John Gray: religion isn’t about truth (and science ain’t so hot, either)

[Justtristo]

Jerry Coyne on his blog Why Evolution is True has in my opinion thoroughly refuted what in his words are religiously-based attacks on science used by accommodationists and others to debase science, dragging it down to the level of faith. Coyne wrote this blog piece in reply to an essay by British political philosopher John Gray entitled Can religion tell us more than science?.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14944470

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/...ot-either/ Jerry Coyne's excellent reply to John Gray

[BloodyHeretic]

John Gray is an idiot. Tell any 'believer' on this site that their beliefs are irrelevant to their religion and see what kind of response you get. He hasn't copped on that what people believe has a direct bearing on how people live their lives. What a moronic piece of drivel.

[Rev. Rye]

I've got to admit that, to an extent, I still admire John Gray, partially due to his book Straw Dogs.

On the article at hand, while many religions could very well be, in theory, supposed to be more about practice, than ideas of "religious truth," the fact is that a lot of believers have decided that the opposite is true, and that what's more, have decided to see if enforce them on anyone they can.

And, of course, there's his problematic idea of making religion out to be a sort of platonic "Noble Lie" that's supposed to give people solidarity. Here's the problem I have with noble lies: When people finally debunk those "noble lies," and society has managed to hinge on them in the interim, the results aren't pretty.

[Welsh cake]

I've only heard of John Gray being mentioned in The Guardian for his attacks on free market globalization. He makes some interesting points from what I can recall.

This essay on the other hand was terrible. It felt like a half-hearted assault on 'science' in general. What point was he trying to make?

[Rev. Rye]

I've only heard of John Gray being mentioned in The Guardian for his attacks on free market globalization. He makes some interesting points from what I can recall.

This essay on the other hand was terrible. It felt like a half-hearted assault on 'science' in general. What point was he trying to make?

Knowing John Gray, it seems like he's a man who does his damnedest to speak out against any sort of all-encompassing ideology, and it seems like he sees science [or more precisely, logical positivism] as more and more becoming a religion of its own. It helps to read some Wittgenstein.