David Brooks Is a Fundamentalist
An otherwise wise and helpful column from David Brooks—a column noting that it's somewhat hypocritical for American liberals to defend Charlie Hebdo's anti-Muslim provocations—takes an epistemologically naive turn at this point: Provocateurs and ridiculers expose the stupidity of the fundamentalists. Fundamentalists are people who take everything literally. They are incapable of multiple viewpoints. They are incapable of seeing that while their religion may be worthy of the deepest reverence,...
Good Book Two Bucks
I really enjoyed Death by Living (and its precursor, Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl), and it's just two bucks now on Kindle. Here's my review of Death By Living.
Kenan Malik on Liberalism’s Interpretation of Islamic Extremism
I've been waiting for a long time for someone to say what I've been thinking about radical Islam, and now writer Kenan Malik has done it. On the one hand, he points out, Muslims are not the only religious group involved in perpetrating horrors. From Christian militias in the Central African Republic reportedly eating their foes to Buddhist monks organizing anti-Muslim pogroms in Myanmar, there is cruelty aplenty in the world. Nonetheless, he says, There appears to be something particularly...
Condescending to Men of Low Estate
Stereotyping and prejudice are endemic to humanity. Conservatives have done it (and do it), and secularists it have done it (and do it). Your vision of a group colors your interpretation of actions performed by individuals in that group. It takes a conscious effort at impartiality—and, ultimately, the grace and wisdom of God—to avoid incorrect (and even sinful) generalizations. Small case in point: I was reading secularist Molly Worthen's award-winning Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of...
Site Stats for 2014
A few of my most dedicated readers may find this annual By Faith We Understand WordPress blog report interesting.