17AR22-36

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AR 22:36 - Defining what liberalism means when it says religion

In this issue:

IDEOLOGY - quest for a liberal definition of religion concludes that the Anglican church is 'diluted, patrimonial, and culturalized'

ISLAM - "the evolution of mainstream Islamist groups including their tensions, transformations, and strategies"

PHILOSOPHY - "a decidedly theist bridge between philosophy and religious studies"

SCIENCE - recent report highlights growing concerns within academia regarding new threats to the integrity of science

Apologia Report 22:36 (1,356)

October 5, 2017

IDEOLOGY

Liberalism's Religion, by Cecile Laborde [1] -- a great primer for teaching the art of reading (between the lines). "Laborde tackles the job of defining what the philosophical system of liberalism means when it says religion. She attempts to discern what is recognizable as a religion from the point of view of liberal philosophy, and what, if any, special treatment religion should receive. This is an ambitious project, engaging with a number of fields and theorists, and Laborde is an able explicator of others' work, skillfully discussing the writings of Ronald Dworkin, Christopher Eisgruber, Lawrence Sager, and Jonathan Quong, among others. However, Laborde falls short of her goal of explaining religion from a secular progressive point of view, coming closer to an explication of liberalism's theorization of justice. Her text also has a number of puzzling omissions. For example, after discussing Dworkin's argument in favor of the acceptability to liberalism of the established Anglican Church, she concludes that the Anglican church is a 'diluted, patrimonial, culturalized Christianity' and therefore a threat to no one. This is a highly subjective judgment, one of many similar statements that Laborde makes. She seems to accept a vision of white, patriarchal, Western Christianity as the neutral baseline for her investigation - an obviously problematic assumption, particularly when left implicit as it is here." Publishers Weekly, Aug 28 '17

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ISLAM

Rethinking Political Islam, by Shadi Hamid and William Mccants [2] -- the publisher reports that "In the Levant, ISIS established a government by brute force, implementing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tunisia's Ennahda Party governed in coalition with two secular parties, ratified a liberal constitution, and voluntarily stepped down from power. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement, won power through free elections only to be ousted by a military coup. The strikingly disparate results of Islamist movements have challenged conventional wisdom on political Islam, forcing experts and Islamists to rethink some of their most basic assumptions."

It is also claimed that this is "the first book to systematically assess the evolution of mainstream Islamist groups since the Arab uprisings and the rise of ISIS, covering 12 country cases. In each instance, contributors address key questions, including: gradual versus revolutionary approaches to change; the use of tactical or situational violence; attitudes toward the nation-state; and how ideology, religion, and political variables interact."

Publishers Weekly (May '17 #2) tells us: "Hamid and McCants analyze the condition of 'political Islam' in the wake of the 'twin shocks' of the Arab Spring and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The essays, written by Islamist insiders and critical outsiders from multiple academic disciplines, illuminate mainstream Islamist movements across the Middle East, North Africa, and elsewhere, discussing their tensions, transformations, and strategies for success and survival. ... This is a must-read for academics of Middle Eastern studies as well as anyone interested in the political state of the Islamic world."

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PHILOSOPHY

God and Meaning, by Joshua W. Seachris and Stewart Goetz [3] -- "Though questions about the meaning of life are typically approached from nonreligious standpoints in mainstream philosophy, all these essays take a decidedly theist stance, a stance limited to Christianity. They offer a notable range of considerations and responses, from how God could (or would) make life meaningful to the roles of perfectionism and hedonism. There is a direct comparison of the meaning of life with the meaninglessness of life asserted in the biblical book of Ecclesiastes. Though these essays succeed in providing a bridge between philosophy and religious studies, one needs to be versed in the jargon of both areas to find value in these reflections on the meaning of life. The contributors do not limit themselves to philosophical or religious language; rather, they move freely among different taxonomies. Though this detracting factor is not insurmountable, it does limit the book's audience. Summing Up: Recommended." Choice, Apr '17

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SCIENCE

"Academies Report Urges Bolstered Efforts to Protect Integrity of Science" by Kendrick Frazier -- finds that "substantial percentages of published results in some fields, biomedicine and psychology in particular, are not reproducible." In addition, "new deleterious practices have arisen, such as predatory new journals that do little or no peer review or quality control and yet charge authors big fees. And retractions of scientific papers are rising. These are just three of the problems addressed in Fostering Integrity in Research, a 284-page report <www.goo.gl/SmhQdn> by the Committee on Responsible Science of the National Academies os Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine."

Robert Nerem (Georgia Institute of Technology), chair of the committee, "called on everyone involved in science to 'take deliberate steps to strengthen the self-correcting mechanisms that are part of research...." Frazier notes that besides the more obvious concerns such as fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism, "many other practices [which] fall short of fabrication, such as misleading use of statistics and failure to retain and share research data, have been categorized as 'questionable'...."

Frazier emphasizes that "The fact that a growing percentage of recently published research turns out to be not reproducible is one of the report's main concerns." The report also focuses on the "personal obligations and duties" of scientists such as "'understanding ... cognitive biases and errors' to build in precautions against favoring existing ideas. Personal biases, interests of funders, and the reward systems surrounding the pursuit of science also must be considered. ...

"Gift or honorary authorship, coercive authorship, or ghost authorship should all be universally condemned, says the report." Skeptical Inquirer, 41:4 - 2017, pp5-6.

As an example of the above concerns, page 6 also notes that "The March 9 Nature <www.goo.gl/RXjiEJ> reported ... "An editor on the board of a journal published by the prestigious American Psychological Association (APA) has been asked to resign in a controversy over [the refusal of] data sharing in peer review."

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Liberalism's Religion, by Cecile Laborde (Harvard Univ Prs, 2017, hardcover, 344 pages) <www.goo.gl/daTQhp>

2 - Rethinking Political Islam, by Shadi Hamid and William Mccants (Oxford Univ Prs, 2017, paperback, 400 pages) <www.goo.gl/nt124z>

3 - God and Meaning, by Joshua W. Seachris and Stewart Goetz (Bloomsbury, 2016, paperback, 280 pages) <www.goo.gl/GoxMBg>

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