[ExI] H+ & religion call for papers

[Mercer, Calvin]

Thanks Max for your kind words about our meeting in Austin.  I hope that you and others will submit proposals for the AAR session; that is specifically why I pushed the call out to other groups beyond the religious studies academy.  I also think it is in the interest of H+ proponents to have the H+ agenda understood by various professional groups and the general public, where, for better or worse, religion plays an important role.  I think this is why Alcor asked me to speak at their conference in 2007 (the talk is summarized in their publication here http://www.alcor.org/cryonics/cryonics0801.pdf ), where I understood my task to be helping conference attendees reflect on how their message can be effectively communicated to religious folk.  I think this can be increasingly beneficial to H+ agenda and is also going to make for very interesting coalitions and conversations.  I'll borrow from the last paragraph of the Alcor article to make my point.

"You think being a cryonics member is interesting
now. Just wait until the Alcor Conference
where you are sitting at the banquet table with a
half dozen atheists or agnostics. But now there
is a Hindu pantheist, a Zen Buddhist mediator, a
Mormon transhumanist (they now have an
organization and a website), a fundamentalist
Christian, and a liberal Christian. And the discussion
between the last two, if they are even
talking to one another (and they usually don't), is
more heated than even the debate between the
theist and atheist at the table."

Calvin Mercer, Ph.D.
Co-Director, Religious Studies Program
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC  27858  USA
252 328 4310 (off & vm)
252 328 6301 (fax)
mercerc at ecu.edu
www.ecu.edu/religionprogram


-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Max More
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 11:36 PM
To: Extropy-Chat
Subject: Re: [ExI] H+ & religion call for papers

Many of the subscribers to this email list have a strongly aversive 
reaction to the irrationalism, fideism, and ultimate authoritarianism 
aspects of "religion". As a pancritical rationalist, I understand and 
share in those reactions. However, I think it's a mistake to 
reflexively attach everything that might be labeled as religion.

For the record, I met Calvin Mercer in April of last year. Don't let 
his first name put you off. He seemed to me to be a remarkably 
pleasant and reasonable fellow. The fact that he is chairing the 
session at issue is a good sign.

I'm even considering submitting a paper for this event myself. (Don't 
burn me at the stake...)

Max