Sacred Humanism without Miracles: Responding to the New Atheists

by R. Saltman

Overview

The New Atheists' claim that religion always leads to fanaticism is baseless. State-backed religion results in tyranny. Sacred humanists work to implement their highest values that will improve this world; separation of church and state, eliminating denigration of nonbelievers, assuring just governance, and preventing human trafficking.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137003614
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	04/24/2012
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

ROY G. SALTMAN is a retired computer scientist and an expert in voting technology. He is author of The History and Politics of Voting Technology, 2006, published by Palgrave Macmillan, and he has advanced degrees from MIT, Columbia University, and American University, all in the USA.

Table of Contents

About the Author ix

1 Worldviews in Conflict 1

2 Our Physical Universe: Beyond Belief 39

3 Religion: Origins, Interpretations, and Current Practices 75

4 Religion and the State: A Tyrannous Alliance 117

5 Contemporary Interreligious Conflicts 163

6 Acting on Sacred Values in a Scientific Age 197

References 249

Index 255

Editorial Reviews

"'Is there a rational center between uncompromising religious belief and arrogant, know-it-all disbelief?' Roy Saltman asks and answers the question. Saltman expends his greatest efforts subjecting Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris (the Trinity of New Atheists) to the same gimlet-eyed scrutiny with which they treat religion, but also mounts a spirited defense of religious belief and practice within the bounds of reason indeed, within the bounds of a life dedicated to science." - Alan T. Levenson, Schusterman/Josey Professor of Jewish Intellectual History, University of Oklahoma

"Roy Saltman's Sacred Humanism Without Miracles: Responding to the New Atheists provides a welcome corrective to the rampant literalism within current religious debates, a literalism that is fully at odds with the way the majority of believers have lived and continue to live their faiths. Mr. Saltman's careful attention to the details and differences of the world's religious traditions gives him a far more solid standing than the facile rants of his opponents for excoriating the abuses of theocracy while simultaneously safeguarding the peaceful and intellectually open traditions of moderate religious belief." - William Egginton, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Chair, German and Romance Languages and Literatures, The Johns Hopkins University

"In Sacred Humanism Without Miracles, Roy Saltman is trying to bring nonbelievers into the neighborhood of the sacred, with appreciation, but not excuses, for organized religion. This important task, rather than the carping of the New Atheists, holds the promise of healing America's culture war divisions and promoting international understanding." - Bruce Ledewitz, professor, Duquesne University

From the Publisher