Fish, Eagleton, Hitchins, Dawkins all gossip about God

Stanley Fish in his "God Talk" post on his Times blog takes on Terry Eagleton who in turn takes on Christopher Hitchins and Richard Dawkins.

All of these amateurs address the meaning and necessity of religion in the world. When a bunch of dabblers like these fellows debate about a great endeavor, like religion, we think it would be best to title the occasion, "God Gossip."

In the opening sentence of the last chapter of his new book, “Reason, Faith and Revolution,” the British critic Terry Eagleton asks, “Why are the most unlikely people, including myself, suddenly talking about God?” His answer, elaborated in prose that is alternately witty, scabrous and angry, is that the other candidates for guidance — science, reason, liberalism, capitalism — just don’t deliver what is ultimately needed. “What other symbolic form,” he queries, “has managed to forge such direct links between the most universal and absolute of truths and the everyday practices of countless millions of men and women?”...more...

PS: The subtitle of Eagleton's book is "Reflections on the God Debate." Our experience is that any book of "reflections" by definition is not a serious and sustained argument on a topic.