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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Alternative belief systems > Humanist & secular alternatives to religion
This book contains a unique perspective: that of a scientifically
and philosophically educated agnostic who thinks there is
impressive-if maddeningly hidden-evidence for the existence of God.
Science and philosophy may have revealed the poverty of the
familiar sources of evidence, but they generate their own partial
defense of theism. Bryan Frances, a philosopher with a graduate
degree in physics, judges the standard evidence for God's existence
to be awful. And yet, like many others with similar scientific and
philosophical backgrounds, he argues that the usual reasons for
atheism, such as the existence of suffering and success of science,
are weak. In this book you will learn why so many people with
scientific and philosophical credentials are agnostics (rather than
atheists) despite judging all the usual evidence for theism to be
fatally flawed.
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God is Good
(Hardcover)
Martin G Kuhrt; Foreword by Alex Jacob
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R1,362
R1,074
Discovery Miles 10 740
Save R288 (21%)
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Why do some strategies for critique of religion seem to be more
beneficial for constructive engagement, whereas others increase
intolerance, polarization, and conflict? Through an analysis of the
reasons underpinning a critique of religion in institutional
contexts of secular democratic societies, A Constructive Critique
of Religion explores how constructive interaction and critique can
be developed across diverse interests. It shows how social and
cultural conditions shaping these institutions enable and structure
a critical and constructive engagement across diverging worldviews.
A key argument running through the book is that to develop
constructive forms of critique a more thorough and systematic
investigation of resources for criticism located within religious
worldviews themselves is needed. Chapters also address how critique
of Islam and Christianity in particular is expressed in areas such
as academia, the law, politics, media, education and parenting,
with a focus on Northern Europe and North America. The
interdisciplinary approach, which combines theoretical perspectives
with empirical case studies, contributes to advancing studies of
the complex and contentious character of religion in contemporary
society.
Drawing on ethnographic research, this book explores individualized
religion in and around Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. Claire
Wanless demonstrates that counter to the claims of secularization
theorists, the combination of informal structures and practices can
provide a viable basis for socially significant religious activity
that can sustain itself. The subjects of this research claim a
variety of religious identities and practices, and are suspicious
of religious institutions, hierarchies, rules and dogmas. Yet they
participate actively in an overlapping and cross-linking informal
network of practice communities and other associations. Their
engagements propagate and sustain a core ideology that prioritizes
subjectivity, locates authority at the level of the individual, and
also predicates itself on ideals of sharing, mutuality and
community. Providing a new theory of religious association, this
book is a nuanced counterpoint to the secularization thesis in the
UK and points the way to new research on individual religion.
Today atheists, it seems, are everywhere. Nonbelievers write
best-selling books and proudly defend their views in public; they
have even hired a lobbyist. But, as political scientist Richard J.
Meagher shows, atheist political activism is not a new phenomenon.
From the "Freethought" movement of the late 1800s, to postwar
"rationalists" and "humanists," to today's proud atheists,
nonbelievers have called for change within a resistant political
culture. While atheist organizing typically has been a relatively
lonely and sad affair, advances in technology and new political
opportunities have helped atheists to finally gain at least some
measure of legitimacy in American politics. In Atheists in American
Politics, one of the first works to take atheism seriously as a
social movement, Meagher highlights key moments within the
political history of atheism and freethought, and examines how the
changing circumstances that surround the movement help explain
political mobilization. In doing so, this book also highlights the
ways that social movements in general gain momentum, and how a
number of interlocking factors are often necessary to enable a
movement to "take off" in American politics.
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