Chris Navin

Tyler Cowen at Bloomburg: ‘Holding Up a Mirror to the Intellectuals of the Left:’

‘Religion has been a major force in world history, and today is no exception. The popular intellectual who probably has made the biggest splash this year, Jordan Peterson, describes himself as a Christian. Right-wing intellectuals, overall, aren’t nearly as religious as is the broader right-wing electorate. Still, I find they are much better suited to understand the role of religion in life than are left-wing intellectuals.’

This usually reveals more about me: What I often see here in Seattle is the sad spectacle of the professed rejection of religion for either the negotiation or acceptance of the ‘-Isms; the often belief-deep level ‘Ismology.’ The overall culture is still a bit uncivilized, immature (young) and counter to anything ‘they’ might believe.

Some people are religious, sure, but the culture is very Left and activist liberal-Left. The environment, anti-‘capitalism,’ feminism, gender, race are all safe zones for righteous belief, activist action and the pursuit of moral and political purity (causes worthy of living, fighting and often pretending to die for). A more equal, fair, and socially just society is ever-emerging from within that winter fog hanging over the Sound.

I see such thinking as often as a squandering of a tremendous amount of freedom and opportunity in favor of frequent collectivist utopianism and the ‘mind-forged manacles’ of many failed and revolutionary doctrines. A lot of money sure is wasted.

Of course, people are people and worthy of being treated as such, and there is plenty of truth, knowledge and beauty here. All the truths and all the knowledge, I surely don’t have. If you’re looking just for doctrinal and/or ideological purity on this blog, hopefully you won’t find too much.

Roger Scruton At The WSJ: ‘Memo To Hawking: There’s Still Room For God’