JordanLand Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 I'm on a few other boards, and there I found a link to a book (it's a pdf you can download) which primarily covers the topic of Atheism. Now, I know, most books like that are ultra-liberal and all, but this one was a lot more neutral. Still a little left for my tastes, but they didn't take sides as much as some of the other ones I read. Anyway, there's a section at the back called the "Book of Resources" (once you check out the TOC, you'll see why it's called that) that lists a whole bunch of websites, and it does include Objectivism Online! There's also a "Book of Books", it's good too, but it doesn't cover Rand, which I see as a shortcoming. But it does cover both our forum and another major Objectivism site, plus some good info on anti-religion arguments, so I'll look over it for now. Here's the link, I'm interested to see what you all think of it: http://www.angelfire.com/planet/thebgma/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellectualammo Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 (edited) Here's the link, I'm interested to see what you all think of it: http://www.angelfire.com/planet/thebgma/index.html Wow, at a quick glance it seems like this a "How to be a more altruistic atheist" book. To quote from it: "Morality begins and ends with sympathy."(p.6) !!!! "We must recognize that sympathy for our fellow man is the noblest of the emotions."(p.9) !!!! They also go on to identify different forms of atheism, or philosophies that are atheistic, then go on to "characterize" this book as being a "Humanist, Naturalist, Rationalist point of view"(p.14)... "Charity is a duty we owe, part of our purpose in life as Good and Moral Atheists"(p.76) !!!! Now the only thing that may be of any value here are the various quotes and referenced sites/links they have, some of them. *edited to insert space between two separate words* Edited February 24, 2006 by intellectualammo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellectualammo Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 (edited) ...it does include Objectivism Online! Yes, it only provides a link to here with this as a "description" " a forum related to the conservative atheism of Ayn Rand" (p.104). It also says quite possibly the most inaccurate information I have seen thus far in that book(again a quick glance at it): "[The Objectivist Center]TOC follows the teachings of Ayn Rand..."(p. 94) (I need an emoticon whose jaw opens way wider for this one) The TOC's views on "toleration" and saying Objectivism as a closed-system, DOES NOT FOLLOW AYN RAND'S PHILOSOPHY OF OBJECTIVISM. This book needs to be edited. I'm going to try my best to email someone in regards to this book. I'll try: [email protected] *edited...I have just sent an email to address this and I also mentioned ARI to the above email address* Edited February 24, 2006 by intellectualammo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JordanLand Posted February 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Yeah, it does seem to be a little bit strange, promoting altruism then linking to here. And why don't they link to www.AynRand.org ? If they're showing the other site, they should show this one, too. But I did like the Arguments section, it slams sheep-religion arguments pretty well, and the Resources section has some good separation of church and state links. Let us know if you get a reply on that one, if they're going to do anything to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellectualammo Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Let us know if you get a reply on that one, if they're going to do anything to fix it. I just checked my email and they have responded this way: "Steve: Thank you for your comments. I am looking into this, I emailed TOC for their response to this. As it stands, I will likely add an appendix that covers any controversies that arise from the book, hopefully relatively soon. I will email you when I do. Thank you again. :thebgma" I guess BGMA emailed TOC to see if what I had stated about them was true or not. I'm at least happy/a little satisfied that I got a response, and that I didn't sanction what was written about the TOC, and so forth in that book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellectualammo Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Let us know if you get a reply on that one, if they're going to do anything to fix it. I just got a reply!! I'm so glad that I emailed "thebgma"!! This is the first part of the email: "Steve : Hey, thanks for all the great info, I updated the book, check out the appendix at the end. I tried to be as fair as possible to the two groups. My views: well, I guess I'm mostly a Pragmatist, and I do believe in altruism and charity with some limits." Yeah, the altruism and charity positions "thebgma" takes were already identified by me earlier in the thread. I briefly looked over what was updated in the appendex, most of it seems accurate now. I'll have to look more closely at it however. There may be somethng wrong with the part that discusses Libertarians. Anyways, I thought I would let you know asap!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JordanLand Posted March 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Very cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellectualammo Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Very cool. Yes, and I also made it into the book! I didn't show the entirety of the email, most of it was nonsensical, or not even worth mentioning, but he said that in the appendex the SSIA stands for me...Steve Sheppard Intellectual Ammo...Again, I'm so happy that I emailed "thebgma" about the erroneous description and even got the ARI included into the book, and properly described, if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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