In the Aftermath of the Terror Attacks in France by Stephen Suleyman Schwartz<\/p>\n
Free Speech is Free for Whom? by Hussein Rashid<\/p>\n
The Paris Attacks: A Moderate Liberal-Atheist Perspective by Massimo Pigliucci<\/p>\n
Islam, Violence and the Religious Mind by John Teehan<\/p>\n
Islam and Violence: When \u2018From Within\u2019 Meets \u2018From Without\u2019 by Ozgur Koca<\/p>\n
Believe the Terrorists: Religion, Violence, and the Power of Beliefs by Michael Shermer<\/p>\n
Science, Religion, and Culture in light of Paris and Charlie Hebdo by Lawrence Krauss<\/p>\n
On Terrorism and Blasphemy by Varadaraja V. Raman<\/p>\n
When Satire Meets Islamic Fundamentalism: Are We All Charlie? by Frank Griffel<\/p>\n
The Dilemma of Islamic Terrorism by Ali Sina<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I bought it basically for the Pigliucci essay, but the other ones are all worthy reading, and at 99\u00a2 it’s sort of a steal. You will find some things to disagree with (Rashid, for example, has a go at the Enlightenment in general and French secularism in particular), some things to heartily agree with, and more than a few flashes of insight in these digital pages. Unless you are already a scholar of Islam, you will also come away with a more nuanced view of this world religion.<\/p>\n
Teehan’s essay is particularly outstanding, as he attempts to get at the deep roots of religious fanaticism in human psychology:<\/p>\n
Human morality evolved as an in-group adaptation\u2014it is a means of fostering pro-social behavior that enabled the group to survive and thrive. Part of surviving and thriving often involved competition, at time lethal competition, with other human groups. This has inscribed a deep bias in our moral psychology\u2014a bias for our in-group, with a resulting bias against, or at least a decreased moral sensitivity to, the out-group. There is an impressive wealth of scientific evidence that supports the species-wide presence and compelling nature of this bias\u2026and recent studies reveal that the brain\u2019s empathy systems are sensitively tuned to in-group\/out-group distinctions. Religion, as it became the symbolic expression of our moral intuitions, inherited this morally conflicted system\u2014and this understanding can help us to make sense of conflicting religious voices.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Naturally, a psychological problem with roots this deep isn’t going to be restricted to religion. Even a noble ethical system such as Secular Humanism is bound to fall prey to ingroup\/outgroup thinking when the chips are down and the CHUDs are banging away at the gates. Perhaps, though, it is best to say no more on that score.<\/p>\n
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