tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post6764576363723167748..comments2024-03-28T05:13:13.921-04:00Comments on Books, Inq. — The Epilogue: Thoughtful ...Frank Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-17193790800758983972010-07-30T18:02:49.870-04:002010-07-30T18:02:49.870-04:00Well, of course, as you well know, Art, the mystic...Well, of course, as you well know, Art, the mystical aspect of religion is the ground of its authenticity.Frank Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-88786782475919450292010-07-30T11:15:49.406-04:002010-07-30T11:15:49.406-04:00"Agnosticism doesn't fear uncertainty.&qu..."Agnosticism doesn't fear uncertainty."<br /><br />I'm sympathetic to Rosenbaum's viewpoint, although he makes a few mistakes, the main one being his dismissing of the mystical viewpoint, which makes him sound too close to the cranky atheists.<br /><br />A point that is rarely made is that the so-called new atheists are not only anti-religion, they are anti-spirituality. They are the culmination of materialistic logical positivism at its most assumptive. The assumption being that every state of consciousness and human experience can be explained away as materially produced, chemically, mechanically, or otherwise.<br /><br />Rosenbaum demonstrates the same basic anti-spiritual bias—which in my previous discussions with other self-proclaimed agnostics isn't a universal position. The most open-minded keep their "I don't know" attitude for matters mystical as well as religious.<br /><br />Speaking for the mystical viewpoint, which I have done before in conversations with agnostics, it still seems to me that everyone is asking the wrong questions, based on their already-in-place assumptions about the nature of things.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.com