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God made us number one cause he loves us the best Well maybe he should go bless someone else for a while, give us a rest “All U Can Eat,” Ben Folds, Supersunnyspeedgraphic – The LP Is atheism “in”? Multi-page expositions in national news weeklies and two books advocating an atheist viewpoint on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for a month. If atheism is in, it is thanks in no small part to Sam Harris, the author of one of those bestselling books, Letter to a Christian Nation. If you aren’t familiar with his prior bestseller, The End of Faith, his latest book leaves you no question where he stands. In the opening note to Letter to a Christian Nation, Harris is explicit in the purpose of the slim volume: “I have set out to demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms.” Evidently due to his high profile, Harris was asked by Newsweek to write a “dissent” for the magazine’s cover story this week titled “The Politics of Jesus.” Just as The End of Faith was Harris’ response to the role of religion in 9/11, his latest is his response to the reaction of Christians to that book. Harris received thousands of hate-filled e-mails from supposedly devout Christians. Their reaction demonstrated to him that many Christians who invoke and claim to be inspired by the love of Jesus “are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism.” Letter to a Christian Nation is his response to them. At the risk of sharing in the hate mail he receives, let me not only praise this work but suggest it needs as widespread distribution and reading as possible. Despite what the introduction might lead one to believe, Letter to a Christian Nation is not simply an ad hominem attack on Christianity. It is a thoughtful précis of some of the bases, impacts and ramifications of Christian thought and the concept of atheism. First things first, though. Harris acknowledges that his epistle does not necessarily apply to each and every Christian. He narrowly defines the term Christian for this book. It means “a person who believes, at a minimum, that the Bible is the inspired word of God and that only those who accept the divinity of Jesus Christ will experience salvation after death.” That doesn’t mean others of Christian persuasion may not be equally subject to some, if not most, of the points Harris makes. Even Harris would admit that the Christians to whom his work is nominally addressed are probably the least likely to read it. As such, it serves more as an invitation to moderates and what he calls “secularists” to examine religion, in particular Christianity, and its impact on this country. Harris, however, is not necessarily directing his book to “atheists.” The reason? Harris says that
The bulk of the book is devoted to why Harris views these beliefs as unjustified and how they adversely affect the U.S. and the world. As for justification, for example, Harris points out that millions of devout Muslims, just like millions of devout Christians, believe theirs is the true religion and that failure to convert means eternal damnation. Yet both cannot be right and Christians who would demand “proof” from Muslims refuse to demand the same of their own religion. Harris also points out that Christianity is not necessary for morality to exist. He notes that the first four of the Ten Commandments the religious right wants to post in schools and public buildings have nothing to do with morality. He also points out that Christians who view the Bible as the literal word of God must be ready to accept the death penalty as punishment for violation of those commandments as well as for adultery and working on the Sabbath. But where Harris excels is in looking at how we blithely accept religious beliefs and let them influence, if not determine, public policy.
One of his examples the vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), one of the most commonly transmitted diseases in the U.S. It causes nearly 5,000 women to die each year from cervical cancer and more than 200,000 deaths worldwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the vaccine is almost 100% effective in preventing diseases caused by the four HPV types covered by the vaccine, including precancers of the cervix, vulva and vagina. Yet, Harris notes, “Christian conservatives in our government have resisted a vaccination program on the grounds that HPV is a valuable impediment to premarital sex. These pious men and women want to preserve cervical cancer as an incentive toward abstinence, even if it sacrifices the lives of thousands of women each year.” As such, Harris gives as a concise and highly readable critique of the impact of elevating unproved religious doctrine over science and reality. And while far from a scientific or systematic analysis of Christian faith and beliefs, in so doing Letter to a Christian Nation urges people to examine why Christianity and religion are exempt from the rules that we otherwise apply to everyday life. Equally important, Harris asks why, despite that exemption, religion not only can be used to dictate public policy, any effort to even ask why Christianity is exempt from rational standards is condemned as intolerance. To put all of this in the space of less than 100 pages is one why this book may be considered a must read book of the year. Our fear of provoking religious hatred has rendered us unwilling to criticize ideas that are increasingly maladaptive and patently ridiculous. Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation It seems somehow sadly fitting that Air America: The Playbook hit the bookshelves less than four weeks before Air America Radio filed for bankruptcy. Just as the radio network’s financial problems seem to display some degree of a lack of planning and execution, the playbook also suffers a lack of focus and goals. In that respect, it is also illustrative of the often self-inflicted problems liberals and the liberal media have had in going on the offensive in America. The Playbook is a collection of interview transcripts, original writings and humor from the staff of Air America. The problem is that you’re never quite sure what niche the book is intended to fill. Does it want to be a humorous like Al Franken’s prior works or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book)? Does it want to be a “Best of Air America”? Does it want to be a vehicle by which Air America’s hosts and contributors present their expositions and views of liberal ideas and the errors of the Bush Administration? While there’s nothing wrong with trying to blend such approaches, The Playbook tends to weave from one to another like a football back in the midst of a broken play. For example, the book contains transcripts of interviews with guests dealing with Hurricane Katrina and a timeline of the disaster. Plopped amidst that material are excerpts from a June 2006 interview with Robert Redford about global warming. While some might argue there is some connection between global warming and the ferocity of Katrina, that isn’t suggested in the interview excerpts. In fact, Katrina is not even mentioned. Similarly, intermingled in an extended series of interviews and pieces on the role of the religious right are one in a series of fake advertisements about 10 corporations who are “the very best in global industry” and a “Creep of the Week” award to Tommy Noe, a Republican fundraiser in Ohio convicted of illegally funneling money to the 2004 Bush-Cheney reelection campaign. Certainly, there is no requirement that all the pieces on a particular topic go together. But here there is no subject or chronological order, leaving the reader wandering the fields of thought in the book. Don’t get me wrong. There is some funny material and very well-written serious pieces here. In the former category is Al Franken’s introduction and some of the phony magazine and promotional literature covers. Standing out amongst the latter are several of Mike Papantonio’s “Pap Attack” pieces, in which he takes a hard look at everything from “Rapture Republicans” to stem cell research to the tobacco industry; Mark Riley’s “Media Mind Game,” which addresses just how incestuous media-political relationships are inside the Beltway; “Freedom Thieves” by Mike Malloy and Kathy Bay, which looks at the dichotomy between the Bush Administration using freedom as a mantra for foreign policy while at the same time seriously eroding civil liberties in the United States; and, Rachel Maddow’s wonderful closing essay, the self-explanatory “What I Want in My Next President.” Similarly, some of the transcripts and excerpts are interesting, particularly Randi Rhodes’ interview with Ralph Nader on Air America’s first day and Franken and author Joe Conason’s self-professed ganging up on Edward Klein, who wrote The Truth about Hillary, an attack book about Hillary Clinton. Yet as with the humor and essays, the good unfortunately gets lost in items that range from average at best to banal at worst. Part of it is inherent. As we all know from reading plays or scripts, sometimes the spoken word isn’t as effective when put in writing. This problem is heightened given a relative dearth of explanatory context for the excerpts. And, once again, with no real chronological or subject matter focus, there seems no method to the placement of the interviews (and occasional Air America “Creep of the Week” awards), reinforcing the feeling The Playbook is lurching from here to there looking for an effective theme or strategy. Air America’s bankruptcy is intended to restructure and reorganize the network. Unfortunately, it is too late for that to occur for Air America: The Playbook. George W. Bush’s concept of freedom mystifies me. When George W. Bush talks about his devotion to freedom, it is obvious he is not referring to the freedoms guaranteed by the US Constitution. “The Freedom Thieves,” Mike Malloy and Kathy Bay I was thinking of doing a brief roundup on South Dakota blog election coverage but came across a post that beats them all. Go read Scott Hudson’s post-election wrap-up, where his “Get Out of Town” stylings nails the “boneheads” of election day. It always rains like hell on the loser’s day parade. “Broadway,” Goo Goo Dolls, Dizzy up the Girl My initial reaction to the election results? KELO might want to think about evaluating what polling firm it uses. (For what it’s worth, a quick review shows its also missed on the outcome of both the “gay marriage amendment” and the property tax initiative, with the error on the latter being almost as large as the error on the final results on JAIL. In contrast, the Watertown Public Opinion’s totally unscientific straw ballot was almost identical to the actual JAIL results.) I certainly hoped JAIL would be rejected. The final result, though, reflects why I think many of us stay here. While my liberal political views do, in fact, leave me vastly outnumbered, I credit my fellow South Dakotans with their ability to recognize true lunacy. The last thing South Dakotans want or need is some out-of-state kooks hooking up with a few local extremists to turn the South Dakota Constitution into their test rat. That is fully evidenced by yesterday’s vote. As expected, we read in the paper today South Dakota JAILer-in-chief Bill Stegmeier said there might be voter fraud. BS and crew have been laying the groundwork for that approach for a while now and the drumbeats have been louder the last few days. I actually hope they challenge the election. It will be yet more proof to the voters of JAIL’s utter lack of credibility, that campaign’s disrespect for voters and democracy, and one more opportunity to hopefully stick another nail in its coffin. Yet there are things to be learned from the election. First and foremost, the judiciary needs to recognize there is a level of public uneasiness if not outright distrust. It needs to strive toward achieving more transparency. Education and openness are keys to helping kill viruses like JAIL. Likewise, the judiciary and those of us who opposed JAIL can’t just ignore those voters who cast ballots for JAIL out of a sincere and true belief that change may be necessary. Anyone who thinks the system is infallible is either nuts or lying. I encourage those with concerns about openness or judicial oversight to not let the lunatic fringe sacrifice those issues on the JAIL altar of anti-government hatred. Have problems with the Judicial Qualifications Commission, its membership or how it operates? Don’t think there’s enough information to enable fully informed votes in judicial elections? Talk to your state legislators, the governor and the court system about ideas to improve the shortcomings you see. Believe a judge or attorney has acted improperly? File a complaint. In other words, use the system to improve the system. Don’t simply try to decimate it. By the same token, JAIL opponents cannot shut the door on critics of judicial and political accountability. Politicians and the judiciary not only need to be open and responsive to legitimate concerns, they need to stand ready to work with critics to address deficiencies. There was plenty of unity in working to defeat JAIL. We need to stress working together with them to help improve our judiciary, our court system and our government. The citizens of South Dakota deserve no less. What role did my this blog and my participation in the No on E blog play in the defeat of JAIL? Little or none. This blog is an extremely insignificant speck in the blogosphere and an even smaller mote in the eye of the internet. I would wager 99 percent of those who voted Tuesday never heard of this blog or the No on E blog, let alone visited them. I would be surprised if it swayed more than a handful of voters, if that. Still, the fact BS and Bonnie “Shriek” Russell spent so much time focusing on and obsessing about blogs, the less time they spent on the things that matter to a campaign. Likewise, the more time they spent trying to respond to our documentation of their continuing misrepresentations and often manic “strategies,” the less time they had to come up with new ones. I will admit, though, that I was a bit concerned near the end that this might backfire, given the fact BS and crew often tended to be the best spokesmen against JAIL that you could want. I would like to thank PP for inviting me to participate on the No on E blog. In case you haven’t figured it out from our personal blogs, PP and I probably don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. I think that reinforced the lunacy of JAIL and helped our credibility on both sides of the political aisle. A final note to the JAIL conspiracy theorists who are undoubtedly convinced my blogging on JAIL is part of some grand overarching plot. I began blogging about the lunacy of JAIL before there was a No on E committee. I contributed to but played no role in the No on E committee or any of its decisions. In fact, I’ve met Bob Miller, the committee’s treasurer, once in my life. PP set up the No on E blog, then asked me to participate. No one at the State Bar, the No on E Committee or even my law firm knew beforehand of my participation in that blog or intent to continue blogging on JAIL and, as far as I know, learned of the No on E blog only when it launched. In fact, PP and I have never met. I wouldn’t know him if we were in the same waiting room or if he passed me on the street. We have talked on the phone twice — once when NPR was trying to set up interviews and then during the joint interview with Nina Totenberg. That said, regardless of our divergent political views, I have nothing but respect for PP as a result of this experience. I wish he and his family only the best in the future. Thanks, PP, for allowing me to be part of the No on E blog fun. This blog will now hopefully resume normal programming. To ease the transition a bit, the first book review forthcoming is on a political work. To those who visited only because of JAIL, thanks for dropping by and I hope you’ll stay tuned in. If not, I am more than happy for this blog speck to go back to virtually anything but politics. Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. Franklin D. Roosevelt |
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