This podcast examines, page by page, the ideas proposed by Christian writer Ross Douthat in his book Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious.
In his book, Ross Douthat claims that religious belief in general, and Christian belief specifically, is the rational choice. Do his arguments hold up to scrutiny?
Why make this podcast? Well, not everyone believes. We want to know why Ross Douthat thinks that’s so terrible, and why he’s using his power as a member of the media elite to try to get everybody in America to believe the same thing.
Why Should We Let Ross Douthat’s Church Control Our Sex Lives?
Ross Douthat ends chapter 6 of his book Believe by presuming that allowing celibate priests to control the details of people’s sex lives is a normal thing that people should have no trouble agreeing to. How does Douthat not see how weird that is? Ross Douthat ends chapter 6 of his book Believe by presuming that allowing celibate priests to control the details of people’s sex lives is a normal thing that people should have no trouble agreeing to. How does Douthat not see how weird that is? Does he think we don't remember how the Catholic Church helped its priests to sexually abuse little children?
Why Should I Let A Church Tell Me How To Live, Ross Douthat?
On page 117 of his book Believe, Ross Douthat suddenly announces that people should submit themselves to the moral commands of Christian churches. Why? Ross Douthat has provided no rational reason to think that religions have any moral authority. He just takes it for granted.
A Poet Who Destroyed Art And Split His Family, Ross Douthat?
Why does Ross Douthat begin a book that’s supposed to be about the rationality of religion with a bizarre Catholic poem about how the Christian god is a smudge of pure crude oil? Ross Douthat is so deep in his religious faith he doesn’t see how weird that is.