When in doubt, issue a press release
This guy is worse than I thought – this ‘humanist chaplain’ guy. I thought he’d just been talking to a reporter about ‘atheist fundamentalists’ – but no. He (and perhaps other people tangled up in the ‘Harvard chaplaincy,’ whatever that means) put out a press release on March 6 that started right out with that stupid inaccurate (indeed oxymoronic) phrase, along with the fact that the humanists were having a conference for the very purpose of ‘taking on’ these here ‘atheist “fundamentalists.”‘ This wasn’t some chat with a journalist at Starbuck’s, this was the subject of a conference. These humanists are so distraught about the ‘militancy’ and ‘fundamentalism’ of Dawkins and Harris that they’re holding an entire conference to ‘take them on’ – and they issue a press release whose first sentence features that tendentious and inaccurate phrase – albeit, notice, with ‘fundamentalist’ in scare quotes, so that everyone would know they didn’t mean it. Well if they didn’t mean it, why hold a conference to take it on?
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A group of renowned Humanists, atheists and agnostics will gather at Harvard in April, to take on an unlikely opponent: atheist “fundamentalists.”
This stalwart fella Brian Flemming called them on it.
[C]ertain humanists have a very weird strategy for bringing us all together. One prominent humanist apparently believes that the way to achieve this unity is to hurl brainless epithets at his allies.
Just so. Then Flemming nails Epstein’s refusal to apologize, not to mention his use of an epithet that he himself doesn’t consider accurate –
Of course, Epstein doesn’t actually believe that Harris and Dawkins deserve the appellation he used (“I absolutely do not think Dawkins, Harris, etc. are actual fundamentalists”). Which, to put it simply, makes his claim that they are “fundamentalists” an intentional false accusation. I think it’s safe to call using an intentional false accusation in the first sentence of a press release a really stupid thing to do. Especially to people you claim to want as allies. Especially if it’s obvious that you did it to frame the argument in a way that favors you (My Reason vs. Their Dogma: discuss).
Stupid, and also morally dubious. Or contemptible, to put it a little more harshly.
Then Flemming got a very informative email from frequent B&W contributor Joe Hoffmann. It’s an amusing read (and posted with permission).
Is Epstein deluded – as deluded and awa’ wi’ the fairies as Coulter, or is he just after publicity and “presige” – hoping to suck up to the religious right in the USA?
One other thing interests me: he ahs been called out, several times for saying things which are not teue, has acknowledged this, and goes on doing it.
I know a lot of believers do this, but is he really a “humanist” at all?
In short WTF is going on here?
I think people ought to have a scare-quote fast – perhaps give them up for Lent. See how they get on. They might find wonderful ways to say things without these distancing monstrosities, this punctuation for wimps and nancy boys. OK occasionally, but they’re overused. If they don’t mean ‘fundamentalists’, then what the buggery bollocks do they mean?
And if they don’t mean it, why have a conference to take it on? It’s all so – so – well, so humanist.
‘…what the buggery bollocks do they mean?’
It means; ‘Look, theists, I called Dawkins a fundamentalist. We have common ground for nice snugly talks, don’t we?’
While simultaneously meaning; ‘Look, atheists, I didn’t really call Dawkins a fundamentalist because I know he isn’t. So I can still set myself up as a spokesperson, can’t I?’
What a weasel. (Metaphorically; I rather like Mustela nivalis as a mammal.) He seems to have identified a niche which he seeks to inhabit; a petty careerist move from a nobody.
And what makes a Humanist Chaplain/rabbi?
‘…went to Taiwan for a semester aiming to study Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism in its original language and context. Finding that Eastern religions do not necessarily have greater access to truth than Western ones, he returned to the US and abandoned Buddhist studies in favor of rock music, recording and singing professionally for a year after college. He then left the music industry, disappointed by its drug and negativity-ridden culture, and might have been forced into attending law school had he not discovered the movement of Humanism and the possibility of a career as a Humanist rabbi and chaplain.’
( http://www.harvardhumanist.org/?page_id=21)
OK, he sussed eastern religions during the course of a semester but was ‘disappointed’ by rock culture…
Still, at least this way he won’t be ‘forced’ into law school.
Oy veh.
“I think people ought to have a scare-quote fast – perhaps give them up for Lent”
If you are looking for a scare- quote fast – waiting albeit for Lent to give them up will not suffice. It is after all one year away. You will most definitely have to find another speedier solution. When is Ramadan?
“There are some variations regarding the time in which Ramadan’s fasting takes place for different Muslims around the world. Since the festival is linked to the lunar calendar and the new moon is not in the same state at the same time globally, it would depend on which lunar sighting that individual recognizes. Everyday during the month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world break their fast at the same exact minute. This takes place at the same time as the fourth prayer of the day, Maghrib.
When is the next new moon?
Very interesting CV this guy has. I think what he really discovered in his short stay in Taiwan is that Chinese and Japanese are really hard languages to learn. And also that Zen takes a lot longer than a semester to master.
Harvard is really a very strange place, which is prone to hiring really strange people like this. (Bias check: I went to Yale grad school.)
OK, looking more closely at his CV, he seems to have a BA in Religion and Chinese from UMich (a reputable school). Don’t know exactly what that means, but maybe he studied a little more than a semester of Chinese.
Still don’t know why he abandoned Buddhist studies for rock music, but in his case it might have been a wise career move. Also very glad he wasn’t forced into law school (at the point of a gun?).
So, should I meet a flat-earther the tactful response would be, ‘Well, it’s certainly very flat in parts.’
The tactful or curate’s egg response. Perhaps we should start a new movement – Curate’s Eggism.
I never thought I’d say this, but in this instance the world would be better off with one more lawyer.
Although, on a more serious note, the scandal of prosperous young people being forced into law schools is one on which the UN has been shamefully silent. Seeking only a life of honest labour for a living wage thousands of these wretches are doomed to a life of bloated fees and over-styled homes. Some, driven by desperation, resort to earning a living as humanist pastors. As a result they find themselves spurned by so-called respectable atheist society and driven to satisfy the whims of swaggering and debauched theists.
Let us not condemn, but pity and ask, do we not share in the guilt? Have we done enough to reach out to law students and show that there is an honest and decent alternative?
Like getting a real job.