Everybody’s talking about God! How could there be so much buzz over someone who doesn’t exist?
Coolmel had this to say while I was napping, and I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut (fingers motionless?) about this stuff:
What up C?
I threw in my two cents before I noticed your response over here. I just don’t think you can dismiss Harris with a simple developmental-levels argument. I’ve read/listened to/watched several Harris performances in the past few months, and I think he is very clear about which “level of God” he’s arguing against. Harris is repeatedly trying to point out what many of us are refusing to believe might be true–that a huge percentage of the world populace, including many in positions of considerable power and influence, believe that a particular book (i.e. the Bible or the Koran) is the absolute word of God, a God thought of as the omniscient creator of the universe. If this level of religious belief is really as widespread as Harris suggests, then we are all in deep shit, because such beliefs have dangerous implications in today’s world. That there are deeper, more developed conceptions of God and religions is beside the point. Changing “levels” or definitions in mid-debate (like Prager does) is dodging the issue. Maybe Sam is exaggerating or giving us trumped up statistics on just how many Americans believe Jesus is coming back soon to kick ass and take names. But if he’s even in the ballpark on his numbers, we should be very concerned indeed. The deeper articulations of our religious impulses have a place in the discussion, of course, when we are talking about how best to address the problem, but not as subterfuge used to keep us from recognizing it.