‘In the end, her arguments for the divine always boil down to “it’s a mystery.”‘… Read the rest

President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says Armstrong’s version of god is elegant nonsense.… Read the rest

Mo is reading something different.… Read the rest

Another comment from Eric.

Based on the linked interview, it seems pretty clear that Karen Armstrong never really left the convent. The mind has mountains, frightful, sheer, no man fathomed, as Hopkins said.

It also has walls. Take her claim that “The golden rule is that you treat everyone with absolute respect and you don’t exclude any creature, even a mosquito, from your radius of concern.” You have to have put up a wall somewhere to be able to say this. These are just empty words, and they reveal something about her use of language. Laurie Taylor says that he noticed “how carefully Karen constructs her sentences, her care with words, her capacity to alight on a perfect phrase with … Read the rest

If you take out the doctrine, aren’t you left with rational secular discourse?… Read the rest

Armstrong seems to associate all transcendent and mystical activity with religious faith.… Read the rest

And takes a gratuitous swipe at ‘Does God Hate Women?’ while he’s at it. … Read the rest

Armstrong ‘wishes to remind us of the mystery of God’ – and to say how stupid atheists are, of course.… Read the rest

‘Religious doctrines make no sense unless accompanied by such spiritual exercises as yoga and a consistently compassionate lifestyle.’… Read the rest

We can’t say God either exists or doesn’t exist, because he transcends existence. This not knowing is proof of his existence.… Read the rest

God is not a big powerful man like the one in the picture. Ignore the picture. That’s not God.… Read the rest

Armstrong firmly recommends silence, having written at least 15 books on the topic.… Read the rest

It’s not a newsflash that Karen Armstrong is not one of the clearest thinkers in the world – but nevertheless the opening sentence of her sermon on compassion at Comment is Free set me back a little.

The practice of compassion is central to every one of the major world religions – but sometimes you would never know it.

But sometimes you would never know it – good one. Did she write this while taking a bath and watching Celebrity Big Brother, or what? But more to the point is the fundamental and pathetic incoherence of the basic thought: the practice of compassion is central to every one of the major world religions, and yet oddly enough in real … Read the rest

‘The practice of compassion is central to every one of the major world religions – but sometimes you would never know it.’… Read the rest

But Koranic fundamentalists are capable of coming up with their own follies without outside prompting.… Read the rest

Her book is a thinly veiled hagiography, depicting the prophet as a quintessential man of peace.… Read the rest

Offended, offensive, Islamophobia, western, medieval, Danish cartoon crisis, oh dear.… Read the rest

The religious claim ‘there is coherence in the apparent contradictions of their sacred texts.’… Read the rest