A debate took place at UCLA this last Tuesday between Chris Hedges and Sam Harris. Hedges, son of a Presbyterian minister and author of such books as War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002) and this year’s American Fascists, sparred off with Sam Harris, an author himself and outspoken critic of religion, in a topical discussion billed as “Religion, Politics and the End of the World.â€
Here’s an excerpt from Hedges opening statement:
God is a human concept. God is the name we give to our belief that life has meaning, one that transcends the world’s chaos, randomness and cruelty. To argue about whether God exists or does not exist is futile. The question is not whether God exists. The question is whether we concern ourselves with, or are utterly indifferent to, the sanctity and ultimate transcendence of human existence. God is that mysterious force—and you can give it many names as other religions do—which works upon us and through us to seek and achieve truth, beauty and goodness. God is perhaps best understood as our ultimate concern, that in which we should place our highest hopes, confidence and trust. In Exodus God says, by way of identification, “I am that I am.†It is probably more accurately translated: “I will be what I will be.†God is better understood as verb rather than a noun. God is not an asserted existence but a process accomplishing itself. And God is inescapable. It is the life force that sustains, transforms and defines all existence.
[...]Faith allows us to trust, rather, in human compassion, even in a cruel and morally neutral universe. This is not faith in magic, not faith in church doctrine or church hierarchy, but faith in simple human kindness. It is only by holding on to the sanctity of each individual, each human life, only by placing our faith in the tiny, insignificant acts of compassion and kindness, that we survive as a community and as a human being. And these small acts of kindness are deeply feared and subversive to institutional religious and political authorities.
To read his whole opening click HERE. An audio recording of the entire thing should be available soon as well.