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Russell W. Shurts's avatar

What I will never understand is the inability to properly generalize. How can someone independent and courageous enough to remove herself from the most dangerous, mindless religion on Earth not see the exact same traits in the Christian religion?

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C. Jeffery Small's avatar

Don, I posted these comments on your previous article, but will repeat them here for others to see. These were my most immediate reaction to Ali's article:

"But we can't fight off these formidable forces unless we can answer the question: what is it that unites us? The response that "God is dead!" seems insufficient. So, too, does the attempt to find solace in "the rules-based liberal international order". The only credible answer, I believe, lies in our desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition."

Well, it saddens me that Ayaan Hirsi Ali was apparently not exposed to a broader understanding of rational individualism with its respect for facts and reason as the core principle guiding self-actualization. I disagree that western culture is built upon Judeo-Christian tradition although much of our civilization was built in parallel with it. It was rationality that created the west -- and history, when dominated by Judeo-Christian rule, demonstrates that in spades.

"I have also turned to Christianity because I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable -- indeed very nearly self-destructive. Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?"

I suspect that this describes a great many people who embrace religion. For me, it shows a lack of imagination in the possibilities of a self-actualized life. It is absolutely true that atheism has nothing positive to say about anything -- it is merely a position reflecting the acceptance of a fact of reality. A self-made man is one who asserts and pursues their own purpose. It is an abdication of that great opportunity to seek to find one's "purpose" defined by others and external to oneself.

"When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything."

Not the rational man who grounds his thoughts and values in the facts of reality.

At the end of the day, there can never be unity between the rational and the irrational and I'm afraid the attempt to seek that is doomed to failure.

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