jay1051971's Full Review: Joshi st - God's Defenders: What They Believe and ...
Any system of thought is always divided up in to two or more categories of contributors: the hardcore, academician, and the popularizing layman. Religion is no different, and there have been multitudes of laypersons who have argued in defense of Christianity over the years. God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong is author S.T. Joshi's attempt to skewer some of the more prominent Christian writers and the arguments they offer in defense of their faith.
Chapter Listing: Introduction
1. The Pragmatic Professor: William James
2. The Bulldog and the Patrician: G.K. Chesterton and T.S. Eliot
3. Surprised by Folly: C.S. Lewis
4. God and the Yale Man: William F. Buckley Jr.
5. Religion and Politics: Stephen L. Carter
6. Fire and Brimstone: Jerry Falwell
7. Hand-Wringing from the Literati: Reynolds Price and Anne Dillard
8. Beautiful Souls: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
9. Chatting with the Big Guy: Neale Donald Walsch
10. Religion and Morals: Guenter Lewy
Conclusion
Index
Publisher: Prometheus Books, 2003
Breakdown:
Do you often find yourself discussing religious matters with people who do not share your particular belief system? Do you often find yourself debating the finer points of logic behind such beliefs? Chances are, you're not unlike many other people, including me, who find such deep discussions attractive. Over the past year or two, I've had numerous conversations with a co-worker, a young, fundamentalist Christian. The conversation usually turned into a Socratic style inquiry in which I would lead her into corners she would find very difficult to escape. But even in the face of airtight logic, she fervently clung to her faithful views, only once (to my recollection) ever admitting, "ok, you may have a point."
In another case, I was invited by a different co-worker to attend a function at her church a few months ago at which their pastor was going to engage in a public debate with a prominent atheist. As the pastor stated in his opening remarks, it was his view that Christians need to learn to be able to defend their worldview on rational and logical grounds, instead of retreating to blindly held faiths and dogmatic assertions. Such a defense was a tribute to the blessings of their God, and was an important tool if they are to fulfill their Biblical commandment to witness to the world the truth of Christianity.
Such examples as these show that religionists are sensitive to the demands of their critics. The fact that Christian writers and thinkers now find it absolutely critical to defend their positions on rational grounds, speak volumes. Over the past 500 years, religion in general has come under increased scrutiny and criticism for its claims. Freethinking philosophers have pointed to scientific discoveries, and their reliance on rational, empirical, and provable methods to uncover hidden truths, and have thrust these back into the face of religionists. Theologians and laymen alike, while in perpetual retreat mode, have proven extremely adept in changing and modifying their arguments, and are nowhere near raising the surrender flag. Religion, it would seem, still holds an allure with the billions of people.
In God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong, author S.T. Joshi takes to breaking down and analyzing arguments offered in favor of belief by some well-known, but lesser Christian apologists. Each chapter focuses on one or two literary contributions by the person in question, exploring the themes presented and offering some rebuttals and/or refutations. Some of the authors may be known to the reader, others may not. A reader may also be familiar with the work in question, or may not. I found that the extent to which the reader is familiar with the writer and/or the work in question will directly impact the appreciation for Joshi's counter offering.
Throughout the book, it is very interesting to note how various themes and appeals keep popping up in the arguments by apologists. For example, more than one writer resorts to the argument that states, more or less, because so many people believe in the existence of God, it must be true. Joshi labels this the "democratic fallacy", as there is no logical reason to believe that objective truth changes because of popular fashion. Would God cease to exist because many people stop believing in God? Another argument that pops up in one form or another is that religious claims are true because they are useful (for whatever reason). Of course, that would logically imply that things that aren't useful are also not true, which is self-evidentally absurd.
The writers Joshi examines are varied in both their backgrounds and the times in which they lived. Most people are familiar with the Reverend Jerry Falwell. This media-chasing publicity-hound has been in the public eye in one way or another for almost 30 years. Most recently, he made headlines with his wild post-9/11 claims that the tragedy of that horrible day were God's retribution on America for our toleration of feminism and homosexuality. Later he made a stir when he penned his pre-Iraq invasion, warmongering essay, "God Is Pro-War". While few religious leaders have been able to combine the raw, kooky extremism with the charisma required to remain relevant in the public eye, Falwell's success can only be described as genius.
It is no suprise that Joshi would choose him as a target, taking a ratchet to this iconic personality by analyzing Falwell's book, Listen, America!. Joshi does a masterful job using biblical scripture, and Falwell's own words to illustrate exactly how foolish Falwell is, both in word and deed. Falwell, as Joshi demonstrates, is that worst type of Christian imaginable: the hypocrite. While his book attempts to convince reader's that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible truth as the Word of God, Joshi points out numerous items of scripture from which even the most rabid fundamentalist would shy away. For instance, he site scripture that would indicate that the sun revolves around the earth, and not the other way around. Yet, nowhere do we hear Falwell and his followers protesting school cirricula that attempt to teach children the heliocentric theory of astronomy. Nevermind that such protests would expose him for a preposterius fool, the fact remains that according to Falwell, deviating from anything the Bible teaches or implies is sinful, and ultimately a rejection of God's Truth.
Another barbaric requirement of Christians, if you follow Falwell's prescriptions, is that death should be the appropriate punishment for all homosexuals, adulterers, and other violators of biblical tenents. If one follows Falwell's views to their logical conclusion, then Christians should not only applaud acts of violence against gays, they should partake in them, otherwise, one is not a Christian. Of course, Falwell and his followers might deny that they believe this, (probably for P.R. reasons), but they can only do so at the expense of basic logic.
Another writer that Joshi takes on is William F. Buckley. Many will recognize Buckley as one of the leading figures in modern conservative politics. He has been an extremely influential thinker in focusing, energizing, and directing the modern conservative (and to a certain extent, neo-conservative) agenda. His first book, God and the Yale Man, is the subject for Joshi's analysis. Buckley, it would seem, is virulently hostile to the levels of secularism on display in modern academia (and this is in the 1950s, mind you.) Joshi takes Buckley to task, exposing various logical fallacies and contradictions in Buckley's line of thought. Why does evil exist? Is God ultimately, and consciously directing all earthly phenomena? Does man have free will? Did Christianity succeed because it was inherently superior, or filled a moral vaccuum that was desperately needed? Joshi uses logic, backed up by historical evidence, to point out that Buckley is at least overexaggerating the value of Christian contributions to western civilization, or, at worst, spreading lies.
Of course, no analysis of Christian apologetics would be complete without including C.S. Lewis in the mix. Of all the people Joshi examines, perhaps none has been so influential as this writer. It would not be too much of an overstatment to make the claim that most ordinary Christians, when attempting to rationalize their faith, may resort to arguments and themes first articulated by Lewis, whether they realize it or not. Lewis, in the purest sense, has been an extremely effective popularizer for Christian theology, selling over 70 million copies of his books. Of course, being more commercially successful than the other writers covered in this book does not mean that his arguments are more sound. Much of Lewis' writing center on the existence of morals and man's ability to engage in conscious, rational thought. These factors virtually establish proof for the existence of God. To his credit, he offers (slightly) more systematic arguments, but Joshi is effective in dealing with Lewis' proposals.
One common argument I often hear from Christians pertains to the question, why do bad things happen to good people? Lewis rationalizes this by saying, in effect, there are no good people. Of course, this flies in the face that God is a loving entity, and at the same time implies that non-believers cannot live moral lives. Only a few of the more dogmatic Christians that I know will admit to either of these, and Joshi expounds on these fallacies in depth.
What may turn most people off to this book is Joshi's harsh, over-the-top sarcasm and vitriolic contempt displayed for his subjects. In one sense, I got the impression he was attempting to mimic the legendary H.L. Mencken, who was famous (or infamous, if one is a religionist) for his scathing and sardonic rhetorical style. Sadly, Joshi fails in this regard, and merely comes off more like a malcontent, grinding his axe. It is very clear that he has nothing but contempt for all religion. He even states that "religion is of no value in modern society", and this feeling pervades the entire work.
Also, while the logic of his arguments is sound, he often bypasses certain lines of thought that his critics might raise to rebut him. More than a handful of times, one will find Joshi stating, "At this time, I do not wish to discuss..." such and such, or "I am not concerned with...." fill-in-the-blank. I got the sense that, at those times, he was leaving a door open for a critic to grab some leverage to make a case against Joshi. Of course, one cannot expect the author to follow every thread of logic to their ultimate conclusions, for such would take the scope of the book to preposterous levels. However, at the very least, I would have liked Joshi to spend a little but of effort to seal up his intellectual flanks.
Overall:
God's Defenders is a good book to read for truly dedicated atheistic thinkers. As I noted, there will be a direct correlation between one's familiarity with the subject and the works in question, and the enjoyment of this book. For average readers, the book may be very dull and intellectual, so I would not encourage just anyone to buy this. But if you are very interested in literary analysis from a religious (or anti-religious) perspective, then Joshi's book is for you. The real value in the commentary isn't in Joshi's exposition, since there is nothing extremely innovative in his otherwise solid logic, but rather in the writings of the apologists. Surveying the landscape of modern and historical writers is very useful in broadening the context for which many pro-religion arguments are offered today. And if you are an atheist or agnostic who frequently engages religionists in a give-and-take, knowing the arguments of your opposition can greatly assist you. Three stars.
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