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New Atheism
New Atheism is a perspective shared by some atheist academics, writers, scientists, and philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries, intolerant of superstition, religion, and irrationalism. New Atheists advocate the antitheist view that the various forms of theism should be criticised, countered, examined, and challenged by rational argument, especially when they exert strong influence on the broader society, such as in government, education, and politics. Major figures of New Atheism include Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens, collectively referred to as the " Four Horsemen" of the movement. Proponents of the New Atheist movement have experienced some controversy and criticisms from academics and other atheists. Prominent figures The "Four Horsemen" Key figures associated with New Atheism include evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris, philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, and j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Harris
Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, determinism, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and he is known as one of the New Atheism#"The Four Horsemen", "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. Harris's first book, ''The End of Faith'' (2004), won the PEN American Center inactive awards#Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction (1989–2006), PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction and remained on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has since written six additional books: ''Letter to a Christian Nation'' in 2006, ''The Moral Landscape, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which is the belief that at least one deity exists. Historically, evidence of atheistic viewpoints can be traced back to classical antiquity and early Indian philosophy. In the Western world, atheism declined after Christianity gained prominence. The 16th century and the Age of Enlightenment marked the resurgence of atheistic thought in Europe. Atheism achieved a significant position worldwide in the 20th century. Estimates of those who have an absence of belief in a god range from 500 million to 1.1 billion people. Atheist organizations have defended the autonomy of science, freedom of thought, secularism, and secular ethics. Arguments for atheism range from philosophical to social approach ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
11 September 2001
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the third into the Pentagon (headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field during a passenger revolt. The attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the global war on terror over multiple decades to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the foreign governments purported to support them. Ringleader Mohamed Atta flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later at 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foreign Policy
Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, including defense and security, economic benefits, and humanitarian assistance. The formulation of foreign policy is influenced by various factors such as domestic considerations, the behavior of other states, and geopolitical strategies. Historically, the practice of foreign policy has evolved from managing short-term crises to addressing long-term international relations, with diplomatic corps playing a crucial role in its development. The objectives of foreign policy are diverse and interconnected, contributing to a comprehensive approach for each state. Defense and security are often primary goals, with states forming military alliances and employing soft power to combat threats. Economic interests, including trade agreements and foreign aid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
God Is Not Great
''God Is Not Great'' (sometimes stylized as ''god is not Great'') is a 2007 book by journalist Christopher Hitchens in which he makes a case against organized religion. It was originally published in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Books as ''God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion'' and in the United States by Twelve as ''God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything'', but in 2017 Atlantic Books republished it with no subtitle. Hitchens posited that organized religion is "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children" and sectarian, and that accordingly it "ought to have a great deal on its conscience". He supports his position with a mixture of personal stories, documented historical anecdotes and critical analysis of religious texts. His commentary focuses mainly on the Abrahamic religions, although it also touches on other religions, suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an American Right-wing politics, right-wing political commentator, conspiracy theorist, author, and filmmaker. He has made several films and written over a dozen books, several of them The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times'' best-sellers. Born in Mumbai to Catholic parents, D'Souza moved to the United States as an exchange student and graduated from Dartmouth College. He was a policy adviser in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and has been affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution. He became a naturalized citizen in 1991. From 2010 to 2012, he was president of The King's College (New York), The King's College, a Christian school in New York City, until he resigned after an alleged adultery scandal. In 2012, D'Souza released the conspiracist political film ''2016: Obama's America'', an anti-Barack Obama polemic based on his 2010 book ''The Roots of Obama's Rage''. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Round Table (discussion)
Round table is a form of academic discussion. Participants agree on a specific topic to discuss and debate. Each person is given equal right to participate, as illustrated by the idea of a circular layout referred to in the term Round table (furniture), round table. Round-table discussions, together with houses of hospitality and agronomic universities, is one of the key elements of the Catholic Worker Movement, as formulated by Peter Maurin, one of the co-founders of the movement. Round table discussions are also a common feature of political talk shows. Talk shows such as ''Washington Week'' and ''Meet the Press'' have roundtables of reporters or pundits. Most of these are done around a table in a studio, but occasionally they report in split-screen from remote locations. Some sports shows, such as ESPN's ''Around the Horn'', employ a virtual augmented reality round table format. The round table method is still highly used to this day. See also *Academic conference Refe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The God Delusion
''The God Delusion'' is a 2006 book by British evolutionary biologist and ethologist Richard Dawkins. In ''The God Delusion'', Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator, God, almost certainly does not exist, and that belief in a personal god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsig's statement in '' Lila'' (1991) that "when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion."; In the book, Dawkins explores the relationship between religion and morality, providing examples that discuss the possibility of morality existing independently of religion and suggesting alternative explanations for the origins of both religion and morality. In early December 2006, it reached number four in the ''New York Times'' Hardcover Non-Fiction Best Seller list after nine weeks on the list. More than three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Root Of All Evil?
''The Root of All Evil?'', later retitled ''The God Delusion'', is a television documentary written and presented by Richard Dawkins in which he argues that humanity would be better off without religion or belief in God. The documentary was first broadcast in January 2006, in the form of two 45-minute episodes (excluding advertisement breaks), on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Dawkins did not think ''The Root of All Evil?'' was an ideal title. His book '' The God Delusion'', published in September 2006, explores topics from the documentary in more detail. ''The God Delusion'' ''The God Delusion'' explored the unproven traditions that are given as fact by religious faiths, and the extremes that some followers take them. Dawkins argues that faith is not a way of understanding the world (described as "non-thought"), and he asserts that it is opposed to modern science which tests hypotheses and builds theories to describe the world. Dawkins visits the United States to interv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Dawkins Foundation For Reason And Science
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS or RDF) is a division of Center for Inquiry (CFI) founded by British biologist Richard Dawkins in 2006 to promote scientific literacy and secularism. Originally a non-profit based in Washington, D.C., the organization merged with CFI in 2016. History After Richard Dawkins' success with the book '' The God Delusion'', he created the foundation with its headquarters in the United States to work toward a world in which religion no longer interferes with the advance of science and in which people use their critical thinking skills to evaluate theist claims about the nature of reality. Dawkins complained of the difficulty he faced in gaining tax-free status, which he attributes to the secular nature of the organization. In contrast to the presumption by officials that religious organizations benefit humanity without evidence (for instance Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption), he points to a letter he received from the Briti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Guide To Spirituality Without Religion
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of two forms: the double-storey and single-storey . The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, '' a'' is the indefinite article, with the alternative form ''an''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the ''long A'' sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest known ancestor of A is ''aleph''—the first letter of the Phoenician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Moral Landscape
''The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values'' is a 2010 book by Sam Harris, in which he promotes a science of morality and argues that many thinkers have long confused the relationship between morality, facts, and science. He aims to carve a third path between secularists who say morality is subjective ( moral relativists) and religionists who say that morality is dictated by God and scripture. Harris contends that the only viable moral framework is one where "morally good" things pertain to increases in the "well-being of conscious creatures". He then argues that, problems with philosophy of science and reason in general notwithstanding, moral questions have objectively right and wrong answers grounded in empirical facts about what causes people to flourish. Challenging the traditional philosophical notion that an "ought" cannot follow from an "is" ( Hume's law), Harris argues that moral questions are best pursued using not just philosophy, but the methods of s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
