Philosophy

Muslims who wish to violently suppress freedom of speech can find plenty of support for their cause within their religious texts. But there is a more fundamental reason why so many Muslims oppose freedom of speech, beyond the contents of their religious texts: the very existence of freedom of speech is at odds with their faith-based worldview.

We at The Objective Standard extend our deepest condolences to the victims of the jihadist attack in Paris yesterday. We post the "offending" cartoons here in the spirit of Charlie Hebdo and its editor, Stephane Charbonnier, who famously said, “I'd rather die standing than live on my knees.” We couldn’t agree more.

One religion today regularly motivates large numbers of its followers to murder, behead, rape, and enslave people across the globe. That religion is Islam. Not Christianity. Not Judaism. Not Buddhism. Islam. Only Islam. Everyone paying attention knows this. Yet some choose to whitewash the religion.

Victoria Osteen claims, "When we obey God . . . we’re doing it for ourselves. . . . God wants you to be happy." But, as other Christians have pointed out, the Bible exhorts the faithful, "Present our bodies as a living sacrifice.” The rational alternative is to reject religion and embrace a morality for living and loving life on earth.

Harris recognizes that, although many Muslims around the world do not fully embrace the tenets of their faith, and although many Muslims oppose Islamic State and other violent organizations, many of these same Muslims nevertheless hold bad, religiously motivated ideas, and many support (if not actively participate in) violence against infidels, blasphemers, gays, adulterers, and so on.

The causes of war include statism, collectivism, altruism, mysticism; those of peace include capitalism, individualism, egoism, rationality.

Many leftists refuse to face the fact that jihadists are motivated by Islam. Thankfully, Sam Harris, although a leftist in some respects, does not buy into the leftist nonsense on this count. In his reply to Barack Obama’s speech on Islamic State, Harris seeks “a simple acknowledgment that beliefs guide behavior and that certain religious ideas—jihad, martyrdom, blasphemy, apostasy—reliably lead to oppression and murder.”

I just received the sad news that Burgess Laughlin has died. I had the pleasure of working with him on a couple of reviews he wrote for The Objective Standard. He was a good, thoughtful, benevolent man, who took ideas seriously, practiced the principles he recognized as true, and lived his life with purpose and verve. —Craig Biddle

If scientists rationally judge that they can make headway against ALS and other devastating diseases by engaging in embryonic stem cell research, that is what they should do—and those who voluntarily (and non-sacrificially) fund such research are morally virtuous in doing so.

In this episode of Reason at Large, Craig Biddle answers a question from Robert: "Why do you and other Objectivists advocate selfishness when that word disturbs so many people? Why not just use the word self-interest or, better yet, rational self-interest?"