Religion in U.S. Culture and Society

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Do Atheists Lack 'Spiritual Values?'

08 min 06 sec

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01 hr 05 min 49 sec

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3 Comments

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Charles Detrick

Posts: 1

Posted: 03.22.10, 09:51 PM

What a waste of time and a basis panel.

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Geoffrey W

Posts: 1

Posted: 01.29.09, 05:08 PM

I'm not particularly pleased by this panel. There isn't a modicum of substantial disagreement on the question of whether religion should play a role in politics; without that, the discussion is incomplete.

I am especially displeased with Michael Lerner's view of secularism. Someone should have pointed out where he went wrong.

To say that we must meet on a middle ground is not to say that we must abandon our personal beliefs about the world, or our visions about how life should be. It is just to say that, to have a dialogue, we must meet on ground we can all agree on. This is just a practical matter for an effective democracy. It is not a commitment to any particular worldview.

To abandon this secular middle ground is to open us up to strife between between fundamentally irreconcilable ideals. Unlike secular ideals--which, though irresolvable, may be considered from a more or less rational perspective--religious ideals (for most religious people) are established by faith. There can be no more discussion, and democracy turns from an open conversation whereby minority viewpoints might be heard and decided on, to a bludgeon by which the majority oppresses the minority without anything like rational consideration.

The possibility of persuading others is the fundamental assumption of an effective democracy. To abandon secularism is to abandon that which makes democracy effective.

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