I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to Mary Eberstadt's satire on atheism. The main benefit I got from it was excellent counter-arguments about theism/atheism and the aesthetic (e.g., Chartres) and moral (see later)high ground. One point she makes is that abortion is the key issue of our day and the theists have been right on this. Another is the fact that atheists like Steven Pinker and Peter Singer have argued for infanticide and bestiality respectively. If these are heinous yet acceptable in principle to atheists, then the claim that an atheist is as likely to be moral is problematic. Furthermore, she notes an excellent survey that correlates theism/atheism with generosity/selfishness respectively when it comes to giving $$$ to charity. Finally, her comeback to Dennet's reference to atheists as "brites" is to point out "the woman problem," i.e., that women are more likely to believe in God than men: so the question Eberstadt poses is, does Dennet believe that men are brighter than women?
Commentary and discussion regarding science, faith and culture by Leo White
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