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Comparative Religion Program, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington

Fri. 2/22 TALK | How Intellectual Dishonesty Has Improved Christianity and Islam

February 14, 2019

Join Mark Alan Smith, Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Professor of Communication and Comparative Religion at the University of Washington, as he discusses his current book project:

How Intellectual Dishonesty Has Improved Christianity and Islam 

Friday, February 22, 2019

1:30 – 3:00 p.m.

Gowen 1A (Olson Room)

To any person holding modern values, the Christian and/or Muslim holy books contain horrifying provisions that condemn homosexuality and support slavery, jihad, patriarchy, genocide, collective punishment, wife beating, child marriage, and capital punishment for minor offenses.  Apologists working within both traditions have developed many strategies to handle the problematic verses and passages.  On the one hand, these apologetic practices are a form of intellectual dishonesty that involves human beings essentially rewriting what is supposed to be the Word of God.  On the other hand, apologists have succeeded in reforming their religions from within, and religious ideas and leaders have contributed to the movement for universal human rights in recent centuries.  This talk will examine both the promise and the pitfalls of intellectual dishonesty in the world’s two largest religions.

Mark Alan Smith is Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Professor of Communication and Comparative Religion at the University of Washington. Smith’s research and teaching focuses on American domestic politics. His most recent book, Secular Faith: How Culture Has Trumped Religion in American Politics, won the Morris D. Forkosch Award from the Council for Secular Humanism.