Comments on: An Antidote to the Poison In The Well http://sanchezkisser.com/blog/2007/06/06/an-antidote-to-the-poison-in-the-well/ The Blog Of An Open Source Librarian, In Which There Is No Shushing Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:09:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: Keith http://sanchezkisser.com/blog/2007/06/06/an-antidote-to-the-poison-in-the-well/#comment-29358 Keith Thu, 07 Jun 2007 22:50:06 +0000 http://sanchezkisser.com/blog/2007/06/06/an-antidote-to-the-poison-in-the-well/#comment-29358 Well, no religious person is going to read his book, period. But the doubting nephew or daughter or son-in-law of a religious person will read his book and be given an armload of new tactics to use the next time they try to convince their religious family member that they aren't evil for not believing in Jesus/ Muhammad/Buddha. And yeah, the guy who argued against canonization of Mother Theresa is not the new, cuddly face of atheism today. But until Tom Hanks looses his religion and writes his best selling memoir about it, we have to take what we can get. Well, no religious person is going to read his book, period. But the doubting nephew or daughter or son-in-law of a religious person will read his book and be given an armload of new tactics to use the next time they try to convince their religious family member that they aren’t evil for not believing in Jesus/ Muhammad/Buddha.

And yeah, the guy who argued against canonization of Mother Theresa is not the new, cuddly face of atheism today. But until Tom Hanks looses his religion and writes his best selling memoir about it, we have to take what we can get.

]]> By: Aaron http://sanchezkisser.com/blog/2007/06/06/an-antidote-to-the-poison-in-the-well/#comment-29336 Aaron Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:53:07 +0000 http://sanchezkisser.com/blog/2007/06/06/an-antidote-to-the-poison-in-the-well/#comment-29336 I'm conflicted on the issue of Hitchens. While I agree with his basic critiques of the harm organized religion has done to the planet, he writes in such an incendiary fashion that his book is virtually useless in winning people over to the side of Free Thought. No religious person is going to read his book and feel compelled to question the tenets of their faith; on the contrary, they will feel attacked, insulted, and demonized, much like we atheists often feel in American society. Don't get me wrong; I love insulting and making fun of people whom I believe to be stupid and wrong (as if you couldn't guess that from the tirades on my blog.) But I would say that the Dawkins and Harris books are far more effective as persuasive tools than Hitchens'. And on a more general note, I lost a lot of respect for Hitchens once he started parroting the "Islamofascists are coming to kill us all!" school of neocon paranoia. I’m conflicted on the issue of Hitchens. While I agree with his basic critiques of the harm organized religion has done to the planet, he writes in such an incendiary fashion that his book is virtually useless in winning people over to the side of Free Thought. No religious person is going to read his book and feel compelled to question the tenets of their faith; on the contrary, they will feel attacked, insulted, and demonized, much like we atheists often feel in American society.

Don’t get me wrong; I love insulting and making fun of people whom I believe to be stupid and wrong (as if you couldn’t guess that from the tirades on my blog.) But I would say that the Dawkins and Harris books are far more effective as persuasive tools than Hitchens’.

And on a more general note, I lost a lot of respect for Hitchens once he started parroting the “Islamofascists are coming to kill us all!” school of neocon paranoia.

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