned in this post) if you get a chance.