History for Atheists

The Julio Iglesias Award goes to...

Back in the distant past, Andrew Sullivan had a blog called The Dish. Sullivan has been part of the US conservative media establishment for decades. But he was a little unusual. Firstly he is British (rather than American), secondly he is Catholic (rather than a protestant evangelical), and thirdly he is gay. Indeed he wrote a book making the (conservative) case for gay marriage in the 1990s called Virtually Normal.

Now I did not read The Dish because I agreed with Sullivan. Mostly I disagreed with his positions. But he wrote clearly and thoughtfully. And he would have a section called “Dissent of the Day”, where he would post correspondence from someone who disagreed with him and offered an alternative position. He would not ridicule nor belittle such a poster. He would simply quote their words.

Sullivan also had a number of awards that were issued annually - one of which was the Yglesias award. This award is not named after the Spanish footballer and singer who claims to have bedded over 3000 women. It is absolutely not about Pick Up Artistry. It is instead named after Matthew Yglesias - for writers, politicians, columnists or pundits who actually criticize their own side, make enemies among political allies, and generally risk something for the sake of saying what they believe. N.B. This doesn’t mean that I agree with everything Matthew Yglesias has written either. Nor have I slept with him.

However I do think that our primary loyalty should be to the evidence, not who is making the claim. Otherwise we are simply fairweather empiricists, which is no kind of empiricism at all. If all the evidence does is confirm our pre-existing beliefs then it does beg the question why we bother investigating the world in the first place.

So having been critical of some people about their use of science, I want to talk about someone who is critical about the uses of history by certain anti-theists. Tim O’Neill is an atheist but he writes about people (typically atheists) misusing history. He is often grumpy but he is mostly right. History does not tell us a straightforward tale of goodies and baddies. The relationship between religion and science is complex and convoluted. Christians have done good things (as well as bad things). And the loyalty of the historian is to attempt the impossible - to represent the past fairly and accurately rather than to convert it into rhetorical ammunition.

Have a nose around his site.

Who would you nominate for the Yglesias Award?

Andrew Sullivan, Yesterday…