Winston Smith (Amazon reviewer, London)
Is New Atheism a religion?
In I Don't Believe in Atheists, Chris Hedges claims that the New Atheists are mistaken in thinking that human nature is perfectible and that a Utopian future is possible in which rationality and science can replace religious thought.
In I Don't Believe in Atheists, Chris Hedges claims that the New Atheists are mistaken in thinking that human nature is perfectible and that a Utopian future is possible in which rationality and science can replace religious thought.He says that we should acknowledge that human nature is intrinsically flawed and can never be perfected. He claims that the New Atheists are blaming religion for the problems in the world and that this can lead to a belief that to rid the world of its problems and achieve a Utopian future, we must rid the world of religion.
This way of thinking, he says, has dangerous precedents. Hedges believes that there is place for religious thought in helping us understand the non-rational aspects of existence: Not everything can be explained by science; the meaning of human existence is ambiguous and ultimately unknowable. [This is the sort of agnosticism Vincent Bugliosi champions in The Divinity of Doubt.]
I'm an atheist, and I agree with him. Unfortunately, to make this important point, I think he's attributed opinions to people -- [famous atheists] Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, Hitchens -- that they don't necessarily hold.
There are parts of the book that appear to be non-sequitur arguments [which Bugliosi says is the biggest flaw in the New Atheism]. However, this book is still well worth reading. It's the third five star book of his I've read (the other two being Empire of Illusion and American Fascists). Source
Devin's advocate (chud.com)
The author has been making the rounds on L.A. radio. Today he visited Vromans (independent) Bookstore in Pasadena, the city he did his research in. He was cogent, hilarious, and drew the largest crowd we at Wisdom Quarterly have ever seen for an author signing.In his most controversial book yet, famed prosecutor of murderers Charles Manson, O.J. Simpson, George W. Bush, and Lee Harvey Oswald, attorney Vincent Bugliosi turns his critical eye on both religious believers and the atheists who reflexively oppose them.
The fearless attorney who most memorably prosecuted Manson indicts both camps, calling them out for the intellectual shortcuts each takes to arrive at their convenient conclusions.
In the process, he argues lucidly and persuasively why agnosticism (not knowing or asserting that some things are not knowable) -- and a healthy skepticism toward certainty of all kinds -- is the most responsible position to take with regard to such eternal questions as the existence of God.
With his trademark wit and humor, Bugliosi sets a new path that urges us to recognize the limits of what we know and what we cannot know about the ineffable mysteries of existence.
