Tag Archives: Enlightenment

Church and State, God and God Gene

Whether or not God exists there cannot be much doubt about the existence of (to use a crude shorthand) a ‘God gene’, the innate propensity of  most people to believe in gods and/or the supernatural and, at least to a … Continue reading

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Islam: Enlightenment or Reformation?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been calling for an Islamic ‘reformation’. Dan Hannan is not so sure that that’s right: What, though, do we mean by “Reformation”? Most people mean that they want a more modern Islam, one which accepts the … Continue reading

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Religion and rights

A review of a new book by Simon Schama about American culture makes the usual argument that religion, not Enlightenment values, was responsible for abolishing slavery and expanding civil rights for blacks: The main weapon in both the fight against … Continue reading

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The arational conservative

Yale Brought Me to Conservatism: I can only describe the moment as an epiphany, with all that that implies. “An age of prudence” was my own age of rationalism. There was no reason to exist. But I did: not because … Continue reading

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