Armstrong’s “The Case for God”: A Case Not Made

Last updated on: January 7, 2010 at 5:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

Few religious thinkers have eased the consciences of spiritual liberals, anti-fundamentalist religious moderates, and functional nonbelievers unwilling to stake any affirmatively atheistic ground than Karen Armstrong. For years she has been making the assertion that her scholarship proves that the “great” monotheisms ought not be associated with the fear, xenophobia, irrational faith in the absurd, violence, or misogyny that so they so often encourage, but that they have their “true” foundations in love and tolerance–and anyone who doesn’t think so... Read more

Lisa Miller Exorcises Her New Atheist Demons

Last updated on: October 25, 2009 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

Lisa Miller of Newsweek, it seems, has had it with us nonbelievers. In her latest column, she seems to be indulging is some form of guilt-laden catharsis, awash in shame for having devoted too much precious ink to the New Atheists. For five years, since the publication of Sam Harris’s The End of Faith … three charismatic men—Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Hitchens (who is a NEWSWEEK contributor)—have not just dominated the conversation, they’ve crushed it. And so they’ve become celebrities. It’s not... Read more

Parade of the Fanatical Ignoramuses

Last updated on: September 19, 2009 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

All photos in this post: http://www.flickr.com/photos/progressohio/ / CC BY 2.0 It is almost becoming a ritual in our house these days. At the end of a long day at work, the wife and I turn on MSNBC and watch, stunned, as Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart put on the parade of angry right wing lunatics. We sit, mouths agape, as we see manufactured rage at town halls over something tangential to health care, we see Glenn Beck weeping over something called... Read more

The Evolution of God: Brilliant and Maddening

Last updated on: August 17, 2009 at 2:09 am By Paul Fidalgo

Robert Wright, in his latest book The Evolution of God, promises up front that he will make a plausible case for the existence of some force or intention behind the universe that could be called “divinity,” and does so in the midst of making a different case altogether: that our notions of the illusory “one true god” (and Wright does call the idea of God an “illusion”) adapt over time to the circumstances of the people believing in him. On the... Read more

Disbelieving Outside the Lines

Last updated on: January 27, 2009 at 5:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

Ross Douthat writes in defense of the Yahweh concept, reminding we stuffy atheists that it’s not as silly as Russell’s teapot assumes: This analogy – like its modern descendant, the Flying Spaghetti Monster – makes a great deal of sense if you believe that the idea of God is an absurdity dreamed up by crafty clerics in darkest antiquity and subsequently imposed on the human mind by force and fear, and that it only survives for want of brave souls willing to note how inherently... Read more

Elizabeth Dole and the GOP Tell Me to Go to Hell

Last updated on: October 30, 2008 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

My day was flat out ruined by a political ad. I’m very passionate about politics to begin with, but usually if a political ad upsets me it’s in the direction of worry (”this is gonna kill us!”) or rage (”that’s a filthy lie!”). But this ad ruined my day because it made me feel a certain emotion in a way I don’t think I had before. Offense. People throw that term around pretty loosely in politics these days. If I... Read more

Is it time to pull the plug on Web publishing pioneer Salon.com? (Link)

Last updated on: By Paul Fidalgo

Is it time to pull the plug on Web publishing pioneer Salon.com? (Link) It seems to me that the problem with the idea of Salon becoming a kind of news nonprofit is not only that it doesn’t have any particular locality’s focus, but that it doesn’t fill any particular need. There is no shortage of outlets for political and cultural news and opinion, and Salon has never carved out a niche that is so particular to it that its absence... Read more

The Terribleness of Two is Apparently in the Eye of the Beholder

Last updated on: By Paul Fidalgo

Daycare teacher 1, a few weeks ago: “Toby’s being very aggressive with the other kids. He’s doing a lot of pushing, and he’s shouting at the teachers. He’s screaming ‘No!’ at everything, and refusing to do anything we ask him, shouting “I cannot!” It’s been extremely difficult, and we’re trying to work out a system to help him to change his behavior.” Daycare teacher 2, a couple of days ago: “Toby had a great day today! He played really hard... Read more

Last updated on: By Paul Fidalgo

I do no research. Given that I’ve just written a book that revolves around two London Met police detectives, this might seem a little foolhardy. I have no real idea what detectives do with their days. So I made some guesses. I suppose that they must investigate things. I tried to imagine what that might be like. I’ve seen the same films and TV shows that you have. I’ve read the same sorts of cheap thrillers. And I know that... Read more

An André / Thoreau Move

Last updated on: By Paul Fidalgo

I’ve been kind of rolling my eyes at the series by Paul Miller at The Verge on his year away from the Internet, which I’ve prejudicially thought of as a bit contrived and a little too cute by half. (I even get the unsubstantiated impression that his colleagues are just bemusedly humoring him.) But in recent weeks he’s obviously been hitting upon some genuinely interesting insights. In the latest dispatch, Miller uses My Dinner with André and Walden to illustrate... Read more