The concept of “faith” has been one that has interested me of late. The religious tell me it is a good and practical thing. That it gives them hope in the face of uncertainty. Non-theists tell me that faith is no more than a belief in the absence of evidence and that, as such, it cannot be a good thing. The philosopher Bertrand Russell said that he examined all the arguments in favor of the Christian dogmas and found them not to be logically valid. Furthermore, he said there couldn’t be a practical reason for believing something that isn’t true.
With these ideas in mind, I asked philosophy professor Peter Boghossian from Portland State University to answer a few questions for The Bent Spoon Magazine. I came across Boghossian when I saw a trailer for a lecture he gave called “Jesus, the Easter Bunny and Other Delusions: Just Say No!” on Youtube. Not only do I felt he made important and valid points, but he also did it with an amount of gusto that I admired. Fuck it, if you’re going to tell people of faith that they are delusional, you may as well be blunt about it, right? I’ve always enjoyed a good rabble rousing.
Pete kindly asked his friend, MMA coach Matt Thornton, to participate as well since they plan to debate religious leaders shortly on topics such as these. It’s a short interview, but one that I feel answers a few of the bigger questions I’ve had recently on the topic of faith. It has recently been picked up by the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and has generated a fair amount of attention.
Please check it out by clicking on the link below and please let me know if you have any thoughts to add. I’m very interested in hearing the opinions of anyone, whether they agree or not.
Confidential Korbus 