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Apologia Report 16:3 (1,053)

January 25, 2011

Subject: "Philosophy is dead! Long live physics!"

In this issue:

AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY - is it really on the ropes?

BUDDHISM - getting Buddhist-Christian dialogue back to reality

MORMONISM - institutional self-interest vs. core values

ORIGINS - Science: "The torch bearer in our quest for knowledge"?

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AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY

"America's Fast-Changing Religious Fabric" (no byline) -- notes that "A new book called American Grace [1] examines the role that religion plays in binding up the nation's social fabric. In the last 50 years, the Christian churches have undergone the cultural revolution of the 1960s, which undercut religious authority as it did all authority, while dealing a particular blow to Christian sexual ethics. But now we're living through a revolt against the association between Christian faith and conservative politics ... in which millions of Americans (younger Americans, especially) may be abandoning organized Christianity altogether.

"To put it another way, Christians need to find a way to thrive in a society that looks less and less like any sort of Christendom - and more and more like the diverse and complicated Roman Empire where their religion had its beginning." Hindu Press International, Dec 23 '10.

HPI reports that their source for the above item originated with a December 19 New York Times piece by Ross Douthat titled "A Tough Season for Believers." We found the full text of it in the Austin (TX) Statesman, <www.j.mp/egbMS2>.

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BUDDHISM

"Rethinking the Basis of Christian-Buddhist Dialogue: Understanding Metaphysical Realism and Nonrealism Issues" by Bruce Reichenbach (Professor of Philosophy, Augsburg College) -- the abstract reads: "Interreligious dialogue presupposes that discourse functions the same for both parties. I argue that what makes Christian-Buddhist dialogue so difficult is that whereas Christians have a realist view of theoretical concepts, Buddhists generally do not. The evidence for this is varied, including the Buddha's own refusal to respond to metaphysical questions and the Buddhist constructionist view of reality. I reply to two objections, that Buddhists do conduct metaphysical debate, and that the Buddha adopted a correspondence rather than a pragmatic theory of truth. In the end I develop the implications of this realist/nonrealist dichotomy for commencing and conducting interreligious dialogue."

Reichenbach opens by recounting the challenging experience he has had seeking critical responses from Buddhists. "I hope to shed light on the fundamental issue conflicting interreligious philosophical dialogue between Buddhists and Christians and indicate why attempts to dialogue such as I experienced are problematic. Understanding the roles of religious realism and nonrealism in constructing discourse will help provide the groundwork for future dialogue." Philosophia Christi, 12:2 - 2010, pp393-406.

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MORMONISM

The first line of this review carries a weight far beyond what most likely can imagine: "This riveting book tells an all-too-common story of how an institution will protect its own perceived interests to the neglect of its values. In this case, Franklin Richard Curtis, a Mormon high priest, was a pedophile who serially abused boys under his care or who were family friends, mainly in the 1980s and 1990s in Oregon. One of the boys later brought a suit against the Mormon Church when it became apparent that church officials had known that Brother Curtis was a sex offender. The lawyers for the plaintiff doggedly fought in the courts to get the documents they needed, but the church's lawyers presented roadblock after roadblock. Journalist Davis gets some of the details of Mormon culture wrong, but she gets the most important facts right about an insular group that can be guarded toward outsiders. Her character descriptions give a vivid sense of the personalities involved. It must be pointed out, however, that the book is based on court documents and interviews with the plaintiffs; lawyers for the defendant would not agree to be interviewed on terms acceptable to the author. VERDICT Sometimes a bit melodramatic, but on the whole a gripping read, this is recommended for true crime collections.—David S. Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia." Library Journal, Jan 1 '11, p111.

The book being reviewed is The Sins of Brother Curtis: A Story of Betrayal, Conviction, and the Mormon Church, by Lisa Davis [2]. Publishers Weekly (Jan 10 '11, pp43-44) adds: "A protracted legal battle to hold the Mormon Church (LDS) responsible for sexual abuse drives investigative reporter Davis's insightful examination of hard-won justice. In 1997, Seattle attorneys Tim Kosnoff and Joel Salmi took on the case of 18-year-old Jeremiah Scott, who, at age 12, was repeatedly abused by Brother Frank Curtis, an elder in Scott's Portland, Ore., Mormon community. When Scott's mother reported the abuse to her Mormon bishop, she was told the church was aware of Curtis's problem. So though Curtis had since died, the Scotts wanted to sue the church for failing to protect Scott. Kosnoff and Salmi soon discovered Curtis's pattern of molestation stretched back decades and across state lines. The abuse itself almost becomes secondary to the vicious pretrial battles between Kosnoff's team and the lawyers for the LDS, who said the church's records were protected by clergy-penitent privilege and the First Amendment freedom-of-religion clause. The million-dollar settlement in 2001 brought an end to the case but not the issue, as Davis makes abundantly clear in her well-researched account of systematic abuse and coverup."

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ORIGINS

William Lane Craig's review of The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow [3] is quite revealing. He begins with the observation that the authors "open their book ... with a series of profound questions: What is the nature of reality? Where did all this come from? Did the universe need a creator? Then they say, 'Traditionally these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.' [How's this for waving a red flag in front of the bull!]

"The professional philosopher can only roll his eyes at the effrontery and condescension of such a statement. Two scientists who have to all appearances little acquaintance with philosophy are prepared to pronounce an entire discipline dead and to insult their own faculty colleagues in philosophy at Cal Tech and Cambridge University, many of whom, like Michael Redhead and D.H. Mellor, are eminent philosophers of science, for supposedly failing to keep abreast of scientific developments. I wonder what evidence they have of Mr. Redhead's laggard scholarship? What recent works in philosophy have Hawking and Mlodinow read that form the basis for their verdict? Alas, they do not say.

"The professional philosopher will regard their verdict as not merely amazingly condescending but also as outrageously naive. The man who claims to have no need of philosophy is the one most apt to be fooled by it."

The abstract for this review essay sums it all up nicely: "While declaring philosophy to be dead, Hawking and Mlodinow are deeply engaged in philosophical speculation. Their treatment of the origin and fine-tuning of the universe, though unsympathetic to theism, turns out upon examination to be quite supportive of natural theology." Philosophia Christi, 12:2 - 2010, pp409-418.

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell (Simon & Schuster, 2010, hardcover, 688 pages) <www.j.mp/eFYfiB>

2 - The Sins of Brother Curtis: A Story of Betrayal, Conviction, and the Mormon Church, by Lisa Davis (Scribner, March 2011, hardcover, 368 pages) <www.j.mp/golBGV>

3 - The Grand Design, by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow (Bantam, 2010, hardcover, 208 pages) <www.j.mp/eYIxPu>

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