Tag Archives: robert wright

The Living Statue of Liberty vs. the Old Junos (and Jesus on the Cross)

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

Robert Wright has recently given up blogging at The Atlantic to write a book about Buddhism. His parting admonitions on foreign policy include these two sensible gems: [1] The world’s biggest single problem is the failure of people or groups to look … Continue reading →

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Robert Wright Claims History is Moving Toward More and More Non-Zero Sum Games

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

Every day, in a lot of ways, are we really getting better and better?

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Love’s Labours Scorned: Robert Wright on the Quran

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

A careful student of religious texts, Robert Wright, in the New York Times this week, offers his considered judgment on the what the Quran is: [I]f you’re curious as to the reason for the Koran’s seeming ambivalence toward Christians and Jews: … Continue reading →

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Muslim American Collective Guilt for 9-11 as the New McCarthyism: Robert Wright Says Yes to the Ground Zero Mosque and Deconstructs Rick Lazio and the Weekly Standard

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

Robert Wright has thought a lot about Islam and its relation to violence, and in his recent magisterial survey of Western religion, The Evolution of God  (Little, Brown 2009), he writes five chapters on Islam, including one that is wholly devoted to the subject … Continue reading →

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My Predictions for the Human Future

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

My daughters are four and six, and barring a severe catastrophe (personal or civilizational), my guess is that they’ll have lifespans that might double that of the average person living today. By the time they hit about the age of 50 (around … Continue reading →

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Is Islam a violent religion in the same way that it is a patriarchal religion?

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

In a recent New York Times essay, Robert Wright attempts to complexify the “jihadi intent” narrative for the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, to which Jerry Coyne dismissively retorts: It’s social difficulties, mental illness, financial problems, and American depredations in the Middle … Continue reading →

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The Universe’s Existence: Is it an Ontological Mystery or Just a Very Complicated Problem?

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

At the heart of the universe are three staggering paradoxes, and one of them, however absurd and inconceivable, must be true: either the universe made itself; or it has always existed; or some self-made or eternal telos is behind it Theists … Continue reading →

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Robert Wright on New Atheism’s Real World Impact

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

A piece on the New Atheist movement, written by Robert Wright, appeared this past week at Foreign Policy’s website: [T]he New Atheists’ main short-term goal wasn’t to turn believers into atheists, it was to turn atheists into New Atheists — fellow fire-breathing preachers … Continue reading →

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America vs. Global Terrorism: What Happens When Ahab’s Pursuit of the White Whale Takes Place in Real Time?

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Robert Wright, in the New York Times this weekend, articulated clearly his view of how the viral terrorism meme spreads, in an age of global communication, to psychologically susceptible people (like Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan):  One reason killing terrorists can spread terrorism is that … Continue reading →

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Bill Moyers Talks to Robert Wright About the Evolution of God

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

I think it’s fair to characterize Robert Wright’s book this way: he has traced what he himself calls “the history of an illusion” to something less and less illusory. In other words, the history of religion, for Wright, is a … Continue reading →

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A Good Question

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

At Christianity Today, Dinesh D’Souza reviewed Robert Wright’s book, The Evolution of God (2009), and asks a good question: Regretting the ‘problem’ passages that seem to justify violence in the Qur’an and also in the Bible, Wright speculates that ‘if … Continue reading →

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A Recent Debate on Atheism v. Theism

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

And an interesting match up. Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris v. Robert Wright, Dinesh D’Souza, and a rabbi, Shmuley Boteach:

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Telos and Contingency: Jim Manzi v. Jerry Coyne

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Jim Manzi defends Robert Wright against atheist biologist Jerry Coyne’s thumbs down New Republic review of Wright’s new book, The Evolution of God, here. Money quote: [T]he evolutionary process does not add any incremental randomness to outcomes beyond what is … Continue reading →

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Jerry Coyne, Robert Wright, and the Evolution of God

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

I’ve read the first couple chapters of Robert Wright’s new book, The Evolution of God, and I’m not interested in prejudging it as a whole before I’m actually finished with it, but so far it’s a very stimulating read. The book is densely argued, … Continue reading →

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Health Care Insurance Reform Quote of the Day

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Robert Wright, a guest blogger for Andrew Sullivan this week, makes a great point about health care and rationing: What more is there to say about Sarah Palin’s now-famous claim that President Obama’s health-care plan features “death panels” that will … Continue reading →

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Orwellism Watch: Biologist Jerry Coyne Takes Down Robert Wright a Peg

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Atheist biologist Jerry Coyne, in his recent review for the New Republic of Robert Wright’s new book, The Evolution of God, catches Wright out on an Orwellian euphemism that Wright deploys to describe Islamic historical setbacks on the road to greater tolerance: … Continue reading →

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Is Religion a Tolerant or Intolerant Human Phenomenon?

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God, has a theory. He thinks that religions tend to be morally neutral in terms of tolerance—and that their ranges of tolerant expression are dependent on the contingencies that they find themselves in. Hence, for … Continue reading →

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Non-Zero? Are Religion and Atheism Morally Neutral?

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Below, agnostic Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God, discusses religion and atheism with atheist John Horgan. Wright has a rather novel view of religion and atheism, seeing both of them as morally neutral, with their “demonic” sides only … Continue reading →

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Are Things as Bad as They Appear?

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

In Robert Wright’s interview with Salon.com today, he was asked about the end of his recent book, The Evolution of God : At the end of your book, you say the great divide in modern thinking is between people who … Continue reading →

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Monotheism “depends on the circumstances in which it finds itself”: Robert Wright on King Josiah and the Evolution of God Belief

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

At Salon.com today, Robert Wright offers his take on King Josiah, the severe monotheist and zealously iconoclastic (that is, idol destroying) king in the biblical Book of Kings, as well as the evolution of Hebrew monotheism to a kinder, gentler form … Continue reading →

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