William James Redux: "The New Atheists" v. "The Will to Believe"

[The Atheist]

No, none of us knows who will inherit the earth, but I wonder that you offer your authority in contradiction to that of Jesus.

No, I tend to go with the 100,000 years of human history which pretty much confirms that the earth the meek inherit is six feet deep.



Like Jesus himself, I have no authority beyond one man's words.

My goodness, had I known this essay had already been written I wouldn't have spent a full two weeks of my life working on it.

First off, you can have my apology, I wasn't trying to put you and your efforts down, but I am somewhat tired of the same old cliched assertions about "new" and "militant" atheism.

To save the trouble of derailing your discussion, I've started a new thread here.

[AuntShecky]

Apology accepted, Sir.

I understand that many of the points were already stated in various spots --and continue to appear-- in various threads right here in our beloved forums. But I tried to put them together in some kind of linear way. Also, I don't believe anyone (on the LitNet anyway) has ever tried to write an analysis of William James's seminal essay.

Finally -- and I mean it-- at least from yours truly on this particular thread, Dr. Dawkins has apparently mollified his positions to a certain extent, and I do not disagree with a few things he says in the following article.

I certainly don't blame him for getting irritated with Newsweek for pestering him about The God Delusion when Dawkins wanted to talk about his latest book -- on
science, not religion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-..._b_312208.html

[AuntShecky]

Forgive me for bumping this nearly three-year-old thread, but recently on the "Religious Texts" forum, a fellow LitNutter suggested that I "start" a thread on "The Will to Believe."

Also, since this thread is so "old," the editing mechanism is out of commission, please forgive the inadvertent typos and errors, such as S/V disagreement and singular pronouns following plural antecedents (and vice versa.) As I've said many times before, not only do my subjects and verbs disagree; sometimes the crisis escalates into out-and-out warfare!