It contains a lot of commentary on religion and politics with implications about psychology.
In spite-no, because-of his clergyman father’s insistence that he study for and enter the Presbyterian ministry, he was an agnostic. Agnosticism, for him, was refusal to accept or to deny without proof. A good philosophy for a cop,
by the way.
That devil story was going to have to be answered, and how could you prove the nonexistence of something, especially an invisible something, that didn’t exist? That was why he was an agnostic instead of an atheist.
George, just found your post.Yes, I’m interested in the book review and extended reading. This is fascinating stuff and Clark’s thesis is compelling. The graphs and charts were helpful. I’m almost finished.
George, just found your post.Yes, I’m interested in the book review and extended reading. This is fascinating stuff and Clark’s thesis is compelling. The graphs and charts were helpful. I’m almost finished.
Cap’t Jack
Cool. I’ll go through the books and articles to see which ones I think may interest you.
I just finished Godless by Dan barker. Overall a good read. But I can’t remember ever reading a book where the quality varied so much from chapter to chapter. It’s almost as if it were written by committee. Like I said, overall highly recommended but be prepared to skim over large sections.
Just finished the Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey (the first book of a trilogy). While waiting for the second and third books to arrive, I’m reading Take a Thief, also by Mercedes Lackey.
I have a stack of non-fiction I also want to read, but right now, escapist reading is what I want.
Since the movie was out recently and at the encouragement of my daughters i decided to read the Hunger Games series. Just finished the last book today in fact. Not bad actually, but I’m always up for a good action story with a little political intrigue especially if it takes place in the future.
Since the movie was out recently and at the encouragement of my daughters i decided to read the Hunger Games series. Just finished the last book today in fact. Not bad actually, but I’m always up for a good action story with a little political intrigue especially if it takes place in the future.
My wife keeps asking me to read them. I’m sure I’ll get to them someday.
... On a side note though, I think that a lot of atheists seemed to have grown up on good science fiction like The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Universe and Tolkien. I think there is something perhaps subconscious about reading about fantasy and science fiction when it is presented as nothing other than entertainment that can help to prime the mind to realize the difference between myth and reality. Reading fantasy and then hearing some religious beliefs, I think, wow those religious beliefs are like a fantasy novel. Why can’t they see that they belong in the ‘things that are not real but maybe entertaining’ category…
I think you may be onto something with that side note. Those who enjoy entertaining science fiction/fantasy clearly know to distiguish it from reality. So perhaps it is easier for them to distinguish the less than entertaining fiction/fantasy of religions from reality, despite indoctrination to the contrary.
I got into Tolkien in a big way in college. Everybody was reading the series then and discussion groups were everywhere on campus. After the trilogy I hungered for more and read the prequel and his son’s continuation of the series. This was a whole world you could get Lost in, even the various languages. Tolkien made it come alive and like christianity, “the tale grew in the telling”!
I got into Tolkien in a big way in college. Everybody was reading the series then and discussion groups were everywhere on campus. After the trilogy I hungered for more and read the prequel and his son’s continuation of the series. This was a whole world you could get Lost in, even the various languages. Tolkien made it come alive and like christianity, “the tale grew in the telling”!
Yes, if we didn’t know who wrote it, and why, it would make a perfect series of books for a religion. Depending on your view point in Middle Earth history, one could it call ‘Numenorism’, ‘Valarism’, or ‘Eruism’.
BTW, did you know that Tolkien became catholic as a conscious choice? I think, through all his myths, his catholicism shines through his universe, but only very vague.
