(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best sociology & religion books

I remember reading the first article quite clearly and the second ought to be common sense. I wonder when these people throw the Christians off, how on earth can they hope for a better life? If their ways afforded a superior lifestyle than ours did then those boats would be heading in the opposite direction.

I recommend While Europe Slept. I read this back in 06 and it's really...coming from a more "open-minded, liberal" background, this book really made me take a step back and look at the big picture.

A used copy can be purchased for $1.00 on Amazon.

Its worth the read.

He's actually a serious and very talented Youtuber. He's also a deconstructionist and contrarian. He recommends Terry Eagleton and Phil Zuckerman in this vid; it's a fair debate, Hitch would have welcomed it, obviously.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Natural-History-Karl-Shuker/dp/076074551X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451287287&sr=1-1&keywords=Dragons+A+natural+history Added the link as it is DIFFERENT from A Natural History of Dragons. This one contains accounts of dragons from history. I loved it and keep it as a reference.

Yeah, I'm all too aware of the unfortunate situation. I just hate fatalistic talk, as I strongly believe we can and must turn it around. 9/11 got my attention, but I really didn't start understanding the insidious nature of things until I read While Europe Slept back in 2006.

There are reasons for optimism. Pots have to simmer awhile before they boil. I recommend following Dr. Steve Turley who follows these trends on youtube.

I'm no expert in this, but I don't think you can understand modern Islamism without understanding the thought of Sayyid Qutb, one of the intellectual founders of the movement (or movements, more like).

Not every Islamist group traces its roots to Qutb, but I would argue that he's certainly the most influential recent Islamist theorist. He died in the 1960's IIRC.

His main works are Social Justice in Islam and Milestones Along the Way. Social Justice was written earlier and before he fully developed his radicalism, and Milestones is full blown Islamism.

A good secondary source on Qutb is Adnan Musallam's From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Modern Islamism.

A general book on the causes, frustrations, etc. that have led to the rise of Islamic extremism, see Michael Mazarr's Unmodern Men in the Modern World: Radical Islam, Terrorism, and the War on Modernity.

I would recommend beginning with Mazarr's book and then moving on to Musallam. After that, you can decide if it's worth your time to read some Qutb.

You are welcome.


http://www.amazon.com/God-Not-Great-Religion-Everything/dp/1600240097

The word "spiritual" has superstitious and supernatural baggage. Same with the word "religious"


And yet when I look at the stars the only word I can think of to describe this is a "spiritual" or "religious" experience...


The phrase "peak experience" while maybe adequate has not become popularly used enough to convey the meaning and depth felt during these experiences...

Have you watched this?
Have you read this? Or this?
tl;dr I am a non-believer who has had spiritual experiences after deconverting.

In the beginning, bin Laden didn't even want to fight the US, but instead depose secular dictators in the Middle East because they were oppressive. Only later did he decide that the United States was the main enemy because of their support for the dictators. There's a good book that analyzed the bin Laden's audio tapes that were found in his compound.

I've taken classes on religious conversion and it happens in a lot of ways. Some of it is enforced by higher levels of officials (government, church, etc.) some of it is violent, some of it is in exchange for what you need. It boils down to "I have something you want (food, not dying, not having higher taxes, fitting in with the larger community around you, being like the elites, etc.) and if you follow my thing, you can get it." Sometimes it really starts with "the royal people are really cool, so if they're doing it, we should too."

Here's a book about how it happened in much of Latin America.

> In an increasingly secular world

Except that it isn't really.

http://www.amazon.com/Supernatural-Natural-Biocultural-Approach-Religion/dp/0131893033/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370596677&sr=8-1&keywords=supernatural+as+natural

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Victimhood-Culture-Microaggressions-Spaces/dp/3319703285/ref=nodl_

This book looks at just that question

Europe is waking up...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/While-Europe-Slept-Bruce-Bawer/dp/0767920058?tag=duckduckgo-ffsb-uk-21

I think it's a paper that's a reference to "While Europe Slept."

Secondo me le risposte che stai cercando difficilmente te le potrà dare uno che vi è dentro. Potrà darti le sue motivazioni, ma saranno una visione molto parziale della questione.

Le domande che ti sei posto tu se le pone anche una disciplina che si chiama Sociologia delle religioni, che da almeno 200 anni studia la questione.

Ti consiglio un paio di letture:

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Sociology-Religion-Contemporary-Perspectives/dp/0754656586

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199588961/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687782&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0754656586&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0WAQKSQYJ2W768KASAKA

If you're at all curious about secular morality and what that could look like, Phil Zuckerman—a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College—wrote an accessible book in 2014 called Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions. He's also written several academically-focused works, such as Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion (Oxford University Press, 2011), which I haven't read yet but intend to soon.

I highly recommend the rise of victimhood culture. The larger concern here is that certain parts of our society incentivize and reward victims. Removing bullets from shooting victims doesn’t make one a true victim but that’s how this lady presented herself. Even if she were a real victim, it‘s not a qualification for public office.

Sam Harris wrote and spoke a lot on the scientific backing of morality, and the total lack of morality in religion. http://www.amazon.com/The-Moral-Landscape-Science-Determine/dp/1442300140

While Europe Slept, written 10 years ago, gives one a good understanding of the current crisis in Europe and why being tolerant to the intolerant is a recipe for failure.

God Is Not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens

Read the book "While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within" by Bruce Bawer.

It is written by a gay man who moved to Europe to get away from Christians in the US, only to discover that the Muslims in Europe were MUCH worse than the most conservative Christians in the US.

http://www.amazon.com/While-Europe-Slept-Radical-Destroying/dp/0767920058

I don't know a lot about it, but I read a book around the same time that discussed middle eastern cultures and genital mutilation.

I also don't know how prevalent it is, but I read that sometimes they will show a girls vagina closed at a very young age, and it will stay like that until they are married. This results in all sorts of infections, clitoral damage, etc. These women essentially never enjoy sex, and because of hygiene issues I wouldn't be surprised if they are equally dirty to, or dirtier than their asshole.

Edit: According to wikipedia, it's more prevalent in NE Africa. Still looking for the book I was reading (it was 5+ years ago.)
Wiki link

Book: While Europe Slept I don't actually remember anything in the book except the genital mutilation which scarred me for life.

There is something off with the article.

I googled the author's name and saw a review of his under a Sam Harris book where he wrote, "Faith ruins human reasoning". I will give him the benefit of the doubt and think that his reasons for writing such stuff is more nuanced.

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>the Syro-Malabar church is in deep crisis, as its moral uprightness has become a black-hole......

I won't contest that. I think the same.

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But the article meanders so much. He talks about the corruption and scandals of the Syro-Malabar church, worldwide catholic church, shares personal stories, looks at Jesus as humanist par excellence.

Maybe he's trying to compensate and repair the image of the church among the local Keralites through secular language ?

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And the author putting all the blame on the church for Jolly's psychopathic behaviour is either missing the big picture, or has ulterior motives. I can't wholly trust him. A member of the church doing such terrible crimes is shameful obviously and the leaders of the Syro-Malabar church aren't beacons of christian ideals, but why can't the author try to see if there were factors to her behavior other than the church ?

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And I'm a frustrated Syro-Malabar catholic myself and have been like that for years now. I agree with the issues of corruption and scandals, and I want answers too.

I hate the corruption, the cover-ups of church problems, lukewarm treatment of faith by higher-ups. And some of the overly latinized parts of the liturgy made me appreciate the Syro-Malankara rite mass(and Fr Daniel Poovannathil).

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He highlighted the worldwide problems of the catholic church like pope benedict dismantling a congregation because of sex slavery of nuns, pope francis quotes.... and immediately goes on to plug his own novel which he says is on Amazon Kindle ?!

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I really can't get the big picture he's trying to make. The catholic church doesn't have good priest/laity ? Syro-Malabar isn't upholding christian morality ? And all that automatically leads to people like Jolly who murders her own family members ?

Maybe she took inspiration from the hypocritical attitudes of her church authorities, still shouldn't the author be at least highlighting one or two instances of good members of the Syro-malabar church ?

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Or maybe this article was written to focus wholly on the problems of the church. Maybe he wrote this for the church higher-ups to look at their own actions more critically. Alright.