18AR23-10

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AR 23:10 - Answering "the new atheist evangelism"

In this issue:

ATHEISM - how "street epistemologists" plan to eradicate the "faith virus"

CONSCIOUSNESS - will legalizing psychedelic drugs come next?

FEMINISM - "the price we have paid for denying sex differences and stoking the war of the sexes"

FIRST AMENDMENT - the "urgent need of safeguarding the civil exchange of diverse ideas"

Apologia Report 23:10 (1,376)

March 21, 2018

ATHEISM

"Street Epistemology: The New Atheist Evangelism" by Travis M. Dickinson <www.travisdickinson.com> -- responding to the book A Manual for Creating Atheists, by Peter Boghossian [1], Dickinson describes a particular atheist strategy, observing that the "penultimate aim of applying reason to faith is a good one. Apologists everywhere think it is good to think rationally about faith. However, [the street epistemologist's] ultimate aim - of eradicating the 'faith virus' - is a bad one, since it assumes a radically flawed understanding of faith."

Dickinson wisely acknowledges that "the street epistemologist is typically very kind and noncombative," but identifies a fatal flaw in the approach used: "the street epistemologist thinks reason is opposed to faith." In response, Dickinson presents faith as "ventured trust." He then discusses the importance of reason for faith and what constitutes a reasonable faith. The last pull-quote sums it up well: "Faith cannot be 'belief without evidence,' since it is not a belief at all.... Rather, it is a state of trust." Christian Research Journal, 40:6 - 2017, pp34-38.

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CONSCIOUSNESS

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, by Michael Pollan [2] -- the publisher floats this as "an investigation into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs." Library Journal (Nov 13 '17) explains: "Before Timothy Leary encouraged Sixties counterculturalists to turn on, tune in, and drop out, scientists and doctors saw LSD and the related psilocybin (that is, magic mushrooms) as tremendous new tools for understanding consciousness and affording relief to the addicted and mentally ill. Back-burnered in the post-Sixties backlash, these drugs have been brought back by researchers and have proved effective in treating such disorders as PTSD and depression. New York Times best-selling author Pollan <michaelpollan.com> even put himself forth as guinea pig."

POSTSCRIPT May 24 '18: The early reviews are in:

Booklist | 04/01/2018

Pollan's complexly elucidating and enthralling inquiry combines fascinating and significant history with daring and resonant reportage and memoir, and looks forward to a new open-mindedness toward psychedelics and the benefits of diverse forms of consciousness. Seaman, Donna. 480p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

Kirkus Reviews | 03/01/2018

The author's evenhanded but generally positive approach shoos away scaremongering while fully recognizing that we're out in the tall grass--and, as he notes, though credited with psychological evenness, he's found himself "tossed in a psychic storm of existential dread so dark and violent that the keel comes off the boat," reason enough to seek chemical aid. A trip well worth taking, eye-opening and even mind-blowing.

Publishers Weekly | 03/12/2018

This nuanced and sophisticated exploration, which asks big questions about meaning-making and spiritual experience, is thought-provoking and eminently readable.

BookPage | 05/01/2018

As Pollan describes, this altered state of consciousness can be spiritually enlightening, mind-opening and life-changing. It can also be terror-provoking. How to Change Your Mind chronicles the unusual power of these substances, instilling a better understanding of their capabilities in helping to discover, heal and change our minds. It's a trip worth taking. Becky Libourel Diamond.

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FEMINISM

Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense, by Mona Charen [3] -- the publisher announces: "popular columnist Mona Charen takes a close, reasoned look at the aggressive feminist agenda undermining the success and happiness of men and women across the country.

"In this smart, deeply necessary critique, Mona Charen unpacks the ways feminism fails us at home, in the workplace, and in our personal relationships - by promising that we can have it all, do it all, and be it all. Here, she upends the feminist agenda and the liberal conversation surrounding women's issues by asking tough and crucial questions, such as:

* "Did women's full equality require the total destruction of the nuclear family?

* "Did it require a sexual revolution that would dismantle traditions of modesty, courtship, and fidelity that had characterized relations between the sexes for centuries?

* "Did it cause the broken dating culture and the rape crisis on our college campuses?

* "Did it require war between the sexes that would deem men the 'enemy' of women?

* "Have the strides of feminism made women happier in their home and work life? (The answer is No.)

"Sex Matters tracks the price we have paid for denying sex differences and stoking the war of the sexes - family breakdown, declining female happiness, aimlessness among men, and increasing inequality. Marshaling copious social science research as well as her own experience as a professional as well as a wife and mother, Mona Charen calls for a sexual ceasefire for the sake of women, men, and children."

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FIRST AMENDMENT

Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech, by Keith E. Whittington <www.goo.gl/YDPnN2> [4] -- Kirkus (Feb 15 '18) lays it out: "A timely defense of intellectual debate and critical thinking. 'The ultimate goal of a university community is to foster an environment in which competing perspectives can be laid bare, heard, and assessed,' writes Whittington in his cogent - and likely to be controversial - argument for the crucial importance of free speech in academia. A spirited exchange of ideas contributes to the university's mission 'of advancing and disseminating knowledge.' Administrators 'cannot be selective in what arguments and perspectives they are willing to let in' and should not give in to any pressure to suppress 'forms of expression that they find immoral, embarrassing, offensive, indecent, misguided, or simply unpopular and inconvenient.' Considering students' demands for safe spaces and trigger warnings, the author acknowledges that in some specifically diagnosed illnesses - PTSD, for example - students can justifiably seek protection from stimuli that might exacerbate symptoms. But in most cases, he has found, students identify as a trigger 'anything that happens to remind the individual of a specific past trauma,' and 'the insistence on trigger warnings becomes more about the performance of victimhood than a meaningful effort to help actual victims.' Similarly, he concedes that designated spaces where community members find support and affirmation are important, but an academic community as a whole should be a safe space that 'emphasizes civility, respect, and acceptance for all members of community.' Citing many recent examples of student protests against speakers such as Charles Murray, at Middlebury; philosopher Peter Singer, at the University of Victoria in Australia; and Milo Yiannopoulos at Berkeley, Whittington argues that obstructionist protesters are not exercising 'a protected right to free speech.' Rather, they are shutting down the free exchange of ideas, just as if they were agents of government oppression. The author defends hiring faculty and awarding tenure on the basis of scholarly achievement; 'unorthodox, controversial, and even wild-eyed professors' should be valued as 'a sign of institutional health.' In the current divisive political climate, Whittington shows why safeguarding the civil exchange of diverse ideas is an urgent need."

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - A Manual for Creating Atheists, by Peter Boghossian (Pitchstone, 2013, paperback, 280 pages) <www.goo.gl/vEyqDR>

2 - How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, by Michael Pollan (Penguin, May 2018, hardcover, 480 pages) <www.goo.gl/2QcPb3>

3 - Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense, by Mona Charen (Crown, June 2018, hardcover, 304 pages) <www.goo.gl/AULKU3>

4 - Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech, by Keith E. Whittington (Princeton Univ Prs, April 2018, hardcover: 232 pages) <www.goo.gl/TwbNvS>

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