Something Well Worth Reading

Is the debate going on between Sam Harris- the author of End Of Faith as well as Letter to a Christian Nation- and Andrew Sullivan- blogger extraordinaire and author of The Conservative Soul. This back and forth about the nature of faith, religion, and extremism is being held by Beliefnet- which I have consistently found to be an good resource for those interested in these types of issues. It's a good site, whether you want to find out more about your own faith, that of others, or (like myself) have no religious faith at all. Their "Belief-O-Matic" is a fun way to see where you might fall upon the religious spectrum as well.

Most correspondences of this nature between a skeptic (Sam) and a believer (Andrew) quickly degenerate into a boring back and forth with neither side allowing that the other even has a point. In particular, I find most people of faith use the basic circular reasoning (I know God exists because I have faith and I have faith because of God) that has not changed a bit since Descartes. Another problem I often find in these debates is both sides simply talking past each other, misusing both science and faith in asking them to answer posed questions they were never designed to answer. Science never said it could tell you the meaning of life- it's simply ill-equipped to do so. It was never designed to answer these types of questions, and this is not flaw or something lacking within science. Conversely, everything from particle physics to chemistry to the actual the age of the Earth are not matters for books of faith- those books are about different subjects, and reading them literally on scientific points is foolishness. This conversation featuring two talented writers and thinkers, however, is a cut above most, and well worth your time to read and reflect on.