Good questions Vy, I actually read them out of curiosity having already become a "free thinker" during my college years which helped to shape my opinions of culture, politics and religion. It helped me to become a researcher which is what I have done continuously for the last forty years. As to the books, Dawkins I found on my own and read his books voraciously as that was a hole to fill in my knowledge. The Ancestor's Tale is still by far my favorite. The others I read and studied to enable me to debate ardent believers even though I know the facts won't change their minds. I've BTW read all of the material of the "new Atheists" I could find; I tend to want to exhaust the topic so to speak, until I run into duplication then I move on to something entertaining for a while. As to "free thinking" books, Susan Jacoby's books are my all time favorite, probably because she includes a lot of history in her research and that is my favorite topic, and that's what led me to free thought in the first place, studying Jefferson's, Paine's and even Adams thoughts on religion and Enlightenment philosophy as it relates to the creation of a Democratic Republic. I'm also a big Darwin fan. So, to answer your question, I read Shermer, Dawkins, Harris, Shook(good book on debating religion) Hitch, and Dennet for knowledge mainly but being a free thinker I don't consider what anybody says as "gospel". Everything is open to scrutiny of course and debating the topic is a way to get to as near to the truth as possible. So I guess you could say that that most of the material I found in those books helped me to clarify my secular humanism as a personal philosophy. And. As to my earlier point about those "leaders", I don't mean to imply that I personally feel that their actions will in any way bring down the movement but it surely won't help it. Cap't JackI understand VA. It seems mainly it is a topic of great interest for you(freethought, religion(or anti-religion) skepticism etc..and a way for you to round out your discourse and gain facts to support your discussions(and/or debates)on the matter. And as you point out they were clarifiers for your own personal philosophy. Makes sense. Take 'er easy.
You too Vy, good rappin’ with you as always.
Cap’t Jack
Interesting article by Adam Lee: The Wall of Silence Around Michael Shermer].
Just finished Pollit's article. God, what the hell happened to free thought and critical thinking in the "atheist community"? How does it make sense to alienate half of the population with sexist "just get over it 'cause that's the way it is with us men" comments? Let me reiterate, I'm a big Dawkins fan, I've read most of his books as well as Shermer's and Harris's etc. and I find it hard to believe that they don't see the disconnect here, but I guess they don't or they choose not to. Lets leave the sexist attitudes to the far right wingnut conservatives; it has absolutely no place among us. If the community is to grow as we want it, the first thing we don't do is turn potential freethinkers off with the very philosophy we aim to change. This just gives our detractors ammunition to use against us. Cap't JackRampant and intrinsic misogyny hasn't brought down Christianity or Islam in thousands of years, has it? Why should a very small example of it (in some opinions) in the atheist movement bring it down? Noting the rampant misogyny in Christianity and Islam as an example might imply that it has kept them going. Lois
Rampant and intrinsic misogyny hasn’t brought down Christianity or Islam in thousands of years, has it? Why should a very small example of it (in some opinions) in the atheist movement bring it down? Noting the rampant misogyny in Christianity and Islam as an example might imply that it has kept them going.Hmmm, after carefully rereading my post I can't seem to find where I wrote that misogyny would bring down the atheist movement. Maybe I implied it. Nope, what I did imply was that it would harm the movement (not bring it down) by turning people off with unacceptable behavior. And remember that the atheist movement doesn't have a playbook that specifically states that women are inferior to and should submit to men as their private property. So it has little in common with the religious movement or it's chequered past civil rights abuses. My rant was pointed at those "leaders" of the atheist movement who mimic those whom they ridicule and despise and are granted a "boys will be boys" pass while their accusers are bombarded with death threats because they deigned to criticize the "leader's" behavior. Cap't Jack
Pretty much every progressive social movement of the past has glossed over misogyny. The civil rights movement included. Social movements always tend to have a blind spot or two or nine. They are rarely toppled by their own inability to see their own transgressions.
However, as long as there are still people left out, the overall effectiveness of any progressive agenda is diminished.