Epicurus redux
All the Gods are dead except the god of war. (Eldridge Cleaver)
Archive of posts filed under the Religion category.
The dismal job of the Christian fundamentalist college professor
If you are of Epicurean persuasion you have to have sympathy with the fundamentalist pastors and professors in Christian colleges and churches in America. All their lives they have believed in the literal words of the old testament. They have preached it from the pulpit or have taught it in class (I am not saying …
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A light bulb went off
Howard Becker is a major figure in American sociology (and also a star jazz player) He is the subject of an article in the New Yorker (January 12) by Adam Gopnik. What particularly drew my attention was his contention that “any social group, insider or outsider, ends up by divorcing itself from the group it …
The “fight” for the soul of Islam
The authorities in Egypt have closed down a café in Cairo they claimed was a meeting place for atheists, and (confusingly) a “den of satanic rituals” (that’s what draws me to Epicureanism. Ed.) The closure came days after the government warned of a worrying rise in the number of atheists, to the suspiciously precise figure …
Part of a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“Dear Robert, My greatest anguish is beholding what the Israelis are doing to themselves. We saw what apartheid did to the white people, making it possible for them to commit horrendous atrocities. In dehumanising others, they were themselves dehumanised in the process. I saw it in the callousness of young Israeli soldiers at checkpoints when …
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