Ross Douthat advises readers on “How to Think Your Way Into Religious Belief” (column, Sunday Review, Aug. 15). It would be grand, though, if he would accept the fact that not everyone is “standing uncertainly on the threshold of whatever faith tradition you feel closest to” and that it is possible to lead a meaningful, generous and caring life without having any affiliation with an organized religion, just as it is possible to enjoy activities without being a member of a country club or to be an engaged, responsible citizen without belonging to a political party.
I often try to imagine how it would feel to live in a no-labels world. Sounds like “heaven on earth” to me.
Gail Minthorn Wilton, Conn.
To the Editor:
The decline in commitment to organized religion is often not the faith itself, but the rules and regulations that come with it.
Many would-be congregants embrace the guiding God, the succor of faith. But the cultural demands of organized religion — be they wearing certain garments or symbols, ignoring science and medical treatment in favor of mysticism and religious rules, and disliking those of other faiths and behaviors — these “religious” demands drive them away.
Those of us who choose Unitarian Universalism do so because acceptance of all beliefs, God or not, is welcome. You build your own faith.
Ellen Creane Guilford, Conn.
To the Editor:
On a weekend when fundamentalist Muslims were winning a war against the United States, and as fundamentalist Christians demand the right to cause their fellow Americans to suffer and die from a preventable disease, Ross Douthat had the gall to tell me that I ought to accept the same primitive explanations that led directly to their fundamentalism. Hard pass.
David Bonowitz San Francisco
To the Editor:
Ross Douthat is so frantic in his campaign to stop the erosion of faith in faith that he can’t resist twice committing the sin I call lying for Christ.
First, he unaccountably misinterprets the meaning of the title of my book “Breaking the Spell,”which called for scrutinizing the phenomena of religion with the same objectivity we adopt when studying viral pandemics.
Second, he misinterprets illusionism, the well-evidenced theory that says that evolution has designed us to be conscious of an efficient oversimplification of the physical world: a user-illusion that helps us track the features of the world that matter to us.
It is ironic that Mr. Douthat himself breaks the spell, taking a hard look at the difficulties confronting would-be religious believers today. His recommendation that they cultivate a return to the mind-set of the Dark Ages is particularly telling. We secularists can glory in the wonders of “creation” without the nagging worries he exposes.
Daniel C. Dennett Medford, Mass. The writer is co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.
To the Editor:
The virulence of the Facebook comments on this column reflects the vacuous state of those readers’ minds and souls in this despairing age.
Thank you for printing such an intelligent, challenging article. I plan to study it, to share it with my very intelligent 11th- and 12th-grade students and to explore its linked sources.
It’s hard to posit divine cosmology and religious pluralism in this toxic, anti-intellectual age, but I’m glad that The New York Times has the courage to let Ross Douthat (courageously) do it.
Lynn Leland-Libby Traverse City, Mich.
Working Women and Mothers Need an Economic Lifeline
To the Editor:
Re “New Risks Cloud Hopes for Economy in Autumn” (Business, Aug. 3):
With working families still financially struggling, it’s jarring to read that economic uncertainty ahead poses primarily political challenges. As leaders take “an optimistic but wait-and-see approach,” those hit hardest by the pandemic — mothers of color — are on the verge of falling off the financial cliff.
Meanwhile, government inaction cuts two vital Covid-relief lifelines for Black and brown women forced to leave the work force: enhanced unemployment benefits and $44 billion in undistributed rental assistance. But that’s only part of the problem.
Before Covid, 70 percent of children under 6 lived in households where both parents worked, yet quality, affordable child care remains inaccessible for many — costing on par with mortgage payments. Worsened by Covid, these burdens fell disproportionately on mothers and women of color.
Without quality, affordable, universal child care, too many working parents — largely women, and especially women of color — remain unable to return to work. True recovery ultimately hinges on lawmakers solving our national child care crisis by investing in the care infrastructure and working families.
Danielle Atkinson Detroit The writer is executive director of Mothering Justice.
The Business of Making Friends
To the Editor:
Re “Hungry for Connection” (Business, Aug. 16):
How uplifting to read about Marissa Meizz’s successful recruitment on TikTok of people looking for friends. We are social animals by nature, and there is at present a stronger urge than usual to feel closer to others and gather in person.
This is also a gentle reminder that connections can also happen “in the wild.” Make friendly eye contact when you’re walking your dog, buying a cup of coffee, boarding a train or doing your laundry. Look no further than the anecdotes in Metropolitan Diary to see how these interactions can play out.
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Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | On Embracing Faith, or Rejecting It
Opinion | On Embracing Faith, or Rejecting It
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To the Editor:
Ross Douthat advises readers on “How to Think Your Way Into Religious Belief” (column, Sunday Review, Aug. 15). It would be grand, though, if he would accept the fact that not everyone is “standing uncertainly on the threshold of whatever faith tradition you feel closest to” and that it is possible to lead a meaningful, generous and caring life without having any affiliation with an organized religion, just as it is possible to enjoy activities without being a member of a country club or to be an engaged, responsible citizen without belonging to a political party.
I often try to imagine how it would feel to live in a no-labels world. Sounds like “heaven on earth” to me.
Gail Minthorn
Wilton, Conn.
To the Editor:
The decline in commitment to organized religion is often not the faith itself, but the rules and regulations that come with it.
Many would-be congregants embrace the guiding God, the succor of faith. But the cultural demands of organized religion — be they wearing certain garments or symbols, ignoring science and medical treatment in favor of mysticism and religious rules, and disliking those of other faiths and behaviors — these “religious” demands drive them away.
Those of us who choose Unitarian Universalism do so because acceptance of all beliefs, God or not, is welcome. You build your own faith.
Ellen Creane
Guilford, Conn.
To the Editor:
On a weekend when fundamentalist Muslims were winning a war against the United States, and as fundamentalist Christians demand the right to cause their fellow Americans to suffer and die from a preventable disease, Ross Douthat had the gall to tell me that I ought to accept the same primitive explanations that led directly to their fundamentalism. Hard pass.
David Bonowitz
San Francisco
To the Editor:
Ross Douthat is so frantic in his campaign to stop the erosion of faith in faith that he can’t resist twice committing the sin I call lying for Christ.
First, he unaccountably misinterprets the meaning of the title of my book “Breaking the Spell,” which called for scrutinizing the phenomena of religion with the same objectivity we adopt when studying viral pandemics.
Second, he misinterprets illusionism, the well-evidenced theory that says that evolution has designed us to be conscious of an efficient oversimplification of the physical world: a user-illusion that helps us track the features of the world that matter to us.
It is ironic that Mr. Douthat himself breaks the spell, taking a hard look at the difficulties confronting would-be religious believers today. His recommendation that they cultivate a return to the mind-set of the Dark Ages is particularly telling. We secularists can glory in the wonders of “creation” without the nagging worries he exposes.
Daniel C. Dennett
Medford, Mass.
The writer is co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.
To the Editor:
The virulence of the Facebook comments on this column reflects the vacuous state of those readers’ minds and souls in this despairing age.
Thank you for printing such an intelligent, challenging article. I plan to study it, to share it with my very intelligent 11th- and 12th-grade students and to explore its linked sources.
It’s hard to posit divine cosmology and religious pluralism in this toxic, anti-intellectual age, but I’m glad that The New York Times has the courage to let Ross Douthat (courageously) do it.
Lynn Leland-Libby
Traverse City, Mich.
Working Women and Mothers Need an Economic Lifeline
To the Editor:
Re “New Risks Cloud Hopes for Economy in Autumn” (Business, Aug. 3):
With working families still financially struggling, it’s jarring to read that economic uncertainty ahead poses primarily political challenges. As leaders take “an optimistic but wait-and-see approach,” those hit hardest by the pandemic — mothers of color — are on the verge of falling off the financial cliff.
Meanwhile, government inaction cuts two vital Covid-relief lifelines for Black and brown women forced to leave the work force: enhanced unemployment benefits and $44 billion in undistributed rental assistance. But that’s only part of the problem.
Before Covid, 70 percent of children under 6 lived in households where both parents worked, yet quality, affordable child care remains inaccessible for many — costing on par with mortgage payments. Worsened by Covid, these burdens fell disproportionately on mothers and women of color.
Without quality, affordable, universal child care, too many working parents — largely women, and especially women of color — remain unable to return to work. True recovery ultimately hinges on lawmakers solving our national child care crisis by investing in the care infrastructure and working families.
Danielle Atkinson
Detroit
The writer is executive director of Mothering Justice.
The Business of Making Friends
To the Editor:
Re “Hungry for Connection” (Business, Aug. 16):
How uplifting to read about Marissa Meizz’s successful recruitment on TikTok of people looking for friends. We are social animals by nature, and there is at present a stronger urge than usual to feel closer to others and gather in person.
This is also a gentle reminder that connections can also happen “in the wild.” Make friendly eye contact when you’re walking your dog, buying a cup of coffee, boarding a train or doing your laundry. Look no further than the anecdotes in Metropolitan Diary to see how these interactions can play out.
Brent Sverdloff
Rhinebeck, N.Y.
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