Heathen's Progress 13: Has the God debate been moved on?

Some in the blogosphere have suggested that in this series I have moved closer to the new atheists. I'm not sure this is true. For a variety of reasons (including unfortunate headlines others gave to some of my pieces) the extent to which I have disagreed with the new atheists has probably been overstated because it is the disagreements that I have found more interesting to write about. I agree with them that literal belief is not a straw man, strongly expressed belief is not aggressive dogmatism, we should be as free to criticise religion as people have been to criticise atheism, and that science does pose difficult questions for many religious people. But I still maintain that much of the rhetoric has not been helpful and that in order to make progress we have to look more at the best that religion has to offer, not the worst, and find common ground with more liberal believers in order to counter the more pernicious forms of belief.

Half-time report in the Guardian Comment is Free Belief series.

Saying sorry has never meant less

The act of saying sorry when you're not has been elevated in recent years to something of an art form. There are so many ways of issuing a non-apology apology, all of which try to square the circle of meeting a public demand for repentance with the private refusal to admit that any is necessary...

Post at the Guardian's Comment is Free

Heathen's Progress 12: The parable of the allotments

Last week I challenged the idea that religiosity is more about practice than belief with evidence that most religious people appear to have a large number of traditional beliefs which they take to be important. However, I suggested that there might be a response to this, and I've found a possible one in book 42 of the apocryphal Gospel According to Monty.

Latest in the Guardian Comment is Free Belief series

World Briefing & World Have Your Say - BBC World Service

Yesterday I was on World Briefing talking about Science, meaning and values in the wake of the latest Higgs boson findings. The interview is at the end of the 13 December podcast, available here for a week.

I also took part in Word Have Your Say on the same channel later in the day. That programme is here.

Heathen's Progress 11: The myth of mythos

A few weeks ago, I argued that the debate about the true nature of religion is hampered both by a confusion between what we think it ought to be and what it actually is, and by a lack of knowledge about what religious people, rather than the elite commentariat, really think. To get a better sense of these facts on the ground, I've conducted a survey, and I think the results make for interesting reading.

Latest in the Guardian Comment is Free Belief series

Sunday - BBC Radio Four

I was on this morning's programme talking about "the luxury of being selfish" with Jamie Whyte and presenter Samira Ahmed. Listen again available here for a week.

Churchgoers Survey

I have conducted a two-part survey as research for my Heathen's Progress series at the Guardian's Comment is Free Belief blog. Here the key documents of the survey are available for download, on condition that they are not used for commercial use and that you notify me of any use made of the data in material published in any form.

The first survey was of 141 Bristol Churchgoers. The documents available are

Survey as given to churchgoers [PDF]
Survey results summary [PDF]
Survey response spreadsheet [Excel]

Note that in spreadsheet, "0" indicates no response, "1" first option selected and so on. "v" indicates question answered in way which made it void.

The second survey was conducted online and received 767 responses.The documents available are

Survey results summary [PDF]
Survey response spreadsheet [Excel]

My initial discussion of the results is here.

Is generosity a luxury we can't afford?

The last time we were supposed to have had a "me generation" it was in the Eighties boom, not a bust. "I'm alright Jack" has turned into "I'm not alright, Jack, so don't expect me to help you". Poor Jack gets fobbed off whatever happens.

Comment piece in today's Independent

The Shrink & The Sage: Identity traps

It is because labels of identity can only refer to what we have in common with others that they can never capture our uniqueness. Our multiple identities are like an incomplete list of ingredients which fails to specify how much of each to use or even how they should be combined.

Latest FT Weekend Magazine column

Heathen's Progress 10: Respect for you and your crazy beliefs

I keep channels of communication open out of disrespect to my own intelligence. When you look out into the world and see that it's insane, you have to accept the likelihood that you probably have your little pockets of insanity too.

Latest in the Guardian Comment is Free Belief series