{"id":122286,"date":"2018-06-15T13:32:33","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T21:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=122286"},"modified":"2023-05-24T04:30:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T12:30:53","slug":"kevin-michael-grace-book-club-david-berlinskis-the-devils-arithmetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=122286","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Michael Grace Book Club: David Berlinski&#8217;s The Devil&#8217;s Arithmetic (6-15-18)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/embedJS\/uajap1\"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+\"\/?url=\"+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+\"&args=\"+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, \"script\", \"Rumble\");<\/script><\/p>\n<div id=\"rumble_v2n4drn\"><\/div>\n<p><script>\nRumble(\"play\", {\"video\":\"v2n4drn\",\"div\":\"rumble_v2n4drn\"});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/luke-ford-666431593\/the-devils-delusion-atheism-and-its-scientific-pretensions\">MP3.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tvnTnC9ldZs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Biologist Jerry Coyne: <A HREF=\"https:\/\/whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/21\/david-berlinski-makes-an-ass-of-himself-defending-intelligent-design\/\">David Berlinski makes an ass of himself defending intelligent design<\/a><\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com\/2018\/04\/30\/david-berlinski-makes-a-pompous-fool-of-himself-again-about-science-and-evolution\/\">David Berlinski makes a pompous fool of himself again about science and evolution<\/a><\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Devils-Delusion-Atheism-Scientific-Pretensions\/dp\/0307396266\">Amazon.com:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Militant atheism is on the rise. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens have dominated bestseller lists with books denigrating religious belief as dangerous foolishness. And these authors are merely the leading edge of a far larger movement\u2013one that now includes much of the scientific community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe attack on traditional religious thought,\u201d writes David Berlinski in The Devil\u2019s Delusion, \u201cmarks the consolidation in our time of science as the single system of belief in which rational men and women might place their faith, and if not their faith, then certainly their devotion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A secular Jew, Berlinski nonetheless delivers a biting defense of religious thought. An acclaimed author who has spent his career writing about mathematics and the sciences, he turns the scientific community\u2019s cherished skepticism back on itself, daring to ask and answer some rather embarrassing questions:<\/p>\n<p>Has anyone provided a proof of God\u2019s inexistence?<br \/>\nNot even close.<\/p>\n<p>Has quantum cosmology explained the emergence of the universe or why it is here?<br \/>\nNot even close.<\/p>\n<p>Have the sciences explained why our universe seems to be fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life?<br \/>\nNot even close.<\/p>\n<p>Are physicists and biologists willing to believe in anything so long as it is not religious thought?<br \/>\nClose enough.<\/p>\n<p>Has rationalism in moral thought provided us with an understanding of what is good, what is right, and what is moral?<br \/>\nNot close enough.<\/p>\n<p>Has secularism in the terrible twentieth century been a force for good?<br \/>\nNot even close to being close.<\/p>\n<p>Is there a narrow and oppressive orthodoxy of thought and opinion within the sciences?<br \/>\nClose enough.<\/p>\n<p>Does anything in the sciences or in their philosophy justify the claim that religious belief is irrational?<br \/>\nNot even ballpark.<\/p>\n<p>Is scientific atheism a frivolous exercise in intellectual contempt?<br \/>\nDead on.<\/p>\n<p>Berlinski does not dismiss the achievements of western science. The great physical theories, he observes, are among the treasures of the human race. But they do nothing to answer the questions that religion asks, and they fail to offer a coherent description of the cosmos or the methods by which it might be investigated.<\/p>\n<p>This brilliant, incisive, and funny book explores the limits of science and the pretensions of those who insist it can be\u2013indeed must be\u2013the ultimate touchstone for understanding our world and ourselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MP3. Biologist Jerry Coyne: David Berlinski makes an ass of himself defending intelligent design David Berlinski makes a pompous fool of himself again about science and evolution Amazon.com: Militant atheism is on the rise. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=122286\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12745],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evolution"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122286"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148018,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122286\/revisions\/148018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}