Here’s what I had to say after I finished it in 2010:

While I think it was a worthwhile read, I’m not sure who the intended audience is. One moment Epstein seems to be trying to appeal to religious moderates and liberals, and the next moment he’s talking to (and speaking for) fellow atheists. Overall, it was something of a mixed bag. He’s way too much of a touchy-feely, wishy-washy accommodationist for my personal taste; however, I think his book is likely to reach people who would never touch anything by Dawkins or Hitchens.

Reflecting back one year later, I would add that this book might be a good choice for people who are on the fence, religious speaking, who are frightened of identifying as atheists, or who feel drawn to rituals and want to sit around holding hands and singing Kumbaya with religious believers. That works for some, but it’s not part of my life and is definitely outside my comfort zone. For confident, outspoken atheists, this book probably won’t have as much appeal. Plus, the author was somewhat irritating. I don’t want Epstein speaking for me, especially since he said a few really off-the-wall things. In particular, he claimed that prayer comes naturally to children, which is certainly not my experience. I’m a lifelong atheist, and I didn’t even know there was such a thing as prayer when I was a small child.

That’s mere opinion, not a fact. If this world is merely the result of “survival of the fittest,” then any “evolved moral instincts” would have somehow have had to have sprung “ex nihilo” from a moral instinct where it was “best” to lie, kill and steal <- consult our modern animal kingdom for the basest and most prime examples.

Unfortunately people are being scared away from Greg’s book by the logic of “if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then…”

Make your own opinion. Read the book. See what it has to say. Challenge yourself.

I consider Greg to be a pluralist, not an accomodationist. Learn the distinction and see if it applies to him.

FTFY

Well, color me embarrassed

As for Epstein’s book, I just started reading it last night and I haven’t gotten to the part where he claims to speak for all atheists….. Anyway, there are those of us who do want community and who also believe that religious communities should not own “social justice.” Epstein speaks for these non-believers.

There are plenty of non-believers who are not into “social justice” and not into community(I think of right wing, Ayn Rand-y types) and are perhaps offended by the liberalness of it all. Non-belief is not a “one size fits all” thing. So, if you are not into building community you do not have to…

I can also see how some of what Epstein proposes, might be a bit scary for people who have escaped from and/or been damaged by oppressive religious communities. But it really is not, Epstein is simply about recognizing that humans are, by nature and necessity, social animals. For centuries our social nature was expressed and regulated through religious communities, even religious states. Many of us (and, indeed, increasingly more of us) have outgrown the need for communities based on religion but, given what we are, I doubt that we will ever outgrow the need for communities. (At least, I hope not, imagine a world of Ted Kacynskis!!) Epstein and other humanists just propose communities based on humanistic values.

There doesn’t have to be an absolutely perfect moral goal for me to say that raping someone does [more] harm than not raping them.

FTFY.

How do you know that there is injustice in the world if you don’t know that there is some ultimate standard of justice?

Are you saying that there has to be some “most moral action/being”, and if there isn’t such a thing to compare against, then every action is equally amoral?

How do you know there are small numbers if there is no largest number to use as an ultimate standard of the magnitude of numbers?

How do you know that your light switch is nearby, even though spacetime is unbounded and thus there is no “farthest point from you” in the universe to use as an ultimate standard of distance?

Clearly one can discern differences in magnitude of numbers or distance even without a “maximum number” or “farthest thing”. Same with morality. There doesn’t have to be an absolutely perfect moral goal for me to say that raping someone does less harm that not raping them.

Are you instead saying that there must be a universal method to be able to say “specific action A is more moral than specific action B” (not relative to any “maximum morality”)?

If so, then by all means, please tell us the method and how to apply it. How do you apply the universal standard of morality to these standard moral dilemmas? What are the correct answers and how can I know they are the One True Answers and not just chosen arbitrarily?

The fact is, there is no universal moral method that transcends human existence. We as productive societies dictate basic standards of moral judgment, informed by our evolved moral instincts and philosophy. These moral judgment methods are (and must be) subject to discussion and debate, but the ones that seem to work best are those that focus on reducing harm/suffering and increasing happiness.

First, if an atheist asserts that evil exists, but God doesn’t, how do you know if it is evil? How do you know that there is injustice in the world if you don’t know that there is some ultimate standard of justice?

Is God also an ultimate standard of redness? If not, how can you claim to know if anything is red?

This argument is just patently silly. It’s quite simple to compare varying degrees of a quality without an absolute ultimate standard to judge them against.