Abstract
This paper addresses recent examples of militant atheism. It considers the theistic reply that describes atheism as deriving from a “God-shaped hole” in the human soul. The paper will argue that American pragmatism offers a middle path that avoids militant atheism without suffering from this problem. The paper describes this middle path and considers the problem that is seen in Rorty’s recent work: how the pragmatist can remain critical of religious fundamentalism without succumbing to a militant version of atheism. The solution proposed is tolerant acceptance of religion along with melioristic criticism developed within shared norms of inquiry.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aiken S. and Hodges M. (2006). Wittgenstein, Dewey and the possibility of religion. Journal of Speculative Philosophy 20: 1
Berman P. (2003). Terror and liberalism. Norton, New York
Boyer P. (2001). Religion explained. Heinemann, London
Clifford W.K. (1964). The ethics of belief. In: Kaufmann, W. (eds) Religion from Tolstoy to Camus. Harper Torchbooks, New York
Dawkins R. (2006). The god delusion. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
Dennett D. (2006). Breaking the spell. Viking, New York
Dewey J. (1934). A common faith. Yale University Press, New Haven
Fiala A. (2005). Tolerance and the ethical life. Continuum, London
Fiala A. (2007). What would Jesus really do? The power and limits of Jesus’ moral teachings. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD
Frankenberry N.K. (2006). Bernstein and Rorty on justification by faith alone. In: Davaney, S. and Frisina, W. (eds) The Pragmatic Century. SUNY Press, Albany, NY
Harris S. (2004). The end of faith. Norton, New York
Harris, S. (2006). An atheist manifesto at Truthdig.com (http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/200512_an_atheist_manifesto/).
Hitchens C. (2007). God is not great. Twelve, New York
James W. (1964). The will to believe. In: Kaufmann, W. (eds) Religion from Tolstoy to Camus. Harper Torchbooks, New York
James W. (1981). Pragmatism. Indianapolis, Hackett
Kierkegaard S. (1980). The sickness unto death. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Maritain J. (1949). On the meaning of contemporary atheism. The Review of Politics 11(3): 267–280
Pascal, B. (1660). Pensées. At “Christian Classics” etext library: www.ccel.org/ccel/pascal/pensees.html.
Rorty, R., & Engel, P. (2007). What’s the use of truth? Columbia University Press.
Rorty R. (1998). Pragmatism as romantic polytheism. In: Dickstein, M. (eds) The revival of pragmatism. Duke University Press, Durham, NC
Rorty R. (1999). Philosophy and social hope. Penguin, New York
Rorty R. (2000). Philosophy and social hope. Penguin, New York
Rorty, R. (2001). Decline of redemptive truth and the rise of a literary culture from: http://olincenter.uchicago.edu/pdf/rorty.pdf.
Rorty R. (2002). Cultural politics and arguments for God. In: Frankenberry, N.K. (eds) Radical interpretation in religion. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Rorty R. (2003). Religion in the public square: A reconsideration. Journal of Religious Ethics 31(1): 141–149
Rorty R. (2004). Philosophy as “Transitional Genre”. In: Benhabib, S. and Frase, N. (eds) Pragmatism, critique, judgment: Richard J. Bernstein. MIT Press, Cambridge
Spong J.S. (1998). Why Christianity must change or die. San Francisco, HarperCollins
Spong J.S. (2001). A new Christianity for a new world. San Francisco, HaperCollins
Tillich P. (2005). The new being. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, USA
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fiala, A. Militant atheism, pragmatism, and the God-shaped hole. Int J Philos Relig 65, 139–151 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-008-9188-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-008-9188-3