Saturday 18 April 2015

Estranged Notions: Is Religion Responsible for the World’s Violence?

Yesterday's post:

Is Religion Responsible for the World’s Violence?

A mixed bag. While Heschmeyer has some correct criticisms, especially of Sam Harris, he tries to make his case using the most ridiculous collection of sources—quoting for example that bastion of authoritative journalism the Daily Mail for some heavily inflated numbers for deaths attributed to Mao and Stalin, and climate-denialist novelist Michael Crichton on the inevitability of religion (taken out of context from a speech in which he repeats an entire litany of easily debunked anti-environmentalist myths).