Sacred Humanism without Miracles [electronic resource] : Responding to the New Atheists /
Saltman, R.author.
The New Atheists' claim that religion always leads to fanaticism is baseless. State-backed religion results in tyranny. Sacred humanists work to implement their highest values that will improve this world; separation of church and state, eliminating denigration of nonbelievers, assuring just governance, and preventing human trafficking.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Sacred Humanism Without Miracles: Responding to the New Atheists; Contents; About the Author; CHAPTER 1: Worldviews in Conflict; In Search of a Middle Way; The Modern Dilemma and Its Analysis; The Greco-Roman Era; Religion and the State; The New Atheists; No Miracles versus No God; The Impact of No Miracles on the Abrahamic Religions; The Physical World and the Spiritual World; Profane versus Sacred;  Sacred versus Holy; The New Atheists and "Religious Moderation"; The Unbearable Lightness of Nonbeing; The Sacred Is Invoked and Is Sensed; The Contradictory Nature of the Human Condition
CHAPTER 2: Our Physical Universe: Beyond BeliefHumankind's Longstanding Curiosity; Creation Myths; Changing Conceptions of the Universe; The Milky Way Galaxy; Light: Its Transmission, Speed, and Bending; The Expanding Universe and the Big Bang; The Age, Size, and Extent of the Universe; Formation of our Solar System; Development of Biological Knowledge; Beginning of Life I: First Formation of Organic Molecules; Beginning of Life II: First Formation of Life-Forms; Beginning of Life III: The Oxygen "Catastrophe"; Beginning of Life IV: First Formation of Cells with Nuclei
Beginning of Life V: First Formation of Multicelled OrganismsStatus of the Earth, One Billion Years Ago; Tectonic Plates; Neoproterozoic Era: One Billion to 540 Million Years Ago; Paleozoic Era: 540 to 248 mya; Mesozoic Era: 248 to 65 mya; Cenozoic Era: 65 mya to the Present; Evolution and Development of Homo sapiens sapiens (Humans); The Culture of Humans; CHAPTER 3: Religion: Origins, Interpretations, and Current Practices; Advanced Symbolic Thinking: The Human Difference; Religion and the Universe; Some Early Spiritual Thinking; The Importance of Death to Religion; Religions Today
Some Theorists and Their Theories of ReligionReligion as a Cultural System; The Continuation of Religion; Religion and Children; Those Awful Verses in the Hebrew Bible; CHAPTER 4: Religion and the State: A Tyrannous Alliance; Equal-Opportunity Persecutors; The Disastrous Impact of Christian Anti-Judaism; Christianity Complicit in the Destruction of Distant Cultures-The Case of the Maya; Jews and Christians under Muslim Rule; Invading Armies, Changing Religions, Moving Populations; Current Persecution of Christians in Egypt; Current Persecution of the Baha'i Faith in Iran
Countering Current PersecutionsCHAPTER 5: Contemporary Interreligious Conflicts; Terrorism by Islamist Groups; Theological Underpinning: Salafi Islam; Christian Prejudice and Violence against Muslims; Christian Anti-Abortion Violence; Overzealous Christian Proselytization; Israel's Descent into a "Morally Repugnant" Occupation; Worldwide Anti-Semitism; Responding to Irrational Hatreds and Violence; CHAPTER 6: Acting on Sacred Values in a Scientific Age; Responding to the New Atheists; Premises Adopted; The Idea of the Sacred; "Meanings" of the Abrahamic Creation Myth
Three Misinformed Interpretations of Humanity's Real History
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The New Atheists' claim that religion always leads to fanaticism is baseless. State-backed religion results in tyranny. Sacred humanists work to implement their highest values that will improve this world; separation of church and state, eliminating denigration of nonbelievers, assuring just governance, and preventing human trafficking.
Religion—Philosophy.
Religion.
Religion—History.
Religions.
Philosophy of Religion.
Religious Studies, general.
History of Religion.
Comparative Religion.