I’m about to start an Islam/Middle East themed reading project, and if anyone wants to join me, you are welcome. My selection process is complex and meticulous: I’ve scanned my bookshelves and made a list of books on the topic that I own but have not yet read.
The first three out of the gate are all written by immigrants who now live and work in the United States:
No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan
A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out Against the Evils of Islam by Wafa Sultan
The first two look to be more or less sympathetic toward Islam, but since I haven’t read them yet, it’s hard to tell. The third pretty much telegraphs its intention right there in the title. (Wafa Sultan, you may recall, is the firebrand who shouted down a couple of Muslim men during an Al Jazeera exchange in 2006.)
If there’s enough interest, I might blog the first book chapter-by-chapter, like I did with Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth. Let me know!
Or at least so says Christopher Hitchens, responding to Robertson’s claim that the devastating Haitian earthquake (which may have killed upwards of 200,000 innocent people) was the result of “a deal with the devil” made during the Haitian Revolution in 1791. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called Robertson’s remarks “utterly stupid.” Barry Lynn of Americans United said they were callous and grotesquely insensitive. And Keith Olbermann says Robertson is full of “senile crap.”
Love her or loathe her, there’s no denying that Ayn Rand was a fascinating person. Born in 1905 in Czarist Russia, Alisa Rosenbaum’s childhood was devastated by the upheaval of the revolution and the subsequent reversal of her family’s fortunes under the Communist regime. Emigrating to the United States in 1926, Alisa reinvented herself as Ayn Rand, going on to write plays, screenplays and two mega-bestselling novels–The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged–and founding the still-controversial philosophy known as Objectivism. The perpetually prickly Rand became ever more strident as she grew older, eventually alienating all but a handful of sycophants. She died alone and embittered in 1982.
We interview Jennifer Burns, assistant professor of history at the University of Virginia and author of the new biography Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right. It’s a timely book considering the recent resurgence of Rand’s works (especially her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged) as a reaction to the country’s current economic situation. For more about Prof. Burns visit www.JenniferBurns.org. Read John Snider’s review of Goddess of the Market and/or order you very own copy at Amazon.com.
We interview Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. The Family is both an investigation into the organization that has influenced presidents from Eisenhower to Obama, and a history of American fundamentalism from colonial times to the present. If you don’t read any other book this year about religion in America, read this one. You can buy The Family at Amazon.com.
Sharlet is the co-creator of Killing the Buddha, a literary magazine about religion, and The Revealer, “a daily review of religion and the press.” Sharlet is also a contributing editor to Harper’s and Rolling Stone.
It is possibly the most influential organization you’ve never heard of. They observe a fanatical devotion to the person of Jesus Christ, yet they are unrestrained by quaint notions of rule-based morality. They are invited with open arms into the halls of power in Washington, DC. Their members include congressmen, senators, governors, ambassadors, generals, captains of international industry, even ruthless dictators. For half a century, no president has dared ignore their annual summons. Their goal is no less than global theocracy dominated by America military, economic and cultural power. Theirs is a “long-term project of a worldwide government under God…more ambitious than Al Qaeda’s dream of a Sunni empire.”
Possibly the most important person you’ve never heard of died over the weekend: Norman Borlaug. Here’s a short tribute video posted by Danny Zepeda (Un Papa Esceptico), featuring Borlaug fans Penn & Teller.
If you buy the latest Creationist explanation, Charles Darwin was a fantasy-prone naif who “fabricated stories” as a boy, fell for a bunch of geological uniformitarianist claptrap, got mad at God for the deaths of three of his ten children, and kluged together the Theory of Evolution by cherrypicking the data he collected on his famous round-the-world voyage. Plus he was a racist precisely because he believed that, while all human beings are derived from a common ancestor, some were more evolved than others.
As you probably already know, 2009 marks both Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his magnum opus The Origin of Species. Lovers of science have been celebrating all year, but Creationists–still smarting from recent legal setbacks involving teaching Intelligent Design in public schools, and increasingly desperate to sound “sciencey” when discussing their discredited theories–are determined not to be outdone in the Year of Darwin.
Or at least so says 
We interview Jennifer Burns, assistant professor of history at the University of Virginia and author of the new biography Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right. It’s a timely book considering the recent resurgence of Rand’s works (especially her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged) as a reaction to the country’s current economic situation. For more about Prof. Burns visit 
We interview Jeff Sharlet, author of 
When reports came out a few days ago 
by John C. Snider © 2009
Hitchens rewrites the 10C
Friday, March 5th, 2010Tags: christopher hitchens, ten commandments
Posted in atheism, commentary, ethics, history, religion | 1 Comment »