I don’t think there can or should be a going back to the days when spiritual shepherds spoke and human flocks followed. But something needs to do the work today that those five commandments did for centuries. That something needs to transcend our own narrow self-interests and those of our kith and kin. The only credible candidate for that is our common humanity.
ReadNEWSHOUR – BBC WORLD SERVICE, 20 JUNE. I took part in a reasonably long discussion about forgiveness on this programme.[…]
ReadThe central purpose of religion has historically been a change of heart, not a change in the world. Modern politics has things entirely the other way around: the state’s job is to change society and it oversteps its mark if it tries to alter the minds of the people.
ReadIf we don’t think about it too much, we are easily deluded into thinking it’s obvious and unproblematic what life after death means. We all know what it means to be alive, so surely life after death simply means that we carry on living like this on the other side of the grave. But if you think about for more than a few seconds, this quickly becomes nonsensical.
ReadTen things you need to know about atheism.
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