Category Archives: culture

The different qualities of distaste

Posted on March 4, 2010 by David Hume

A comment below: ” I’m sure many people here have read opinion polls that show Atheists to be public enemy #1 ranking less favorably than Gays, Blacks, and Gay Blacks. Many still can’t understand that someone can believe in morality … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 26 Comments

The most powerful atheist politician in the USA

Posted on March 3, 2010 by David Hume

Pete Stark. One of my “TO-DO” projects is to infer the real proportion of atheists in Congress based on demographic variables.

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 28 Comments

No Extremists Here!

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Bradlaugh

So … American Renaissance can’t get a Red Roof Inn conference room but Louis Farrakhan and his gang of creepy white-hating leg-breakers get a whole stadium. But then, of course, Farrakhan is mainstream, while AR is … what’s the cant word here? … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, politics | 12 Comments

Rejecting a mathematics of morals

Posted on February 28, 2010 by David Hume

In my post below where I outline what I believe are the appropriate parameters of eudaimonia I was obviously influenced by the inductive methods of history and natural science. Naturally this elicited a strong response from some quarters. This is … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 16 Comments

How I learned to love moral relativism & cultural chauvinism

Posted on February 27, 2010 by David Hume

Over at Crunchy Con Rod Dreher points me to a new book, Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time, which, in Dreher’s words “attempts to defend St. Paul against his modernist critics (e.g. those … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged , , , , | 45 Comments

How Liberty Dies

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Bradlaugh

Outrage of the week last week was the shutting down of the American Renaissance conference by anti-racist activists. It impacted my schedule. I was planning to attend the conference (which was scheduled for Feb. 19 to Feb. 21). It would … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, culture | 83 Comments

Spirit Quest (or Something)

Posted on February 20, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

The appeal of going on some sort of spiritual voyage has always eluded me. I’m happy where I am, paddling in the spiritual shallows. Today’s New York Times piece by Charles Blow had a beginning that was, therefore, unlikely to … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | 14 Comments

Christopher Beckwith against modernism

Posted on February 16, 2010 by David Hume

A few months ago I reviewed Empire’s of the Silk. I focused on the historical scholarship, but Lorenzo Warby puts the spotlight on the more normatively charge jeremiad against “modernism” interlaced throughout the book.

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Social cycles

Posted on February 14, 2010 by David Hume

An addendum to my comments on the posts on natalism. As I suggest below I think as a whole it is appropriate to model humans before 1800 as a conventional animal subject to Malthusian constraints. When a new crop (e.g., … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged | Comments Off on Social cycles

Natalist Fundamentalism

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Bradlaugh

I have just learned that my paternal granny was one of at least 11 children, born in England 1860-1880.  My mother was one of 13, born 1896-1917.  How they did breed! Learning that fact a couple of hours after reading Richard … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, history | 22 Comments