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Risto_Saarelma comments on Book trades with open-minded theists - recommendations? - Less Wrong Discussion

8 Post author: Morendil 29 August 2011 05:23AM

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Comment author: Risto_Saarelma 31 August 2011 12:20:16PM 0 points [-]

Does anyone have an opinion on Dennett's Breaking the Spell?

Comment author: Vaniver 31 October 2012 07:23:15PM 1 point [-]

I read it a while ago. It's good at justifying taking a reductionist approach to religion as a social phenomenon- if religion actually is good for you, we should be able to test that, and the religious should want us to test that. I don't remember being impressed by it, though- the book is riddled with disclaimers and pacifying statements, trying to ensure that no religious person is offended by any section of it. This gets tiresome, because, really, someone's going to get offended nine chapters in? I also don't recall thinking anything in it was truly revolutionary, or likely to change the mind of a theist who reads it- though it may be a good book to get a toe in the door, by making them more willing to consider ancillary paths of their faith critically, and then eventually they'll find a crack which leads to the core.