Oh, yea. My heart goes out to the poor, embattled, persecuted religious majority. The atheists are taking over this country, constituting nearly 2% of the population! Christians hardly have any place left to go.
>From Wikipedia's page on the recent Christian film "God's Not Dead". "A number of sources have cited the film's similarities to a popular urban legend. The basic premise of a Christian student debating an atheist professor and winning in front of the class has been the subject of at least two popular legends and a popular Chick tract." The movie basically acts out this urban legend: A Christian college student enrolls in a philosophy class taught by an atheist who demands that his students sign a declaration that "God is dead" to get a passing grade. The only student in the class to refuse strikes a bargain with the professor: the Christian student must defend his position that "God's not dead" in a series of debates with him, with the class members deciding who wins. Just as one might have already guessed, the Christian freshman beats the philosophy professor in these debates. Critical reception The film has been panned by critics, currently holding a score of 16/100 on Metacritic indicating "Overwhelming Dislike", based on 5 critics, and a 13% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of April 2014. Writing for The A.V. Club, Todd VanDerWerff gave the film a D-, saying "Even by the rather lax standards of the Christian film industry, God's Not Dead is a disaster. It's an uninspired amble past a variety of Christian-email-forward bogeymen that feels far too long at just 113 minutes". Reviewer Scott Foundas of Variety wrote "...even grading on a generous curve, this strident melodrama about the insidious efforts of America's university system to silence true believers on campus is about as subtle as a stack of Bibles falling on your head...." Steve Pulaski of Influx Magazine, however, was less critical of the film, giving it a C+ and stating "God's Not Dead has issues, many of them easy to spot and heavily distracting. However, it's surprisingly effective in terms of message, acting, and insight, which are three fields Christian cinema seems to struggle with the most". Not too long ago I took two courses on the topic, psychology of religion and philosophy of religion. The first day lecture for the psychology class impressed me. The professor had been around long enough to know what kind of shit can hit the fan when Christian students get upset about the challenges to their faith. She wasn't an atheist, exactly, but there were atheists on the required reading list. So her first day lecture was all about the difference between understanding a book and believing a book. You are not required to believe anything you hear or read, she said, but you are required to understand it. And she promised that there would be no problem or penalty for dropping the class. But if you show up for the next class, she told us, you'll be expected to attend all the classes and to learn all the material. The philosophy students (different professor) did not need to hear this lecture. In the class with undergrad Christians there was some screaming, cussing and weeping but the philosophy classroom was full of laughter and even a little awe. That doesn't prove anything, of course, but that's what I saw. Also, I'm one of the moderators of a philosophy discussion forum with almost 8,000 members and the conservative Americans, especially the Christians, are very easily offended and do not seem to understand the nature of philosophy or any kind of critical thinking. This is very much part of the collapse of Democracy, as the quote from Arlo described it. Donald Wood thinks, "all our cultural institutions are based on the intellectual idea that an enlightened citizenry could govern its affairs with reason and responsibility", and I think this is basically what Pirsig was talking about as the shift from social level Victorian society to a society guided by intellectual values after WW1. "In the late 20th century, however, we are witnessing the disintegration of much of our cultural heritage. Wood argues that this is due to our evolution into a post-intellectual society—a society characterized by a loss of critical thinking, the substitution of information for knowledge, mediated reality, increasing illiteracy, loss of privacy, specialization, psychological isolation, hyper-urbanization, moral anarchy, and political debilitation." > From: [email protected] > Date: Sat, 3 May 2014 09:56:37 -0400 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MD] Post-Intellectualism > > I have been spending alittle more time on Facebook since the discuss has > declined in posts and I see the "evidence" if the de-evolution everywhere. > For example there had been an raid ode where a bible was banned in a > classroom, the students were allowed to do some silent reading of what ever > they wished. A student pulled out the Bible . It was banned on the grounds > that it may offend other students. There was an immediate shit storm of > controversy based on > The place of religion in school. > What was missed was the outrage it should have caused concerning intellectual > censorship. > Another quick example was how on a site dedicated to science mostly concerned > itself with bashing Christian contributors and mostly combating theism, both > sides arguing their own conception of truth as absolute and irrefutable. > This has been just a small sample of what seems to be the popular general > Standing situation in American society and it's a bit worrisome. > -Ron > > > On May 2, 2014, at 8:18 PM, david <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > “I have decided to preach intellectual modesty for the rest of my days. > > There is a tradition, an enormously strong tradition of intellectual > > immodesty and irresponsibility. Around the year 1930 I told a joke. I said > > that many students don't go to university assuming that it is a great > > empire of knowledge, in the hope to gain some understanding; but that they > > go to university to learn how to speak in an impressive and > > incomprehensible way. This is the tradition of intellectualism. At the time > > I thought it was a joke. But having become a university professor myself, I > > have perceived with horror that it is a reality. That's the way things are, > > unfortunately. In universities there is a tradition that legitimizes this > > attitude, it is the tradition of hegelianism. Especially in Germany, Hegel > > is extraordinarily admired. People really believe that Hegel was a great > > philosopher because he used big words. And it is exactly this incredible > > immodesty that destroys so much in and between intellectuals. I would like > > to spend my last years fighting against this. I want to start a new > > fashion. I have always fought against fashions, and I have never followed > > any fashion, and I have never tried to start one. But I would love to start > > a new fashion of intellectual modesty, of permanent thought of everything > > we don't know.“ -- Karl Popper > > > > "Hegel had talked like this, with his Absolute Mind. Absolute Mind was > > independent too, both of objectivity and subjectivity. However, Hegel said > > the Absolute Mind was the source of everything, but then it excluded > > romantic experience from the 'everything' it was the source of. Hegel's > > Absolute was completely classical, completely rational and completely > > orderly. Quality was not like that." (ZAMM 252) > > This is consistent with the comments he made 17 years later, where DQ "is > > not a social code or some intellectualized Hegelian Absolute. It is direct > > everyday experience." (Lila, 366) > > > > Pre-intellectual experience is the key to Pirsig's root expansion of > > rationality. > > But a post-intellectual society is the road to totalitarianism and the > > devolution of human culture. > > I don't think Ian is post-intellectual so much as anti-intellectual. > > Politically and socially speaking, there's not much difference. > > > > [Ian] > >> You've had > >> Post-structuralism. > >> You've had > >> Post-Modernism > >> Thus side of the pond, we've even recently had > >> Post-Christian > >> What about > >> Post-Intellectualism? > > > > > > [Arlo] > >> This has been done, no? Donald Wood wrote "Post-Intellectualism and the > >> Decline of Democracy: The Failure of Reason and Responsibility in the > >> Twentieth Century" in 1996. > >> > >> From Amazon's site: Our society's institutional infrastructures—our > >> democratic political system, economic structures, legal practices, and > >> educational establishment—were all created as intellectual outgrowths of > >> the Enlightenment. All our cultural institutions are based on the > >> intellectual idea that an enlightened citizenry could govern its affairs > >> with reason and responsibility. In the late 20th century, however, we are > >> witnessing the disintegration of much of our cultural heritage. Wood > >> argues that this is due to our evolution into a ^Upost-intellectual > >> society^R—a society characterized by a loss of critical thinking, the > >> substitution of information for knowledge, mediated reality, increasing > >> illiteracy, loss of privacy, specialization, psychological isolation, > >> hyper-urbanization, moral anarchy, and political debilitation. These > >> post-intellectual realities are all triggered by three underlying > >> determinants: the failure of linear growth and expansion to sustain our > >> economic system; the runaway information overload; and technological > >> determinism. Wood presents a new and innovative social theory, challenging > >> readers to analyze all our post-intellectual cultural malaise in terms of > >> these three fundamental determinants. > > > > > > > > > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > > Archives: > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
