THE PAULA GORDON SHOW |
Religions vs Belief |
Related Links:
The Religious Case Against Belief is published by Penguin; Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by Ballantine Books, Breakfast at the Victory: The Mysticism of Ordinary Experience by HarperOne, Gospel of the Beloved Disciple and The Silence of God: Meditations on Prayer by Harper San Francisco.
An earlier program with James Carse is available here.
Philosopher Frederick Ferré has covered from a philosophical perspective some of the questions addressed by Dr. Carse. Carolyn Jessop's account of her life in and escape from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) presents a vivid and terrible example of the dangers of a criminal belief system protected by the veneer of religion. Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II written by Jason Berry and the late Gerald Renner tells another story of religious cover for illegal acts, in this case relating to the Legionaries of Christ, Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, Regnum Christi and the Vatican. Surprisingly, at the end of his life, René Descartes added the emotions to his mind-body structure which lends support to Dr. Carse's "horizonal" view. Russell Shorto gets beyond the simple stereotypes associated with Descarte in Descartes Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason.
Walter Truett Anderson has addressed many of these "life questions" in his writings. Alan Wallace approaches these questions from the perspective of Buddhism and consciousness studies.
Robert Funk devoted much of his life to exploring the human Jesus behind the mysteries of Christianity.
Garry Wills has explored the Christian perspective in a series of books on the New Testament.
Theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman presents his view of how to reconcile science and religion in Reinventing the Sacred. Kauffman and psychiatrist Charles Raison explore science and the mind against a backdrop of Tibetan Buddhism.
Over the years, this program series has looked at what is broadly characterized as "religion" and its impacts on life today. These programs include (in no particular order): Cornel West, Robert Franklin, Bruce Feiler, Alan Dershowitz, Joseph L. Roberts, John Shelby Spong, Robin Meyers, Reza Aslan, Geneive Abdo, Kevin Phillips, Leonard Shlain and Jim Wallis.
And, here's a little background information on Paula Gordon and Bill Russell, the Program co-hosts. |
Acknowledgement
We relish the grace with which Jim Carse shares his big ideas with wit, wisdom and wonderful good humor. We both were tremendously impressed with the elegance with which he applies his luminous ideas -- first encountered in Finite and Infinite Games -- to the challenges of today’s world in his Religious Case Against Belief.
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