The Secular Conscience

I’ve enjoyed the debate springing up in comments, thank you all! I have heard much brilliance, and observed these themes emerging.

  • Does religion do more harm than good?
  • What, if any, limitations are there to a purely secular future?
  • And if there is a chance that a religion-free society would be better, should we not fight for a culture free of ancient, mystic morals?

Enter our book club’s first book. Austin Dacey’s The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life. Reviews are positive from secularists and faithful alike and so . . . who’s with me?

 

11 comments

  1. Thanks Jamie! I need to hammer out the schedule. I think next week. I’ll will definitely include it.

  2. Suggestion for next book in the book club: Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God. Just started reading it, and it’s a much easier read than the wonderful Dacey book.

  3. Dear Rocky,
    Good for you! If I did not have Faith in God I would have killed myself a long time ago…..He is the one that we can Trust all His promises, unlike man.
    It takes a long, long time to learn this and once you trust this way everything, and I mean everything falls into place. Because I work in medical junk, I wonder daily how anyone could think they possibly could make a human other than God. When we die, for what ever reason our Left Ventricle stops. A i/4 of the heart. That is the miracle and when we are born, everything takes 24 hours to convert from Mom to child. Think about just that one part, than add all the others…..Yes bad things happen, everyday but this too was promised…..Our hope isn’t here, we can be happy here but Heaven beyond our understanding is just that, no disease, hurt pain etc. And about the thith thing once you try that, you won’t go back because as incredible as it sound it does come back.
    I’ve had my disappointments too…but it is always, ALWAYS NOT MY WILL BUT THINE….
    Love you,
    Margie

  6. I got it out of the library a little while ago. I think we should all discuss using the rhetorical methods described here.

  7. Jamie, because your post wins the most adorable and eager award (although the camp suggestion is very eager as well), I would like to hear your suggestions for naming the book club. And you CAN be treasurer. First thing you need to do is write me a check. 10% tithing is fine. Then you’re in for sure!

    I lied about one week for reading. There is some book sharing going on in the Lewis house (Indy’s very interested in secular ethics) and so we’ll launch our discussion via reviews and comments starting June 6.

  8. Book club? I want to be in the book club! Can I? Please? Pretty please? I can bring my own book! I haven’t read a book in a while; I mostly read periodicals. But I love to read books and I own quite a few! I checked and my library has this book and I’m going to get it today and start to read it right away and I hope to finish it in a few days and I might want to discuss it with people and I would like to know two things a) if you are starting a book club, can I be in it? and b) how much does it cost to join the book club? Oh, and a third thing, c) what is the name of your book club. I’ve never been in a book club before, and I was hoping that maybe I could be in yours! Would that be okay? I promise to sit really quiet like and read all the books and if anyone has any questions, I will try to be thoughtful and insightful if you let me read the books with you and let me in your book club. Did I already ask if your book club has a name? Well, anyway, let me know if I can be in it, because I really want to and I can pretty much start right away and if there’s anything you need me to do like be the treasurer of the book club or anything, I don’t have a lot of experience but I could try and I would do my best to do whatever you wanted me to as good as I could do it if you let me be in your book club. Okay, thanks! I have to go to the library now!

  11. …a purely secular society, and what that would look like, and I’m not sure that that’s realistic, it’s more like a hypothetical unless we’re going to do some kind of mass-extinction program…

    No need to be so ruthless. A few thousand kind, gentle re-education camps dotted around the country should work.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *