Atheism
It’s All in the AngleFriday, February 1, 2013 by Jack Riemer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In his new collection of essays, ultra-Orthodox rabbi Avi Shafran disputes the scientific worldview on its own terms. But he refuses to acknowledge scientific challenges to Judaism.
Editors' Picks
Lost Cause? Francis J. Caponi, Marginalia. A new book argues that the root of the conflict between science and religion is the reductive modern understanding of causality—which many scientists are now rejecting.
Believe It or Not Jeremy Rosen, Algemeiner. "The rabbis say, 'From doing something for the wrong reason one can come to do it for the right one.' They didn’t set a time limit."
What the New Atheists Ignore Christopher Orlet, American Spectator. "I am still waiting for a single atheist group to open a hospital or school, offer free health clinics, beds for the homeless, food for the hungry, or transportation for the elderly."
Religion without God Ronald Dworkin, New York Review of Books. In acknowledging a sense of value, mystery, and purpose in life, many non-believers live by a form of faith—and reject the naturalism of the New Atheists.
The Limits of Disbelief Tom Bartlett, Chronicle of Higher Education. Recent psychological research has found that few people are willing to dare God to do terrible things—even if they claim to be avowed atheists.
The Atheist Inquisition Leon Wieseltier, New Republic. "For the bargain-basement atheism of our day, it is not enough that there be no God: there must be only matter."
The Godless Delusion Neilson MacKay, New Criterion. By "making a 'god out of man,'" artists like Schoenberg, Goethe, and Matisse thought that "in the wake of religious disbelief, art could give us meaning again."
Waiting for God to Call Steven Millhauser, New Yorker. "His father and Samuel, two of a kind. Samuel: 'Thou art wicked.' His father: 'You are ignorant.' A special sect: the Jewish atheist." (Fiction)
The Inscrutable Americans Peter Berger, American Interest. America is the West’s most religious country—but has the strictest separation between church and state. No wonder foreigners are puzzled by the vagaries of American religion.
Proving Religious People Aren’t Crazy Steve Fuller, Times Higher Education. In The God Problem, sociologist Robert Wuthnow defends believers against charges of irrationality. The fact that he needs to do so is a sign of the times.