Religious Fervor??


I have been inspired to update the blog by none other than CNN. They are airing two sets of reports that are eerily linked.

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. The “faithful” that are flocking to his mansion are expressing an almost religious fervor about his legacy. As a reporter put it, they have put aside all knowledge of his personal life (like the drugs and alcohol that probably caused his death) and they are focused only on his music and how wonderful, inspiring, etc., it is.

The network is also airing a report “one year in the making” called “God’s Warriors.” The almighty Ms. Amanpour will be enlightening us on the reasons behind three different “religions” of influence nowadays: Christian, Muslim and Jewish. If the Presley congregation gets some weapons, maybe she should highlight them, too.

These reminded me of a book I read recently called “The End of Faith,” by Sam Harris. While the book looked primarily at the Muslims, it alluded to some of the American religious right’s influence on society, and on politics in particular. There were interesting passages in it.

Some prose from “The End of Faith,” by Sam Harris

(p. 65) Faith is what credulity becomes when it finally achieves escape velocity from the constraints of terrestrial discourse – constraints like reasonableness, internal coherence, civility, and candor.

(p. 215) Faith is rather like a rhinoceros, in fact: it won’t do much in the way of real work for you, and yet at close quarters it will make spectacular claims upon your attention.”

(p. 182) Intuition: One cannot walk far in the company of moral theorists without hearing our faculty of “moral intuition” either exalted or scorned. The reason for the latter attitude is that the term “intuition” has always carried the scent of impropriety in philosophical and scientific discourse. Having been regularly disgraced by its appearance in colloquialisms like “women’s intuition” (meaning “psychic”), or otherwise directly contrasted with “reason,” the word now seems to conjure up all that is cloying and irrational outside the university gates. The only striking exception to this rule is to be found among mathematicians, who apparently speak of their intuitions without the least embarrassment – rather like travelers to exotic places in the developing world who can often be heard discussing the misadventures of their colon over breakfast. But, as we know, mathematicians travel to very exotic places indeed. We might also note that many of them admit to being philosophical Platonists, without feeling any apparent need to consult a trained philosopher for an exorcism.

Hey! I just saw Elvis!