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Apologia Report 14:25
July 2, 2009
Subject: Book considers Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary Culture
In this issue:
ATHEISM - redefining the faith debate?
SCIENCE - academic ethics failure, a scientific analysis
WITCHCRAFT - is the teen Witch era fading?
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ATHEISM
The Evolution of God, by Robert Wright [2] -- Lisa Miller summarizes
Wright's influence with this book as having "redefined" the faith
debate. She reports that Wright "argues that the scriptures of the
three Abrahamic faiths were written in history by real people who
aimed to improve things - economic, social, geographical - for their
constituencies. (And then he exhaustively, minutely catalogs who those
writers were and what those specific aims might have been. This is not
a book to read on the beach this summer.) ...
"Though he never comes right out and declares that the human
propensity for morality - and, by extension, truth and love - is given
by God (or is God), he comes awfully close." Of the new atheists'
influence, Miller relates the observation that "The arguments are
'fun, but they degrade the academy,' said Great Britain's chief rabbi,
Jonathan Sacks, at a dinner sponsored by the Templeton Foundation
recently. What they miss, he says, 'is that the meaning of the system
lies outside of the system and the meaning of the universe lies
outside the universe.'" Newsweek, Jun 8 '09, n.p.
"No Smiting" by Paul Bloom, who writes: "In sharp contrast to many
contemporary secularists, [Robert] Wright is bullish about monotheism.
In Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny [3], he argued that there is a
moral direction to human history, that technological growth and
expanding global interconnectedness have moved us toward ever more
positive and mutually beneficial relationships with others. In 'The
Evolution of God' [2], Wright tells a similar story from a religious
standpoint, proposing that the increasing goodness of God reflects the
increasing goodness of our species. 'As the scope of social
organization grows, God tends to eventually catch up, drawing a larger
expanse of humanity under his protection, or at least a larger expanse
of humanity under his toleration.' Wright argues that each of the
major Abrahamic faiths has been forced toward moral growth as it found
itself interacting with other faiths on a multinational level, and
that this expansion of the moral imagination reflects 'a higher
purpose, a transcendent moral order.'
"This sounds pro-religion, but don't expect Pope Benedict XVI to be
quoting from Wright's book anytime soon. Wright makes it clear that he
is tracking people's conception of the divine, not the divine itself.
He describes this as 'a good news/bad news joke for traditionalist
Christians, Muslims and Jews.' The bad news is that your God was born
imperfect. The good news is that he doesn't really exist.
"Wright also denies the specialness of any faith. In his view,
there is continuous positive change over time - religious history has
a moral direction - but no movement of moral revelation associated
with the emergence of Moses, Jesus or Mohammed. Similarly, he argues
that it is a waste of time to search for the essence of any of these
monotheistic religions - it's silly, for instance, to ask whether
Islam is a 'religion of peace.' Like a judge who believes in a living
constitution, Wright believes that what matters is the choices that
the people make, how the texts are interpreted. Cultural sensibilities
shift according to changes in human dynamics, and these shape the God
that people worship. For Wright, it is not God who evolves. It is us -
God just comes along for the ride." New York Times Book Review, Jun 29
'09, p1, <www.tinyurl.com/lsczhe>
SCIENCE
"That people, from politicians to priests, cheat and lie is taken for
granted by many. But scientists, surely, are above that sort of
thing?" This wry speculation introduces the essay "Liar! Liar!" (The
Economist, no byline, Jun 6 '09, pp78, 80). "How often this sort of
thing [academic fudging] happens is hard to say. But Daniele Fanelli
of the University of Edinburgh thought he would try to find out. His
results, published in the Public Library of Science [1], suggest it is
commoner than scientists would like the rest of the world to believe.
"Dr Fanelli's own laboratory was the internet. He hunted down past
surveys of scientific honesty and subjected them to what is known as a
meta-analysis. This is a technique that allows the results of entire
studies, which may not have used the same methods, to be pooled in a
statistically meaningful way. ...
"Admissions of outright fraud (ie, having fabricated, falsified or
modified data to improve the outcome at least once during a scientific
career) were low. According to the meta-analysis, 2% of researchers
questioned were willing to confess to this. But lower-level fraud was
rife. About 10% confessed to questionable practices, such as "dropping
data points based on a gut feeling" or "failing to present data that
contradict one's previous research" - though this figure was just a
straight average of the underlying studies, since the relevant parts
of the underlying studies were too disparate to run through the
meta-analysis.
"Moreover, when it came to airing suspicions about colleagues, the
numbers went up. The meta-analysis suggested that 14% of researchers
in the underlying studies had seen their colleagues fabricate,
falsify, alter or modify data. If the question was posed in more
general terms, such as running experiments with deficient methods,
failing to report deficiencies or misrepresenting data, the straight
average suggested that 46% of researchers had seen others get up to
such shenanigans. In only half of the cases, though, had the
respondent to a survey tried to do anything about the misconduct he
said he had witnessed. ...
"Just as everyone thinks himself a better-than-average driver,
these results (assuming that they are honest) suggest people are more
willing to see sin in others than in themselves."
Also see: <www.tinyurl.com/m2a3pg> and <www.tinyurl.com/nogxfw>
WITCHCRAFT
The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary
Culture, Peg Aloi and Hannah E. Johnson, eds. [4] -- In her review,
Adrian Harris explains that this book "explores a complex interaction
between the Internet, mainstream media and the psychological needs of
Western teenage girls." Part one of three "includes [Douglas] Ezzy and
[Helen] Berger's rich discussion of Pagan conversion. They claim that
teen Witchcraft, stimulated by positive media representation and
consumerist books, is part of a shift from initiatory [often
coven-based] Wiccan Traditions to more eclectic forms.
"Section Two offers two short personal accounts from practitioners.
Such poignant stories are unusual in an academic book but add a
valuable experiential dimension that confirms more formal research.
"Section Three, 'Texts, Influences and Practices,' offers
analytical approaches [in which] Cush notes teen Witches' apparent
disinterest in the Goddess and suggests that a divine parent is
unattractive to teenagers. Several contributors imply that
Witchcraft's empowerment of young women is exceptional, but Cush
highlights research that suggests mainstream religious practices can
have a similar impact.
"Overall the contributors agree that most teen Witches are girls
for whom a predominantly solitary Witchcraft provides camaraderie and
an empowering identity. Witchcraft helps teenage girls overcome
problems by giving them a sense of meaning and control. However, teen
Witchcraft encourages female stereotypes, so despite the book's place
in the Controversial New Religions series, teen Witches actually
aren't very controversial at all. ...
"Is teen Witchcraft history? Harrington's respondents predict that
the craze is over while Lewis expects growth to slow but suggests that
'paganism in some form will become a large, mainstream religion within
the next decade.' Even if it was a fad, teen Witchcraft remains
fascinating, illuminating developments that 'could not be as readily
perceived from any other perspective.'" Nova Religio, 12:4 - 2009,
pp129-130. [5]
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Sources, Digital:
1 - <www.tinyurl.com/lgvyx7> Note: This paper "How Many Scientists
Fabricate and Falsify Research: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
of Survey Data" by Daniele Fanelli, represents an excellent example of
online publishing technology. First, it is OpenAccess, which allows
anyone to read the entire text. Second, it includes a hypertext
outline which enables the reader jump to different sections. Third, it
invites reader comment and rating.
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Sources, Monographs:
2 - The Evolution of God, by Robert Wright (Little Brown, 2009,
hardcover, 576 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/mhxe9o>
3 - Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, by Robert Wright (Vintage,
2001, paperback, 448 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/l4fosz>
4 - The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary
Culture, Peg Aloi and Hannah E. Johnson, eds. (Ashgate, 2007,
hardcover, 188 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/mc39ua>
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