Holy Flibbertishibbit! Robert Wright in diavlog with Christopher Hitchens twice in the same month! Me like.
Posts Tagged ‘robert wright’
Wright v. Hitch, Part Deux
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
Bob Wright on the Behe Brouhaha: Mea Culpa
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009I know I’ve posted about this a couple of times before, but this onion keeps growing new layers. Over the weekend, bloggingheads.tv Robert Wright (The Evolution of God) posted a conversation with science journalist George Johnson, in which Wright offers a very detailed explanation of how the Michael Behe/John McWhorter diavlog got posted, then removed, then re-posted. In the aftermath of the incident, a handful of scientists and/or science journalists who have participated on bhTV have vowed never to be on again. Oh, and Bob Wright also addresses (sort of) the insinuations and rumors that he’s angling for the high-dollar Templeton Prize. Enjoy:
More fallout from the Behe bloggingheads.tv brouhaha
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009How to deal with Creationists and Intelligent Design proponents? It’s a bit of a Catch-22: one the one hand, unless we consistently, frequently and forcefully confront their nonsense, we might give them free rein to convince the general public that there’s some validity to what they say; on the other hand, if we give them a forum, or engage them in open debate, others might infer that there’s a real controversy within the biological sciences (there isn’t). At what point do we write off certain people as hopeless wackaloons not worthy of notice? How do we know when it’s beneficial to engage in dialogue and (polite) confrontation?
The Behe brouhaha at bloggingheads.tv
Monday, August 31st, 2009Boy, what a soap opera this has turned out to be. Late last week, linguist and conservative pundit John McWhorter recorded a segment for bloggingheads.tv (bhTV) with Michael “Irreducible Complexity” Behe. A credulous–even gushing–McWhorter, who is a self-admitted nonbeliever, began by heaping praise on Behe’s most recent book The Edge of Evolution. The 44-minute conversation is unremarkable, given that a linguist isn’t exactly the best conversational partner to pair up with a guy like Behe, and doesn’t break new ground on the supposed controversy of Intelligent Design.
Defining Anti-theism
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009by John C. Snider © 2009
It’s official. American Freethought is now a “prominent atheist website.” So implies Robert Wright in his latest essay, “End Times,” part of his guest-blogging stint at Andrew Sullivan’s “The Daily Dish” blog at The Atlantic. Who am I to argue with him? :)
“End Times” is Wright’s latest volley in the general direction of so-called “New Atheists,” which I’ve said repeatedly (and may continue saying until somebody corrects me) is a squishy term that is not embraced, as far as I can tell, by any atheist organization; has no self-identified membership or tenets, and is really just a term latched onto by the media ’cause all of a sudden they discovered atheism is sexy. (Of course, we all knew that already, didn’t we?)
New Atheist = Atheism + Anti-Theism?
Wright’s conclusion, in short, is that New Atheism = Atheism + Anti-theism. Wright never defines anti-theism explicitly, but he says it involves “the idea that religion is the cause of conflicts that involve religion.”
Robert Wright takes on the “New Atheists” (including me!), Part Deux
Monday, July 20th, 2009As I reported last week, Robert Wright (The Evolution of God), whom we interviewed in episode #58 of the podcast, published an essay at Huffington Post titled “Why the ‘New Atheists’ are Right-Wing on Foreign Policy.” I posted a critique of this essay in which, among other things, I take Wright to task for asserting that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was not originally a religious conflict. (I do, to be clear, agree with Wright that the problem is not solely and exclusively religious, but rather an unholy–I use that term advisedly–combination of religion, culture and politics.)
Podcast #59 – Bill Maher Stand-up Tour
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
David gives us a report on Bill Maher’s stand-up tour; specifically, Maher’s recent appearance at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta.
We also give listeners a heads-up on several upcoming events, including:
Atheist Alliance International 2009 Convention (Oct 2-4 in Los Angeles) featuring Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Brian Keith Dalton (”Mr. Deity”), Lawrence Krauss, Eugenie Scott and more. (Say “hi” to David Driscoll, since he’ll be in attendance as well.)
Robert Wright takes on the “New Atheists”
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009Author Robert Wright (The Evolution of God) posted an essay over the weekend at Huffington Post that’s causing quite a stir: “Why the ‘New Atheists’ are Right-Wing on Foreign Policy.” This is something Wright touched on in the latter half of his interview with us (see podcast #58).
In a nutshell (and I hope I’m fairly summarizing his point), Wright argues that the venomous “religion is all bad and the cause of most of the world’s problems” attitude of Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris is a stumbling block to peace in the Middle East.
Podcast #58 – Robert Wright
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
We interview Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God and one of the founders of the pundit-driven website bloggingheads.tv. In The Evolution of God, Wright lays out a convincing case that the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are “illusions” shaped by completely natural forces like commerce, warfare and social instability. At the same time, Wright controversially claims that Western religion’s progressive march (from shamanistic superstition to primitive polytheism to a monotheism which recognizes the value of individual human beings) reveals an inevitable, even divine “higher purpose.” For more information visit evolutionofgod.net.
Wright v. Hitch
Friday, December 11th, 2009Finally–two of my favorite pundits go head-to-head at bloggingheads.tv. Check. It. Out.
Tags: christopher hitchens, robert wright
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