Secular Right mourns the death of Irving Kristol and sends its heartfelt condolences to his family. Kristol possessed a noble generosity and grace, not the least when cheerfully informing an interlocutor of his errors. The irony, understatement, and cool detachment that characterized his brilliant essays are sadly lacking in much conservative discourse today.
Irving Kristol maintained that religion was essential to a stable society. Some of us at Secular Right have contested such a claim, but when a man of Kristol’s wisdom and insight argues for the necessity of religion, we disagree only with great trepidation and doubt.
What a gracious statement. RIP.
Which essays have his best arguments for the social necessity of religion? I might check them out if they’re on the web. That’s pretty much my own view as someone, like you and Kristol, on the secular right.
I’d be interested in seeing these arguments engaged by Secular Right. A lot of Secular Right discourse consists of mugging cripples: refuting stupid arguments by stupid people. If Kristol’s arguments are so strong, and your disagreement is so hesitant and self-doubting, then it would seem to benefit everyone, including yourselves, if Kristol’s arguments were engaged explicitly.
ploni had somewhat of a point–i was preparing myself for an intemperate and vicious attack on the Kristol ideology, tempered only slightly by the fact that he is now dead.
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