Tuesday, April 1, 2008

CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO TRADITIONAL RELIGION: RICHARD DAWKINS, SAM HARRIS, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, FRANCIS S. COLLINS AND STEPHEN J. GOULD

RABBI KLEIN SUNDAYS, FEBRUARY 24, MARCH 2 & 30 10:30 AM – NOON
Appalled by the horrific excesses of religion-inspired terrorism and agitated by the perceived assault of the religious right on democratic values, several recent writers have penned powerful attacks on religion itself, challenging its claims and bemoaning its impact on society. For these authors, scrapping religion altogether is the only way to make possible the resolution of society’s deepest problems. In this three-part series, we will consider the writings of three outspoken critics of religion: Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, Samuel Harris’s The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason and Christopher Hitchens’ God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. We will take up those challenges, evaluate the claims of their authors and examine possible responses… with the help of books by Stephen J. Gould, Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life and Francis S. Collins, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

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