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Title: I Don't Believe in Atheists
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Manufacturer: Free Press
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| I Don't Believe in Atheists by Free Press Misquoting Goethe... | The 3-Star review is so that this book can maintain its standard while I point something out:
It annoys me when people quote literature in translation without citing whose version they are using. In this case, the the opening lines from the excerpt of Chapter One are, I believe, by Thornton Wilder (in his book "The Ides of March"). Wilder did not do a complete translation of Faust, but in the Norton edition (trans. Walter Arndt) you can find them on lines 6273-4. In context they read:
Yet not in torpor would I comfort find;
Awe is the finest portion of mankind;
However scarce the world may make this sense-
In awe one feels profoundly the immense.
It's funny, but in the original German the word used is "verteure," which I am not convinced could be translated as "altering." Usually, it is closer to "rare" or "non-existent." This changes the meaning slightly, and essentially undermines Hedges entire argument that the world is full of extremists (i.e. most people are quite even-minded)... | | I Don't Believe in Atheists by Free Press The folly of atheism | This is an outstanding, deeply thoughtful and provocative book -- a profoundly religious book and a harsh and persuasive criticism of fundamentalism whether it be the religous right or the atheists. Hedges argues that man is basically imperfectible -- that the argument from Genesis that man is basically evil and that moral progress is a myth has been clearly demonstrated by history.
His real target is the Enlightenment and the atheistic Utopians who have the notion that evil is something that exists outside of ourselves -- something that can be extinguished forever. The profound meaning of Original Sin is that evil is part of human nature and always will be. It is the religious impulse that acknowledges this truth.
He describes God as "that which works through us and upon to find meaning and relevance in a morally neutral universe". I can't imagine a better definigion of God.
| | I Don't Believe in Atheists by Free Press Valid central point, although the book drifts a bit | Hedges makes an excellent case that the "new atheists" are every bit as fundamentalist in their beliefs and religious fundamentalists. That much is fairly obvious if you look at the works of Dawkins, Hitchens, et al. What Hedges does next is a bit more interesting, which is to not simply say that such fundamentalism ignorantly insults religious belief and blinds us to the cultural import of religion, but that the fundamentalism of science is itself highly dangerous--as or even more dangerous in some instances as religious fundamentalism. The reason is that these two forms of fundamentalism--scientific and religious--rest on a shared common assumption: that humanity is perfectable, that we can and do make moral progress, that we can make a sort of heaven here on earth, if only we simply believed the right things and acted upon them. This is the crux of Hedges problems with the new atheists: he does not believe that humanity is perfectable, or even that we make moral progress. Rather, we continually face the same old problems inherent in the human condition. Technologies may change, but the battle within ourselves of how to use them does not.
This book is a bit less focused than "War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning," and, in my reading at least, it drifts a bit in the second half, getting more into speculative sociology and away from the central point of the beliefs of the new atheists. There are a number of specific points Hedges makes that I don't think stand up to scrutiny (e.g., the claim that the new "visual" culture of the image necessarily erodes an ability to think abstractly). At other times, he makes points in a way that is less than fair (saying that the the arguments supporting the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan are based on balancing these attacks with the attack on Pearl Harbor; this is an incredible trivialization of a complex topic, since no one claims the atomic bombing was justified simply because of Pearl Harbor).
I also don't know that I buy his underlying assumption fully: that humanity does not make moral progress. I think one can grant that we make much less than we think and that we always face the most basic of human weaknesses and depravities with each generation having to fight these forces anew, but not buy the strong version of Hedges's thesis, which is that moral progress is always illusory. I'm too much of a meliorist to buy that, although I think Hedges's heart is generally in the right place.
The most basic point of the book, however, that these "new atheists" are every bit as selective in their use of evidence and willfully ignorant of anything resembling complex thought on the issue of God and religion is made so strongly that, while atheism itself can still be defended, the works of Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, etc. are destroyed utterly.
| | I Don't Believe in Atheists by Free Press Hedges throws a stone at a non-existent threat | After reading this, I went to Hedges' 'War is a Force', and read a few pages. I still like it, and would recommend it, but after reading this book I think it is fair that no one would ever read anything by Hedges ever again.
Hedges writes out of insecurity, and rage, which are non-existent in his other books. He lumps Harris, Hitchens, and Dawkins together, cherry-picks a few of their quotes, and then starts throwing stones at them.
The first few pages made me think I might like the book, Hedges is often right on when criticising evils in the world, and I respect him on this. But this book attacks the weakest, and non-existent threats, as presented by atheists. Atheism is not a belief. It is disbelief.
Bertrand Russell wrote 'Why I am not a Christian'. Hedges does not have anything to say about Russell, or other humanitarian athiests such as Col. Robert Ingersoll, or Mark Twain. He goes after the weakest arguments, not after the strongest. Hedges embodies what he despises in this book - a lack of critical thought. Hedges would have been better off writing 'Why I am not an Athiest'. He, in effect, has written a judgmental book that, hopefully, will be forgotten.
Unfortunately, it will also diminish his entire body of work. | | I Don't Believe in Atheists by Free Press Harsh indictment of the "new" atheists | I don't like the title, being an atheist myself, but I did like the book. Hedges rips Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins for their puerile attacks on religion. The book arose from debates Hedges had with Harris and Hitchens last year. What impressed me most was Hedges' deep understanding of theology. He was able to quote many philosophers in support of his defense of moderate religion. Hedges uses the quotes of the "new" atheists to show how shallow their understanding of religion is. I'll just mention two: Harris says "most Muslims are utterly deranged by their faith" and Hitchens preposterously claims Martin Luther King was not really Christian.
Another terrific part of the book is his attack on the "cult of science," which tells us that reason alone can save humanity and that science has all the answers. Hedges rightly points out that the theory of evolution (which he endorses) has been abused to explain non-biological concerns. He also says (accurately) that science tells us that there are things we will never know. He rightly rips Dawkins for his pseudoscientific multiverse theory (the belief that our universe is one of nearly infinite universes). This theory, as Hedges says, is a leap of faith. There is no evidence for it whatsoever.
There was one major flaw in the book that prevented me from giving it five stars. Hedges weakly argues that despair is the cause of Islamic terrorism. That's just not true; most jihadists are well-educated and middle class. It certainly doesn't hold true for the leaders of Al-Qaeda: bin Laden and Zawahiri are as far from oppressed as you can get. Nonetheless, this is an excellent book. | | I Don't Believe in Atheists by Free Press Product Description | | From the New York Times bestselling author of American Fascists and the NBCC finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning comes this timely and compelling work about new atheists: those who attack religion to advance the worst of global capitalism, intolerance and imperial projects. Chris Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School, has long been a courageous voice in a world where there are too few. He observes that there are two radical, polarized and dangerous sides to the debate on faith and religion in America: the fundamentalists who see religious faith as their prerogative, and the new atheists who brand all religious belief as irrational and dangerous. Both sides use faith to promote a radical agenda, while the religious majority, those with a commitment to tolerance and compassion as well as to their faith, are caught in the middle. The new atheists, led by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, do not make moral arguments about religion. Rather, they have created a new form of fundamentalism that attempts to permeate society with ideas about our own moral superiority and the omnipotence of human reason. I Don't Believe in Atheists critiques the radical mindset that rages against religion and faith. Hedges identifies the pillars of the new atheist belief system, revealing that the stringent rules and rigid traditions in place are as strict as those of any religious practice. Hedges claims that those who have placed blind faith in the morally neutral disciplines of reason and science create idols in their own image -- a sin for either side of the spectrum. He makes an impassioned, intelligent case against religious and secular fundamentalism, which seeks to divide the world into those worthy of moral and intellectual consideration and those who should be condemned, silenced and eradicated. Hedges shatters the new atheists' assault against religion in America, and in doing so, makes way for new, moderate voices to join the debate. This is a book that must be read to understand the state of the battle about faith. |
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