Talk on moral and religious education
My final talk in Romania has been posted on you tube, I’ve just discovered. In segments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ3UrDEh2co – ep. 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhJ_LdNpBeQ – ep. 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgqz2d2e1w8 – ep. 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmr77U3F754 – ep. 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i8WO_0TwY8 – ep. 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYrkHuJMSWQ – ep. 6
I liked the talk (hadn’t thought in terms of “big A” and “little A” before.) I do think there could be ONE dogma imposed:”Thou shalt not chat whilst the first few questions are being asked”. Anyway I have ordered “The War..” and have (almost) persuaded my wife to choose it as the next book for her book group. I’ve been trying to smuggle some rationality into what are a bunch of woolly relativists for a few years. I have suggested (seriously) “The Open Society and its Enemies”, (slightly less seriously) “Anarchy, the State and Utopia” and (not at all seriously) the “Critique of Pure Reason”. Despite my claims that the first two are fabulous reads and, in places, laugh-out-loud funny they haven’t been adopted. I’ve already had good vibes from the suggestion of “The War…” though. This might be fun…
Why not suggest Frank Furedi’s “The Politics of Fear” and “Invitation to Terror”, which are among the few serious attempts I’ve come across at intelligent analysis of the dire state we’re now in, and how we got there.
“The Politics of Fear” looks interesting. I might read it myself. I don’t think I’d get my wife to choose it for the book group book though. In fact I’m now having difficulty with “The War…”. Despite the fact that I read it in a weekend, gave it a rave review to my wife and despite the fact that it has “Children” in the title (it’s a mothers’ bookgroup) I’m facing objections.”Its got paragraph headings!” (Yes, that’s an objection. Apparently it means its a serious book or something. Why it means it’s more difficult than some of the ghastly, obscure and deliberately incomprehensible fiction they often choose, I don’t know).