For tighter editorial controls at Comment is Free!
Why does so much rubbish get posted at Comment is Free? If the rubbish was simply subjective then I’d condone it to a degree. It isn’t. Even basic logic is sometimes alien to CiF. Consider the following statement, which discusses the demand by atheists that they get a spot on Thought for the Day too.
Contributors to Thought for the Day mustn’t attack the beliefs of others. It’s a basic BBC rule. This is not a place where Christians can fire pot shots at Hindus or Muslims have a go at Judaism. Which is why it’s just not appropriate for atheists. Not that they haven’t important things to say. The problem is that atheism is defined by what it’s against, that it is not theism. And to introduce such a sense of “againstness” would fundamentally alter TftD’s character.
This was written by a chap called Giles Fraser who has evidently never heard of the concept of humanism. This collection of notions about the dignity and worth of the person stretches all the way back to the Greeks, includes famous religions and – guess what? – includes atheists as well. Since Thought for the Day is generally based around the ideas of humanism, why not permit atheist humanists to get on the bandwagon?
Atheist humanists aren’t defined by what they’re against, they just don’t draw the link between humanism and religion that religious humanists do.
Really, I’m just so bored with religious people in the media.
Blimey, Giles hasn’t even heard of Laclau and Mouffe and the intrinsic value of social antagonism, let alone of the Habermasian concept of embedding of argumentation within the public sphere instead of the ‘costlier alternatives’ (usually involving guns and knives). Pillock.