Ethics of Atheism

“ The discussion was stimulating. Italian scholar Paolo Flores D'Arcais argued cogently for excluding reference to God from the political arena, on the grounds that when one person speaks of being righteously informed by his particular brand of God, others have no recourse. The other speaker, Dr. Alan Wolfe, I found much less satisfying. He attacked D'Arcais for being exclusionary. Wolfe?s arguments ignore the thorny question of just how tolerant we are supposed to be for the nonsense that passes for political discussion today. Too much deference is paid to religious mumbo-jumbo in the name of tolerance. It ought to be fair game to criticize a Mike Huckabee for believing in the literal truth of the Bible or a Mitt Romney for the notion that Jesus lived in Missouri, but Wolfe?s arguments would seem to decry such criticism. Wolfe also appeared regrettably defensive during the Q&A. We have too much experience with a president who claims he has God?s ear not to challenge Wolfe?s views. ”