intersections

Sam Harris fires back

One week ago I posted some excerpts from Chris Hedges' opening remarks in a debate with Sam Harris, along with a few of my own comments. This has proven to be one of the most popular posts on my blog in a long time. One of the reasons for this, I think, is that this perennnial debate between theists, atheists and anti-theists has reached a boiling point once again. Indeed, a new trinity of atheists has emerged in Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Sam Harris (The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation), and most recently, Christopher Hitchens (god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything). Now the Christian and Muslim apologists are tripping over themselves to refute the claims of these and others who are attacking God and religion.

This week, TruthDig posted some comments from Sam Harris in response to Chris Hedges' opening essay. They did not post Sam's actual opening remarks. Sam points us to his website where other statements of his can be found. I want to highlight just one thing that Sam says that I think all Christians should take to heart:

I would like to briefly address the main claims that Hedges makes in his essay:

Real religion has nothing to do with superstition, irrational beliefs, or tribalism. God is not an anthropomorphic deity; He is just “the name we give to our belief that life has meaning.”

It should be immediately clear to all readers that Hedges is simply dodging the fact that millions (probably billions) of people practice religion in the naïve, anthropomorphic, and superstitious forms he would rather not defend. By saying that faith is really something other than the irrational belief in magic books, virgin births, the power of prayer, etc., Hedges ignores how pervasive the problem of religious irrationality is.

Several comments:

1. I, too, felt uncomfortable with the way Hedges simply brushes aside certain branches of Christianity as not "real religion." It's not fair - and just too convenient - for Hedges to simply define "real religion" as the kind that he thinks is good and then exclude all other forms of religion as "false." In reality, Christians have been doing this kind of thing for years. It goes something like, "We are the real Christians, unlike the Catholics [fill in your favorite group to hate], who pray to Mary or think the Pope is infallible." These are all very weak arguments that gain their strength by comparing the best of what my group believes and does with the worst (or even caricatures) of what your group believes and does. You can always win the argument that way.
2. However, I would also say that Harris does the same thing, by comparing the rationality and purity of science or atheism with the irrationality and evil of faith. This does not adequately account for irrational atheists OR rational theists. It doesn't account for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, C.S. Lewis or countless others for whom faith guided them to the heights of humanitarian causes and the betterment of the world.
3. Finally, I am not comfortable with being lumped into the camp of crazed, wild-eyes, superstitious and violent religionists just because I believe that God is alive and active in his world today and even intervenes in people's lives and world events. Nor do I think I am a dangerous person or anti-scientific just because I believe that a benevolent God created the world (I'm not arguing here for number of days or a young age of the earth) and is coming again to set up his eternal kingdom. The categories are just too binary for me. Like everything else, there are nuances about science and religion that gets missed in this kind of debate format. Check out Nancey Murphy, here and here (though neither of these resources are a direct answer to Sam Harris or Chris Hedges).

Two things I think Christians can do to help themselves:

1. Don't make ridiculous claims and "straw man" arguments to try to prove your point. Have the humility to admit that many things Sam (and others) say about religion and religious people are absolutely right. Religion HAS been a force for evil in the world. Religion in the 21st century is a dangerous thing and we should be able to understand why people would be skeptical or downright hostile toward religion. We, Christians, and people of other faiths need to own our contribution to this mess we're in!
2. Secondly, don't do this! I mean...this is just lobbing a softball to everyone who wants to say that all religion amounts to nothing more than empty-headed superstitions.

Let the Monsters See You Smile

I'm certainly no music guru...hence the lack of posts on my blog about music, but I do know something good when I hear it and there are some neat opportunities coming in the Los Angeles area.

First of all, the Apple Stores in Pasadena and Santa Monica are doing mini shows with really famous acts over the next few weeks. Click on the city names above to go to their calendar for the full schedule. Here's a couple of highlights.

Vega4 will be at the Santa Monica Apple Store from noon to 1 pm on Saturday, June 2, and in the Pasadena Apple Store on the same day from 7-8 pm. As you can imagine, the place will be packed and there will probably be die hard fans standing in line for hours.

Also, Switchfoot will be at the Santa Monica Apple Store on Tuesday, June 12 from 7-8 pm. I probably can't attend any of these, so if some of you go, take some pictures and let me know what it's like. I think it's great that Apple is doing this. Really brings the music to the people. Sweet!

If you're not in Southern California, first of all, I'm sorry! And secondly, you can check the Apple Store nearest you by clicking here.

Naturally, I can't say enough good about Switchfoot.

More about Vega4 after the jump...

Sabbath Grace

Here's a quote from Joan Chittister to start your Sabbath:

Why do people think the spiritual life demands withdrawal from the ordinary? Because they've been taught, at least by implication, that the physical is a block to the spiritual. When we assume that the spiritual, unlike the physical, is impervious to corrosion, then we assume that all things material are not to be honored. But the fact of the matter is, the material is the vehicle of the spiritual.
(Courtesy of Sojourners, Verse and Voice, May 25, 2007)

What about you? Where do you see the grace of God in the ordinary, material, and even mundane things of your life? Or are we still waiting for some disembodied transcendence to overtake us?

Google Analytics gets an upgrade

If you have a blog or website you should definitely check out Google Analytics, if you haven't already. The user interface just got a whole lot better, too. But I'm having a hard time figuring something out.

I also use StatCounter and the two systems are giving me different info. For example, on last Friday, May 18, StatCounter tells me I had 110 pageloads and 68 unique visitors. Google Analytics says I had 75 pageviews and 36 unique visits. Somehow they are calculating this different. Does anyone understand this?

Chris Hedges: I Don’t Believe in Atheists

TruthDig today began to publish portions of the debate between Chris Hedges and Sam Harris that took place at UCLA on Tuesday, beginning with Chris' opening statement. Here's an excerpt:

Those who silenced Jesus represented all human societies, not the Romans or the Jews.  When Jesus attacks the chief priests, scribes, lawyers, Pharisees, Sadducees and other “blind guides” he is attacking forms of oppression as endemic to Christianity, as to all religions and all ideologies.  If civil or religious authority enforces an iron and self-righteous conformity among members of a community, then faith loses its uncertainty, and the element of risk is removed from acts of faith.  Faith is then transformed into ideology.  Those who deform faith into creeds, who use it as a litmus test for institutional fidelity, root religion in a profane rather than a sacred context. They seek, like all who worship idols, to give the world a unity and coherency it does not possess.  They ossify the message.  And once ossified it can never reach an existential level, can never rise to ethical freedom—to faith.  The more vast the gap between professed faith and acts of faith, the more vast our delusions about our own grandeur and importance, the more intolerant, aggressive and dangerous we become.

This is such an important reminder to all religious people. I am always hopeful that my own "tribe" might understand the truth of this. It sort of reminds me of the logic of parenting teenagers. The harder you hold on the more you're likely to push them away. The corollary for religion is, Chris Hedges would argue (and I would concur), the more insistent you are on your faith statements (call them creeds or fundamental beliefs...whatever) the more they devolve into ideology, which gives rise to intolerance, agression and eventually, violence.

Here is how Chris ends his essay...

The point of religion, authentic religion, is that it is not, in the end, about us.  It is about the other, about the stranger lying beaten and robbed on the side of the road, about the poor, the outcasts, the marginalized, the sick, the destitute, about those who are being abused and beaten in cells in Guantanamo and a host of other secret locations, about what we do to gays and lesbians in this country, what we do to the 47 million Americans without health insurance, the illegal immigrants who live among us without rights or protection, their suffering as invisible as the suffering of the mentally ill we have relegated to heating grates or prison cells.  It is about them.

We have forgotten who we were meant to be, who we were created to be, because we have forgotten that we find God not in ourselves, finally, but in our care for our neighbor, in the stranger, including those outside the nation and the faith.  The religious life is not designed to make you happy, or safe or content; it is not designed to make you whole or complete, to free you from anxieties and fear; it is designed to save you from yourself, to make possible human community, to lead you to understand that the greatest force in life is not power or reason but love.

While I thought he was really hard on Sam Harris at points and was sometimes arrogant in his tone, I thought he did a marvelous job of articulating the role religion plays in the world. However, the 25 commenters (to date) overwhelming disagreed. In fact, the comments really threw me for a loop. I'm realizing more and more that our world (especially the upper and upper-middle class, highly educated portion of the world) is full of (sometimes angry) atheists. I felt so sad about these easy caricatures of religion and religious people. I may have to write a comment.

Biking to Work - a report

Last week I declared that I would be participating in "Bike to Work Week" by biking to work several days. Well, I managed two days. The main day was Thursday - officially designated as Bike to Work Day. Originally, I was going to skip Thursday and bike on Tuesday and Friday instead. But, in talking to my good friends, Stephen & Enci Box, I discovered a way to make it work.

You see, I had a meeting at the White Memorial Church, in Boyle Heights, on Thursday. I wasn't sure I wanted to venture out, in commuting traffic, all the way to Boyle Heights. But I discovered that Stephen was organizing a group ride from Hollywood and Western to City Hall (which is only a mile or so from White Memorial). So, I rode with them to City Hall. By the way, this group of committed cyclists are some of the coolist people I've ever met. They are from all walks of life, with all sorts of bikes. Some were pulling sound systems behind them, many bikes were customized in some bizarre ways. A number of the cyclists in the group are messengers around Los Angeles. These guys are hardcore. I've seen them downtown, mixing it up in traffic, no hands, and talking on a cell phone. Most messengers ride fixed gear bikes. Oh yeah, and some just forgo the brakes. Who needs them, really?

From White Memorial Church I had a lunch appointment in Larchmont Village, so I rode the Purple Line from Union Station to Wilshire and Western and rode a short distance to Larchmont. From there, I made the easy journey back to the church in Hollywood and finally, back home at 6:30 that evening. All in all I put in 20.5 miles on my bike. It was a great day. My T-shirt had to dry out a few times during the day, but it was alright.

It feels so organic to be on a bike. I was so much more connected with the city. You notice everything (every bump). I only encountered one rude driver (just in front of my church).

LAist blog had a good report of our ride here. You can even find me in one or two of these pictures.
Watch a video of our ride to City Hall here.
LADOT's bicycling website
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

Religion, Politics and the End of the World

This debate between Chris Hedges and Sam Harris is happening TOMORROW at UCLA's Royce Hall. If you can go, you should go! Please, someone go and tell me all about it. Sneak a video camera into the venue and record it for me.

You should really feel sorry for me. The reason I can't attend myself is that I have Dodgers tickets with my dad. LA is a great place: Dodgers game or an amazing debate between one of the most famous atheists of our time (and author of Letter to a Christian Nation) and Harvard Divinity School grad and veteran journalist, Chris Hedges (Hedges' most important book is probably, War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. His new book is American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.)? Tough decision! To make matters worse, Al Gore is ALSO speak in Los Angeles tomorrow night. What a busy night. Can't these people spread these events around a little?

For more about the debate visit TruthDig. They will publish a report after the event.

Can Hollywood have a Central Park?

We are a few steps closer to having a "Central Park" in Hollywood. This, from the Chamber of Commerce website (www.hollywoodchamber.net);

On Tuesday morning, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce hosted a capacity-crowd pre-bidders conference for a study that will look at the feasibility of constructing Hollywood Freeway Central Park atop the 101 Freeway in a park-poor section of Hollywood.  Prospective bidders from some of the top engineering and design firms across the United States came to ask questions and listen to comments by the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who are working in concert to make the park project a reality.  For a project that will provide upwards of 24 acres of new park space in Hollywood, engineers, planners, and landscape architects are buzzing about the golden opportunity to make the most famous city in the world a better place to live, work and play.

For more information about the Hollywood Freeway Central Park, visit the website at www.hollywoodfreewaycentralpark.org.

Keep reading for conceptual drawings and notice the prominence of the Hollywood Church.

Intersections

Christians and atheists start a calmer dialogue | Christian Science Monitor (May 10, 2007)
"Saying that he loves the teachings of Jesus, along with those of other important teachers, Casper [an atheist] concludes: "The question that just came up for me again and again ... is, What does the way Christianity is practiced today have to do with the ... words and deeds" of Jesus?" Read the whole article
Thank you to Neville Salvador for pointing out this article.

Which city has the rudest drivers? | AP (May 15, 2007)
Miami tops the list of the cities with the rudest drivers. But don't feel bad, Los Angeles isn't far behind. How did we fare? you'll have to check out the article to see exactly. Even though we didn't make the #1 spot, I'm confident, Angelenos, that if we work extra hard, we can be in the top spot next year!

Jerry Falwell, dead at 73 | LA Times (May 15, 2007)
One of the most controversial figures at the intersection of religion and politics died today. He was found without a pulse in his office at Liberty University. Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979 and spent the better part of his professional life offending and delighting large groups of people. Everyone seems to be singing his praises at the moment. After all, he just died. But I think history will show that his legacy is one of intolerance and division. Our prayers go out to his family and university family at this time of loss. Godspeed, brother Falwell. See you on the other side!

The link above is to the LA Times article reporting on his death. There are some multimedia things there. You can read a short essay by Peter Laarman of Progressive Christians Uniting here.

Bike to Work Week - May 14-18

The month of May is National Bike Month (this site has links to state and local specific information) and this week is Bike to Work Week (specific for LA County).

I wasn't able to ride my bike today and I have several meetings on Thursday I need to get to, but for the rest of the week I'm going to be riding my bike to work. I have many excuses for not doing this. Here are some of my best ones:

  + I pick up my daughter after school and I can't do that on a bike.
  + I often have to make last second trips and get there quick
  + The helmet will mess up my hair
  + I'll get all hot and sweaty for work.

I'm sure you can think of more. Will this inconvenience me in some way this week? YES. Is it worth it? I think so. I'll try to report on what I learn by doing this.

For those of you who don't know, I am an avid cyclist and will be doing the 70-mile LA River Ride on Sunday, June 10th. I've just never mastered the bike commute