published: 21 Oct 2012
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Albania
Albania ( , , Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia/Shqypnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (, pronounced ), is a country in South Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
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Berlin Wall
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China
China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity.
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Cuba
The Republic of Cuba (; , ) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos.
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France
{{Infobox Country
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India
India (), officially the Republic of India ( ; see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east; and it is bordered by Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the north; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, mainland India and the Lakshadweep Islands are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share maritime border with Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Andaman Sea. India has a coastline of .
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New Statesman
The New Statesman is a British left-wing political magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s.
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North Korea
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University of Oxford
The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University, or simply Oxford) is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the third oldest surviving university and the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back as the 11th century. The University grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.
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A. J. Ayer
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Ahl-e Haqq
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Alain de Botton
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Alexander Bard
Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard (born 17 March 1961) is a Swedish artist, music producer and writer.
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Alvin Plantinga
Alvin Carl Plantinga (born 1932) is an American analytic philosopher, formerly the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics, and Christian apologetics. Plantinga is a Christian and known for applying the methods of analytic philosophy to defend orthodox Christian beliefs. Notably, he has argued that some people can know that God exists as a basic belief, requiring no argument, similar to how people usually claim to know that other minds exist. He has also argued that there is no logical inconsistency between the existence of evil and the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, wholly good God.
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Amalric of Bena
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Anthony Kenny
Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA (born 16 March 1931 in Liverpool) is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion. With Peter Geach, he has made a significant contribution to Analytical Thomism, a movement whose aim is to present the thought of St Thomas Aquinas in the style of modern philosophy by clearing away the trappings and obscurities of traditional Thomism. He is one of the executors of Wittgenstein's literary estate. He is a former President of the British Academy and current President of the Royal Institute of Philosophy.
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Antony Flew
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Arthur Golding
Arthur Golding (c. 1536 – c. 1605) was an English translator.
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Arthur Schopenhauer
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Augustine of Hippo
: For other uses, see Augustine, Augustinus and Saint Augustine.
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Averroes
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Avicenna
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Baron d'Holbach
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Baruch Spinoza
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Bertrand Russell
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Blaise Pascal
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Brahmins
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Buddhism
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Callimachus
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Catiline
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Cato the Younger
Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95 BC, Rome – April 46 BC, Utica), commonly known as Cato the Younger (Cato Minor) to distinguish him from his great-grandfather (Cato the Elder), was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy. He is remembered for his legendary stubbornness and tenacity (especially in his lengthy conflict with Gaius Julius Caesar), as well as his immunity to bribes, his moral integrity, and his famous distaste for the ubiquitous corruption of the period.
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China
China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity.
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Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist (or Sage writer) whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became the William S. Hertz media fellow at the Hoover Institution in September 2008. He is a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits and in 2005 he was voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign Policy poll.
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Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero (; Classical Latin: ; January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC; sometimes anglicized as "Tully"), was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.
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Claude Lévi-Strauss
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Critias
Critias (Greek Kritias, 460-403 BC), born in Athens, son of Callaeschrus, was an uncle of Plato, and a leading member of the Thirty Tyrants, and one of the most violent. He was an associate of Socrates, a fact that did not endear Socrates to the Athenian public. He was noted in his day for his tragedies, elegies and prose works. Some, like Sextus Empiricus, believe that Critias authored the Sisyphus fragment; others, however, attribute it to Euripides.
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Dagobert D. Runes
Dagobert David Runes (January 6, 1902 – September 24, 1982) was a philosopher and author. Born in Zastavna, Bukovina, Austro-Hungary (now in Ukraine), he emigrated to the United States in 1926. He had received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Vienna in 1924. In the U.S. he became editor of The Modern Thinker and later Current Digest. From 1931 to 1934 he was Director of the Institute for Advanced Education in New York City. In 1941 he founded the Philosophical Library, a spiritual organization and publisher. Runes was a colleague and friend of Albert Einstein.
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Daniel C. Dennett
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Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28, 1942 in Boston) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He graduated from Harvard with a B.A in philosophy, then after completing his D.Phil at the University of Oxford. He is currently the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and a University Professor at Tufts University. Dennett is a noted atheist and secularist, a member of the Secular Coalition for America advisory board, as well as a prominent advocate of the Brights movement.
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David Hume
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David Strauss
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Democritus
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Desiderius Erasmus
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Diagoras of Melos
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Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus (Greek: ), was a Greek historian who lived in the 1st century BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira). With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca historica. Only Jerome, in his Chronicon under the year of Abraham 1968 (49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". His English translator, Charles Henry Oldfather, remarks on the "striking coincidence" that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium (I.G. XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius".
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Dostoevsky
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Emil Brunner
Heinrich Emil Brunner (December 23, 1889 – April 6, 1966) was a Swiss Protestant (Reformed) theologian. Along with Karl Barth (see Relationship with Karl Barth), he is commonly associated with neo-orthodoxy or the dialectical theology movement.
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Enver Hoxha
(pronounced , 16 October 1908 11 April 1985) was the leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. He also served as Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954, Minister of Defense from 1944 to 1953, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1946 to 1953, Chairman of the Democratic Front from 1945 to his death, and as Commander-in-Chief of the Albanian armed forces from 1944 to his death.
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Epicurus
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Ernest Nagel
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Ernst Haeckel
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Ernst Troeltsch
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Euhemerus
http://wn.com/Euhemerus -
Eusebius of Caesarea
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Frank Sulloway
Frank J. Sulloway (born 1947) is a visiting Scholar in the Institute of Personality and Social Research at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Visiting Professor in the Department of Psychology.
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François Rabelais
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Friedrich Engels
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Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; in English , ) (October 15, 1844 August 25, 1900) was a 19th-century German philosopher and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism.
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Friedrich Solmsen
Friedrich W. Solmsen (February 4, 1904 – January 30, 1989) was a philologist and professor of classical studies. His edition of Hesiod is considered definitive. He published nearly 150 books, monographs, scholarly articles, and reviews from the 1930s through the 1980s. Solmsen's work is characterized by a prevailing interest in the history of ideas. He was an influential scholar in the areas of Greek tragedy, particularly for his work on Aeschylus, and the philosophy of the physical world and its relation to the soul, especially the systems of Plato and Aristotle.
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G. E. Moore
:"G.E. Moore" redirects here. For the cofounder of Intel, see Gordon Moore.
http://wn.com/G_E_Moore -
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (; born July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut) was the 43rd President of the United States, serving from 2001 to 2009, and the 46th Governor of Texas, serving from 1995 to 2000.
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Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille () (10 September 1897 – 8 July 1962) was a French writer. Although several philosophers have been significantly influenced by his thought, Bataille tended not to refer to himself as a philosopher.
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Gregory S. Paul
http://wn.com/Gregory_S_Paul -
Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus (Ancient Greek: — ; c. 535–c. 475 BCE) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom. From the lonely life he led, and still more from the riddling nature of his philosophy and his contempt for humankind in general, he was called "The Obscure," and the "Weeping Philosopher."
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Immanuel Kant
http://wn.com/Immanuel_Kant -
J. J. C. Smart
John Jamieson Carswell "Jack" Smart AC (born 16 September 1920) is an Australian philosopher and academic who is currently Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Monash University, Australia. He works in the fields of metaphysics, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and political philosophy.
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J. L. Mackie
John Leslie Mackie (25 August 1917–12 December 1981) was an Australian philosopher, originally from Sydney. He made significant contributions to the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language, and is perhaps best known for his views on meta-ethics, especially his defence of moral skepticism.
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Jacques Hébert
http://wn.com/Jacques_Hébert -
Jan Hus
http://wn.com/Jan_Hus -
Jan Söderqvist
http://wn.com/Jan_Söderqvist -
Jean Meslier
http://wn.com/Jean_Meslier -
Jean Paul Sartre
http://wn.com/Jean_Paul_Sartre -
Jean-Luc Marion
Jean-Luc Marion (born 3 July 1946) is among the best-known living philosophers in France, former student of Jacques Derrida and one of the leading Catholic thinkers of modern times. Marion's take on the postmodern is richly enhanced by his expertise in patristic and mystical theology, phenomenology, and modern philosophy. Although much of his academic work has dealt with Descartes and phenomenologists like Martin Heidegger and Edmund Husserl, it is rather his explicitly religious works that have garnered much recent attention. God Without Being, for example, is concerned predominantly with an analysis of idolatry, a theme strongly linked in Marion's work with love and the gift, which is a concept also explored at length by Derrida. To a certain extent, Marion also takes up the mantle of Emmanuel Levinas in directing our thought beyond being. There is a widespread but possibly dubious designation of Jean-Luc Marion as a leading contributor to postmodern theology.
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Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, existentialism, and Marxism, and his work continues to influence fields such as Marxist philosophy, sociology, and literary studies. Sartre was also noted for his long relationship with the author and social theorist, Simone de Beauvoir. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature but refused the honour.
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John Calvin
http://wn.com/John_Calvin -
John Dewey
http://wn.com/John_Dewey -
John Wycliffe
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Julian Baggini
Julian Baggini (born 1968) is a British philosopher and the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is the author of The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments (2005) and is co-founder and editor of ''The Philosophers' Magazine. He was awarded his PhD in 1996 from University College London for a thesis on the philosophy of personal identity. He contributes to The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer'', and the BBC, and has been a regular guest on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time.
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Julius Caesar
http://wn.com/Julius_Caesar -
Kant
http://wn.com/Kant -
Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong FRSL (born 14 November 1944 in Wildmoor, Worcestershire) is a British author of numerous works on comparative religion, who first rose to prominence in 1993 with her highly successful A History of God. A former Roman Catholic nun, she asserts that, "All the great traditions are saying the same thing in much the same way, despite their surface differences." They each have in common, she says, an emphasis on the transcendent importance of compassion, as epitomized in the so-called Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
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Karl Barth
Karl Barth ( – ) (pronounced "Bart") was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas. Beginning with his experience as a pastor, he rejected his training in the predominant liberal theology typical of 19th-century European Protestantism. Instead he embarked on a new theological path initially called dialectical theology, due to its stress on the paradoxical nature of divine truth (e.g., God's relationship to humanity embodies both grace and judgment). Other critics have referred to Barth as the father of neo-orthodoxy — a term emphatically rejected by Barth himself. The most accurate description of his work might be "a theology of the Word." Barth's theological thought emphasized the sovereignty of God, particularly through his innovative doctrine of election.
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Karl Marx
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Lactantius
Lucius Caelius (or Caecilius?) Firmianus Lactantius was an early Christian author (ca. 240 – ca. 320) who became an advisor to the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his religious policy as it developed, and tutor to his son.
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Leonardo da Vinci
http://wn.com/Leonardo_da_Vinci -
Lev Shestov
Lev Isaakovich Shestov (), born Yehuda Leyb Schwarzmann (), was a Ukrainian/Russian existentialist philosopher. Born in Kiev (Russian Empire) on , he emigrated to France in 1921, fleeing from the aftermath of the October Revolution. He lived in Paris until his death on November 19, 1938.
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Loyal Rue
Dr. Loyal D. Rue is professor of religion and philosophy at Luther College of Decorah, Iowa , and focuses on naturalistic theories of religion.
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Lucretius
http://wn.com/Lucretius -
Ludwig Wittgenstein
http://wn.com/Ludwig_Wittgenstein -
Maimonides
http://wn.com/Maimonides -
Mandaeism
http://wn.com/Mandaeism -
Manichaeism
http://wn.com/Manichaeism -
Martin Buber
http://wn.com/Martin_Buber -
Martin Luther
http://wn.com/Martin_Luther -
Max Stirner
http://wn.com/Max_Stirner -
Mazdak
http://wn.com/Mazdak -
Meredith Hanmer
http://wn.com/Meredith_Hanmer -
Michael Bakunin
http://wn.com/Michael_Bakunin -
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954, in Glendale, California) is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members.
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Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin ( - 1 July 1876) (; ) was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism.
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Mircea Eliade
http://wn.com/Mircea_Eliade -
Niccolò Machiavelli
http://wn.com/Niccolò_Machiavelli -
Nicholas of Cusa
http://wn.com/Nicholas_of_Cusa -
Paul Tillich
http://wn.com/Paul_Tillich -
Pavel Florensky
http://wn.com/Pavel_Florensky -
Peter Geach
Peter Thomas Geach (; born March 29, 1916) is a British philosopher. His areas of interest are the history of philosophy, philosophical logic, and the theory of identity.
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Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) became one of the Elizabethan Age's most prominent figures. Famous in his day in England as a poet, courtier and soldier, he remains to be known as the author of Astrophel and Stella (1581, pub. 1591), The Defence of Poetry (also known as The Defence of Poesy or An Apology for Poetry, 1581, pub. 1595), and ''The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia'' (1580, pub. 1590).
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Philippe de Mornay
Philippe de Mornay (5 November 1549 – 11 November 1623), seigneur du Plessis Marly, usually known as Du-Plessis-Mornay or Mornay Du Plessis, was a French Protestant writer and member of the Monarchomaques ("killer of kings").
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Plato
:For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation) and Platon (disambiguation).
http://wn.com/Plato -
Plutarch
http://wn.com/Plutarch -
Prodicus
http://wn.com/Prodicus -
Protagoras
Protagoras (Greek: ) (ca. 490– 420 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and is numbered as one of the sophists by Plato. In his dialogue Protagoras, Plato credits him with having invented the role of the professional sophist or teacher of virtue. He is also believed to have created a major controversy during ancient times through his statement that man is the measure of all things. This idea was very revolutionary for the time and contrasting to other philosophical doctrines that claimed the universe was based on something objective, outside the human influence.
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Ralph Cudworth
http://wn.com/Ralph_Cudworth -
Reign of Terror
http://wn.com/Reign_of_Terror -
Reinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (; June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Niebuhr was the archetypal American intellectual of the Cold War era. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world. He attacked utopianism as useless for dealing with reality, writing in The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness (1944):
http://wn.com/Reinhold_Niebuhr -
René Descartes
http://wn.com/René_Descartes -
René Guénon
http://wn.com/René_Guénon -
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist and evolutionary biologist. He is a fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008.
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Richard Swinburne
Richard G. Swinburne (born 26 December 1934) is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Over the last 50 years Swinburne has been a very influential proponent of natural theology, that is, philosophical arguments for the existence of God. His philosophical contributions are primarily in philosophy of religion and philosophy of science. He aroused much discussion with his early work in the philosophy of religion, a trilogy of books consisting of The Coherence of Theism, The Existence of God, and Faith and Reason.
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Rodney Stark
Rodney Stark is an American sociologist of religion. He grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota in a Lutheran family. He spent time in the U.S. Army and worked as a journalist before pursuing graduate studies at The University of California, Berkeley. After teaching at the University of Washington for 32 years, Stark moved to Baylor University in 2004, where he is co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion[http://www.isreligion.org]. He is an advocate of the application of the Rational choice theory in the sociology of religion, called the theory of religious economy.
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Roger Finke
Roger Finke is a Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at the Pennsylvania State University who is noteworthy not only for playing a major role in recent transformations of both theory and research methods in his field, but also for leading a large number of other scholars to create the Association of Religion Data Archives which since 1996 has operated a major digital library of questionnaire data and teaching resources.
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Romanian philosophy
Romanian philosophy is a name covering either a) the philosophy done in Romania or by Romanians, or b) an ethnic philosophy, which expresses at a high level the fundamental features of the Romanian spirituality, or which elevates to a philosophical level the Weltanschauung of the Romanian people, as deposited in language and folklore, traditions, architecture and other linguistic and cultural artifacts.
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Russian philosophy
http://wn.com/Russian_philosophy -
Sam Harris (author)
Sam Harris (born 1967) is an American non-fiction writer and CEO of Project Reason. He received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA, and is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University. He has studied both Eastern and Western religious traditions, along with a variety of contemplative disciplines, for twenty years. He is a proponent of scientific skepticism and is the author of the best selling book The End of Faith (2004), which won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), a rejoinder to criticism of his first book, and The Moral Landscape (2010).
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Samaritan
http://wn.com/Samaritan -
Sergei Bulgakov
Fr. Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov () ( - July 12, 1944) was a Russian Orthodox theologian, philosopher and economist.
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Siddhartha Gautama
http://wn.com/Siddhartha_Gautama -
Sigmund Freud
http://wn.com/Sigmund_Freud -
Socrates
http://wn.com/Socrates -
Søren Kierkegaard
http://wn.com/Søren_Kierkegaard -
Theodore Drange
Theodore "Ted" Michael Drange (1934—) is a philosopher of religion and Professor Emeritus at West Virginia University, where he taught philosophy from 1966 to 2001. He received a B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1955 and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1963. He has written two books: one in the philosophy of language, Type Crossings, in 1966; and one in the philosophy of religion, Nonbelief and Evil: Two Arguments for the Nonexistence of God, in 1998. Drange has also written several articles on the philosophy of religion and atheism, particularly for the Internet Infidels organization.
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Theodore M. Drange
http://wn.com/Theodore_M_Drange -
Theodosius I
http://wn.com/Theodosius_I -
Thomas Hobbes
http://wn.com/Thomas_Hobbes -
Vergilius Ferm
http://wn.com/Vergilius_Ferm -
Victor J. Stenger
Victor J. Stenger (born January 29, 1935, Bayonne, New Jersey) is an American particle physicist and author, now active in philosophy and popular religious skepticism.
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Voltaire
http://wn.com/Voltaire -
William Alston
http://wn.com/William_Alston -
William James
:This article is about the American psychologist and philosopher. For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation)
http://wn.com/William_James -
William L. Rowe
William Leonard Rowe (born 26 July 1931) is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Purdue University who specialises in the philosophy of religion. His work has played a leading role in the "remarkable revival of analytic philosophy of religion since the 1970s". He is most notable for his formulation of the evidential argument from evil.
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William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949) is an American Evangelical Christian apologist, theologian, and analytic philosopher known for his contributions to the philosophy of religion, historical Jesus studies, and the philosophy of time. He is one of the most visible contemporary proponents of natural theology, often participating in debates on the existence of God. In 1979, Craig authored The Kalam Cosmological Argument, a modern defense of the kalam cosmological argument—which is today the most published-on contemporary argument for theism in the philosophy of religion.
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William of Ockham
http://wn.com/William_of_Ockham -
William Whewell
William Whewell (24 May 1794 – 6 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. His surname is .
http://wn.com/William_Whewell -
William Wollaston
http://wn.com/William_Wollaston
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Atheists at the Creation Museum
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:23
- Published: 21 Oct 2012
- Updated: 25 Oct 2012
On October 5th, 2012, Seth Andrews joined a group of skeptics for a tour of Kentucky's infamous Creation Museum. These are the Top Ten Lessons he took away from that experience.
http://wn.com/Atheists_at_the_Creation_Museum
Rationalism Breeds Atheism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:00
- Published: 22 Apr 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
The more scientifically literate, intellectually honest and objectively skeptical a person is, the more likely they are to disbelieve in anything supernatural, including gods. This is a compilation of some of the best examples of such individuals with their thoughts on the divine. They include in order of appearance: Professor Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, and was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for 30 years. Lord Martin Rees is the Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. Dr Sam Harris is an American author, neuroscientist and CEO of Project Reason. He holds a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, and a BA in philosophy from Stanford University. Professor Richard Feynman was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. Professor Noam Chomsky is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT and well known as one of the fathers of modern linguistics. Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director. Professor Leonard Susskind is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Stanford University, and widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory. Sir Bertrand Russell was an English philosopher who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950. He is considered one of the founders of analytic <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Rationalism_Breeds_Atheism
Atheist Bitchslap
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:16
- Published: 24 Sep 2011
- Updated: 25 Oct 2012
Pardon the language, but there is no other way to say it. An atheist woman bitchslaps an entire audience of religious people. :) Kate Smurthwaite is a stand-up comic and political activist. Follow her on Twitter twitter.com or her blog www.cruellablog.blogspot.com Kate's Youtube channel - www.youtube.com Slightly longer version of this video here: www.youtube.com Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All copyrighted materials contained herein belong to their respective copyright holders, I do not claim ownership over any of these materials. I realize no profit, monetary or otherwise, from the exhibition of these videos.
http://wn.com/Atheist_Bitchslap
The Church of Satan - The Thinking Atheist Radio Podcast #76
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 94:45
- Published: 17 Oct 2012
- Updated: 25 Oct 2012
Available on iTunes And at BlogTalkRadio: www.blogtalkradio.com Podcast has been edited slightly from its original version for time. It was founded by Anton LaVey in the 1960s, called the "Order of the Trapezoid," which later became the governing body of the Church of Satan. It brandishes the name of a dark entity considered God's enemy in many religions. It has its own priesthood. It has a coda for living, as well as a list of "sins" humans should avoid.. It has been the subject of much controversy, often spoken of in whispers cloaked in fear. But what IS The Church of Satan? Does it truly worship the devil? What do Satanism's followers have to say? In this October podcast, we interview Church of Satan High Priest Peter H. Gilmore (and others) as we we delve into one of the world's most curious and controversial organizations. Your calls and emails
http://wn.com/The_Church_of_Satan_The_Thinking_Atheist_Radio_Podcast_76
Ghost Stories 2012 - The Thinking Atheist Radio Podcast #77
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 65:44
- Published: 24 Oct 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
Available on iTunes. And at BlogTalkRadio: www.blogtalkradio.com Episode has been edited for time and content. Also check out our episode: HALLOWEEN HISTORY AND THE CHURCH: www.blogtalkradio.com Every October, we switch gears in the festive spirit of Halloween to share stories about hauntings, ghosts, spirits and spooks. Yeah, we don't really believe in spirits. We just want to enjoy the Halloween holiday with some lighthearted (and perhaps eerie) fun.
http://wn.com/Ghost_Stories_2012_The_Thinking_Atheist_Radio_Podcast_77
The Stream - New Atheism's most polarising figure?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 35:10
- Published: 30 Jun 2012
- Updated: 23 Oct 2012
We speak with influential evolutionary thinker Professor Richard Dawkins.
http://wn.com/The_Stream_New_Atheism's_most_polarising_figure?
Penn Jillette: An Atheist's Guide to the 2012 Election
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 19:35
- Published: 02 Dec 2011
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
bigthink.com Penn Jillette rates the various candidates for the US Presidency from the perspective of an atheist.
http://wn.com/Penn_Jillette_An_Atheist's_Guide_to_the_2012_Election
Ricky Gervais on religion and atheism (Feb 2012 interview)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:15
- Published: 17 Feb 2012
- Updated: 23 Oct 2012
Ricky Gervais in February 2012 interview on the Piers Morgan Show Link to lengthier clip from same interview: www.mediaite.com
http://wn.com/Ricky_Gervais_on_religion_and_atheism_Feb_2012_interview
Atheists On Religion, Science, And Morality (The Point)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 45:25
- Published: 18 Aug 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
Can we prove there is no God? Does it make sense to equate religion with science? Do theists have a monopology on morality or is secular morality superior? Was Richard Dawkins right to bring up the religious beliefs of Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney? Cara Santa Maria (Senior Science Correspondent, Huffingtonpost.com) leads this week's panel on 'The Point' to discuss these issues and more with Michael Shermer (Publisher - Skeptic Magazine), Sean Carroll (Theoretical Physicist - Caltech), and Edward Falzon (author of 'Being Gay Is Disgusting'). Special thanks to James Randi (Founder: James Randi Educational Foundation), Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers (Blogger: Pharyngula.org - Professor U Of MN-Morris), and AJ Johnson (Development Director for 'American Atheists') for sending in their points. Subscribe: www.youtube.com Watch More Points: www.youtube.com Cara Santa Maria: www.huffingtonpost.com Michael Shermer: www.skeptic.com Sean Carroll: preposterousuniverse.com Edward Falzon: biblicalmorality.com Point-Maker James Randi: www.randi.org Point-Maker PZ Myers: scienceblogs.com Point-Maker AJ Johnson: www.atheists.org Twitter List To Follow: Moderator Cara Santa Maria: www.twitter.com Panelist Sean Carroll: twitter.com Panelist Michael Shermer: twitter.com Panelist Edward Falzon: twitter.com twitter.com twitter.com twitter.com twitter.com
http://wn.com/Atheists_On_Religion,_Science,_And_Morality_The_Point
YouTube Atheists
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:43
- Published: 16 Oct 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
What can I say here? Um... Nope, can't think of anything. -- www.twitter.com www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/YouTube_Atheists
Atheists chant at Muslim protesters - 2012 Atheist Convention
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:02
- Published: 16 Apr 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
Some Muslims showed up at the 2012 Atheist Convention in Australia. This is what happened :)
http://wn.com/Atheists_chant_at_Muslim_protesters_2012_Atheist_Convention
ATHEISM IS LOGIC & RELIGION IS IGNORANCE
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:38
- Published: 18 Oct 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
just a little bit of Logic...:-)
http://wn.com/ATHEISM_IS_LOGIC_RELIGION_IS_IGNORANCE
Atheism in Egypt - The Atheist Experience #783 (full episode)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 58:19
- Published: 18 Oct 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
The Atheist Experience #783 of October 14, 2012, with Russell Glasser and Tracie Harris. Index: 0:00; 0:48 Russell; 1:37 Tracie's talk; 19:51 Troll #1; 20:15 Kyle (Missoula, MT) (25:31 character generator crashes); 39:53 Troll #2; 40:16 Neil (Wales, UK); 50:04 Julie (AR); 56:48 Russell (closing words). Tracie talks about a neurosurgeon who supposedly visited Heaven and a correspondent who is an atheist in Egypt. During this live show there were some problems with the character generator, so for much of this episode you'll have to do without the usual captions and end credits. The input of the troll(s) that called in twice has been bleeped over. Hopefully this will discourage other trolls from calling in, just to get their 15 seconds of fame on YouTube. Note: On August 1, 2012, the TheAtheistExperience channel was taken over by the Atheist Community of Austin (ACA). This means that the former "fan channel" is now an official ACA channel. This "fan post" will be removed when the regular uploads on TheAtheistExperience are resumed. Please subscribe to the show's official YouTube channel: ► www.youtube.com You can read more about episode #783 and leave your comments on the official Atheist Experience blog: ► freethoughtblogs.com The original video of this episode (topic: "Atheism in Egypt") is archived on Blip.tv: ► blip.tv (Yes, that "xx" is a typo, but the link is correct!) WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE? The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Atheism_in_Egypt_The_Atheist_Experience_783_full_episode
Full Length Talk by Daniel Dennett - 'How To Tell You're An Atheist'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 44:57
- Published: 23 May 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
Philosopher Daniel Dennett was one of the stars of the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne and gave a brilliant and whimsical talk on defining the atheist. He is the uber-philospher of the mind and a great provocateur, though he was speaking to 4000 non believers at this convention. He talks specifically about The Clergy Project in the middle of his talk at 19 min 15 sec. For more info: see clergyproject.org
http://wn.com/Full_Length_Talk_by_Daniel_Dennett_'How_To_Tell_You're_An_Atheist'
Insidious Baggage - The Atheist Experience #767 (full episode)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 58:06
- Published: 04 Jul 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
The Atheist Experience #767 of June 24, 2012 ("Insidious Baggage"), with Matt Dillahunty and Tracie Harris. Index: 0:00; 0:46; 1:24 Tracie talks about "insidious baggage"; 9:44 No caller; 10:07-16:49 Trevor (WA); 20:13-27:40 Charles (OH); 35:27 Paul (CA); 43:39 William (NC); 49:04 John (CO). You can read more about this episode on the official Atheist Experience blog: ► freethoughtblogs.com Lean why evolution is not "just" a theory in two minutes: ► www.notjustatheory.com Related video The Non-Prophets Radio Show 11.8 (on Matt's channel): ► www.youtube.com The original video of this episode ("Insidious Baggage") is archived on Blip.tv: ►blip.tv WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE? The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-atheist audience. The Atheist Experience is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin. The Atheist Community of Austin is organized as a nonprofit educational corporation to develop and support the atheist community, to provide opportunities for socializing and friendship, to promote secular viewpoints, to encourage positive atheist culture, to defend the first amendment principle of state-church separation, to oppose discrimination against atheists and to work with other organizations in pursuit of common goals. We define atheism as the lack of belief in gods. This definition also encompasses what most people call agnosticism. VISIT THE ACA'S OFFICIAL WEB SITES ► www.atheist-community.org (The <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Insidious_Baggage_The_Atheist_Experience_767_full_episode
"They [atheists] are trying to destroy our society & leave a mess...like they did on 9/11"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:35
- Published: 17 Aug 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
Fox news, NOW, Megan Kelly, 8-17-2012, WTC Museum Cross, Dave Silverman, President, American Atheists atheists.org Joe Conner Information on this lawsuit tinyurl.com THIS VIDEO IS "FAIR USE" COMMENTARY OF NEWSWORTHY RESEARCH VALUE. IT'S USE FALLS UNDER THE CATEGORY OF NON-COMMERCIAL FREE SPEECH. (In accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107, this material is made available without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)
http://wn.com/They_atheists_are_trying_to_destroy_our_society_leave_a_messlike_they_did_on_9_11
New Rule: Atheism is not a religion! Unbaptizes Mitt Romney's Dead Father-In-Law!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:04
- Published: 04 Feb 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
The Real Time host brings Mitt Romney's father-in-law back to the realm of the dead atheist. Bill Maher, Unbaptism, Real Time, February 3 2012, 02/3/2012, Baptism, Religion, Atheism, Atheist, Mitt Romney, Christopher Hitchens, Ayn Rand, Jesus, Super Bowl, Mormonism, Mormon, Edward Davies. Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position.
http://wn.com/New_Rule_Atheism_is_not_a_religion!_Unbaptizes_Mitt_Romney's_Dead_Father-In-Law!
Atheists, Secularism Are The Enemy - Rick Perry
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:26
- Published: 22 Sep 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
"...Rick Perry, who is still Governor of the State of Texas for reasons that modern science cannot explain, would still like to be Commander in Chief of something, even if it's not the United States. In a teleconference with wingnut pastor Rick Scarborough, Perry called on "Christian warriors" to engage in "spiritual warfare" against that most Satanic of foes, the Constitution of the United States. Of course, Perry claims to like the Constitution a whole bunch; he thinks the real enemy is a "growing tide of secularism and atheism" that has spread the false notion that the establishment clause of that document somehow mandates "separation of church and state." Clear enough?...".* Cenk Uygur, comedian Jimmy Dore, and Michael Shure (host of TwenTYTwelve) discuss on The Young Turks. *Read more here from DOKTOR ZOOM via Wonkette: wonkette.com Atheist Q & A: www.youtube.com Support The Young Turks by Subscribing bit.ly Like Us on Facebook: www.fb.com Follow Us on Twitter: bit.ly Buy TYT Merch: theyoungturks.spreadshirt.com Find out how to watch The Young Turks on Current by clicking here: www.current.com
http://wn.com/Atheists,_Secularism_Are_The_Enemy_Rick_Perry
10 Facts to Shut Atheists Up
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:05
- Published: 20 Sep 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
This is why atheism makes no sense AT ALL. Subscribe to the channel to stay up to date with the videos! Check out my second channel: www.youtube.com Follow me: Twitter.com Facebook.com DeanLeysen.Tumblr.com Music by PurelyDef http Tags: OGFurious Furious DeanLeysen "Dean Leysen" atheist atheism christian christianity god fact facts debate arguments "Richard Dawkins" Dawkins "Neil deGrasse Tyson" deGrasse Tyson "Christopher Hitchens" Hitchens science scientific "god delusion" owns owned destroyed religious religion "intelligent design" creationism creationist proof evidence Quran Qur'an Islam muslim Allah miracles Jesus Christ "global warming" fake Bible "Stephen Hawking" Hawking IQ
http://wn.com/10_Facts_to_Shut_Atheists_Up
Atheism †
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:09
- Published: 20 Sep 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
My own two-cents on the current fad that is spreading like a fungus through the blogosphere. Jen McCreight's "How I Unwittingly Infiltrated the Boy's Club & Why It's Time for a New Wave of Atheism" - freethoughtblogs.com Jen McCreight's "Atheism +" - freethoughtblogs.com Danielmchugh - freethoughtblogs.com Richard Carrier's "Being with or against Atheism +" - freethoughtblogs.com Richard Carrier's comments to readers who are skeptical of Atheism + - freethoughtblogs.com Atheism + FAQ - atheismplus.com
http://wn.com/Atheism_†
Making the Case for Atheists (former preacher Dan Barker)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:58
- Published: 10 Aug 2012
- Updated: 23 Oct 2012
Excerpts from Dan Barker's debate with Adam Deen (Muslim apologist). In it Dan tries to convey the basic principles behind atheism, why he rejected his own belief in god and became an atheist, what are the main fallacies of religion in general, with a bit of focus on Islam and the Quran since the debate was in front of a Muslim audience. Dan Barker, who is sometime referred to as "USA's leading atheist" is the author of 'Godless' and an international public speaker and debater in topics surrounding atheism and religion. Check out Dan's (great) book: www.amazon.com Thanks to Joniversity for the original upload of this video. Subscribe to his channel for more great videos: www.youtube.com Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All copyrighted materials contained herein belong to their respective copyright holders, I do not claim ownership over any of these materials. I realize no profit, monetary or otherwise, from the exhibition of these videos.
http://wn.com/Making_the_Case_for_Atheists_former_preacher_Dan_Barker
Fox News Lies About Atheism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:07
- Published: 22 Sep 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
In this TYT Nation upload lies about atheism from Fox News are debunked. Tell us what you think in the comment section below. Send your clip to TYT Naiton at upload.theyoungturks.com
http://wn.com/Fox_News_Lies_About_Atheism
Atheists on the Left / Atheists on the Right - The Thinking Atheist Radio Podcast #75
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 88:05
- Published: 10 Oct 2012
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
Available on iTunes And at BlogTalkRadio: www.blogtalkradio.com The US Presidential election is just a few weeks away, so this show will take some time to address how non-belief in god(s) impacts people of many political viewpoints. If you're on the Left, the Right or anywhere in the Middle, this is a show where atheists address how their non-belief has (or has not) impacted their worldviews. Your calls and emails. LINKS: "Abortion: Is it Possible to be both "Pro-life" and "Pro-Choice"?" or "The Question of Abortion: A Search for Answers" by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan 2think.org
http://wn.com/Atheists_on_the_Left_Atheists_on_the_Right_The_Thinking_Atheist_Radio_Podcast_75
Creative Commons / Vmenkov
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WN / Denise Yong
Photo: AP / Thao Nguyen
22 Oct 2012
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L'AQUILA (ITALY): An Italian court convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter on Monday for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing...
The Inquisitr
Posted: October 24, 2012 Retired porn star Ron Jeremy discussed the religious beliefs of his former peers during a speech at a Michigan church on Sunday. Jeremy, one of the America’s most well-known erotic actors, addressed a congregation of approximately 2,000 from the pulpit of the Daybreak Church...(size: 7.9Kb)
Ron Jeremy Goes To Church, Tells Michigan Worshippers That Porn Stars Believe In God, Too (VIDEO)
24 Oct 2012
Huffington Post
Porn was the subject of the service over the weekend at Daybreak Church, a West Michigan congregation that Sunday played host to an unusual guest: porn star Ron Jeremy....(size: 5.1Kb)
Bill Maher: for the love of death (Video)
24 Oct 2012
The Examiner
Related topics bill maheroverpopulationatheismNeil DeGrasse Tysonabortion Advertisement All those who hate me love death —Proverbs 8:36 It is for that very reason that for those who hate YHVH, the answer to all problems is death. Abortion for the unborn, euthanasia for the old and war (and various...(size: 13.8Kb)
Mashable
A YouTube channel that pokes fun at Reddit successfully pulled a viral prank using a quote and Neil deGrasse Tyson as bait. The idea was to test the skepticism of Internet users, and the results might make you think twice about sharing a quote photograph before fact checking it. The experiment began...(size: 3.9Kb)
The consequences of Obama's love of Islam
23 Oct 2012
WorldNetDaily
Having been a journalist in Egypt for six years in the’70s, I have witnessed socialism with an Islamic twist to be a popular political ideology, especially amongst Arab journalists and intellectuals. Socialism and even communism have managed to survive in the ruthless Islamic political system...(size: 8.1Kb)
Rep. Walsh looks very unreasonable
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The Examiner
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Atheists are less likely to vote
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The Examiner
Related topics election 2012secular valuesatheistsVotingSecular beliefs Advertisement With the Presidential election right around the corner and religiosity on the decline, some might suspect that atheists would become the next coveted voter bloc. This however does not seem to be the case. According...(size: 7.1Kb)
MSNBC
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian rights group said on Monday a Coptic Christian on trial for posting online a video that ignited protests around the globe for mocking Islam was being fed food unfit for human consumption and held in a cell plagued with insects. Computer science graduate Alber Saber was...(size: 16.3Kb)
Religion attracts fewer Americans
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Review Journal
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The Times of India
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Jesse Jackson Jr. Conveniently Returns to Rehab
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Yahoo Daily News
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"Atheist" redirects here. For other uses, see Atheist (disambiguation).
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Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[1] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[2][3] Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist.[3][4][5] Atheism is contrasted with theism,[6][7] which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists.[7][8]
The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without god", used as a pejorative term applied to those thought to reject the gods worshipped by the larger society. With the spread of freethought, skeptical inquiry, and subsequent increase in criticism of religion, application of the term narrowed in scope. The first individuals to identify themselves using the word "atheist" lived in the 18th century.[9]
Atheists tend to be skeptical of supernatural claims, citing a lack of empirical evidence for deities.[10] Rationales for not believing in any deity include the problem of evil, the argument from inconsistent revelations, and the argument from nonbelief. Other arguments for atheism range from the philosophical to the social to the historical. Although some atheists have adopted secular philosophies,[11][12] there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere.[13] Many atheists hold that atheism is a more parsimonious worldview than theism, and therefore the burden of proof lies not on the atheist to disprove the existence of God, but on the theist to provide a rationale for theism.[14]
Atheism is accepted within some religious and spiritual belief systems, including Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Neopagan movements[15] such as Wicca,[16] and nontheistic religions. Jainism and some forms of Buddhism do not advocate belief in gods,[17] whereas Hinduism holds atheism to be valid, but difficult to follow spiritually.[18]
Since conceptions of atheism vary, determining how many atheists exist in the world today is difficult.[19] According to one estimate, atheists make up about 2.3% of the world's population, while a further 11.9% are nonreligious.[20] According to another, rates of self-reported atheism are among the highest in Western nations, again to varying degrees: United States (4%), Italy (7%), Spain (11%), Great Britain (17%), Germany (20%), and France (32%).[21] According to a 2009 report by the American Religious Identification Survey, people claiming to adhere to "no religion" made up 15% of the population in the US.[22]
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Definitions and distinctions[link]
Writers disagree how best to define and classify atheism,[23] contesting what supernatural entities it applies to, whether it is an assertion in its own right or merely the absence of one, and whether it requires a conscious, explicit rejection. However, it is generally contrasted with agnosticism.[24] A variety of categories have been proposed to try to distinguish the different forms of atheism.
Range[link]
Some of the ambiguity and controversy involved in defining atheism arises from difficulty in reaching a consensus for the definitions of words like deity and god. The plurality of wildly different conceptions of god and deities leads to differing ideas regarding atheism's applicability. The ancient Romans accused Christians of being atheists for not worshiping the pagan deities. Gradually, this view fell into disfavor as theism came to be understood as encompassing belief in any divinity.[25]
With respect to the range of phenomena being rejected, atheism may counter anything from the existence of a deity, to the existence of any spiritual, supernatural, or transcendental concepts, such as those of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Taoism.[26]
Implicit vs. explicit[link]
Main article: Implicit and explicit atheism
Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist. Atheism has sometimes been defined to include the simple absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas. As far back as 1772, Baron d'Holbach said that "All children are born Atheists; they have no idea of God."[27] Similarly, George H. Smith (1979) suggested that: "The man who is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god. This category would also include the child with the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved, but who is still unaware of those issues. The fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist."[28] Smith coined the term implicit atheism to refer to "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it" and explicit atheism to refer to the more common definition of conscious disbelief. Ernest Nagel contradicts Smith's definition of atheism as merely "absence of theism", acknowledging only explicit atheism as true "atheism".[29]
Positive vs. negative[link]
Main article: Negative and positive atheism
Philosophers such as Antony Flew[30] and Michael Martin[25] have contrasted positive (strong/hard) atheism with negative (weak/soft) atheism. Positive atheism is the explicit affirmation that gods do not exist. Negative atheism includes all other forms of non-theism. According to this categorization, anyone who is not a theist is either a negative or a positive atheist. The terms weak and strong are relatively recent, while the terms negative and positive atheism are of older origin, having been used (in slightly different ways) in the philosophical literature[30] and in Catholic apologetics.[31] Under this demarcation of atheism, most agnostics qualify as negative atheists.
While Martin, for example, asserts that agnosticism entails negative atheism,[25] most agnostics see their view as distinct from atheism, which they may consider no more justified than theism or requiring an equal conviction.[32] The assertion of unattainability of knowledge for or against the existence of gods is sometimes seen as indication that atheism requires a leap of faith.[33] Common atheist responses to this argument include that unproven religious propositions deserve as much disbelief as all other unproven propositions,[34] and that the unprovability of a god's existence does not imply equal probability of either possibility.[35] Scottish philosopher J. J. C. Smart even argues that "sometimes a person who is really an atheist may describe herself, even passionately, as an agnostic because of unreasonable generalised philosophical skepticism which would preclude us from saying that we know anything whatever, except perhaps the truths of mathematics and formal logic."[36] Consequently, some atheist authors such as Richard Dawkins prefer distinguishing theist, agnostic and atheist positions along a spectrum of theistic probability—the likelihood that each assigns to the statement "God exists".[37]
Definition as impossible or impermanent[link]
Before the 18th century, the existence of God was so universally accepted in the western world that even the possibility of true atheism was questioned. This is called theistic innatism—the notion that all people believe in God from birth; within this view was the connotation that atheists are simply in denial.[38]
There is also a position claiming that atheists are quick to believe in God in times of crisis, that atheists make deathbed conversions, or that "there are no atheists in foxholes."[39] There have however been examples to the contrary, among them examples of literal "atheists in foxholes."[40]
Some atheists have doubted the very need for the term "atheism". In his book Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris wrote:
In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or a "non-alchemist." We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.[41]
Concepts[link]
The source of man's unhappiness is his ignorance of Nature. The pertinacity with which he clings to blind opinions imbibed in his infancy, which interweave themselves with his existence, the consequent prejudice that warps his mind, that prevents its expansion, that renders him the slave of fiction, appears to doom him to continual error.—d'Holbach, The System of Nature[42]
The broadest demarcation of atheistic rationale is between practical and theoretical atheism.
Practical atheism[link]
Main article: Apatheism
In practical or pragmatic atheism, also known as apatheism, individuals live as if there are no gods and explain natural phenomena without resorting to the divine. The existence of gods is not rejected, but may be designated unnecessary or useless; gods neither provide purpose to life, nor influence everyday life, according to this view.[43] A form of practical atheism with implications for the scientific community is methodological naturalism—the "tacit adoption or assumption of philosophical naturalism within scientific method with or without fully accepting or believing it."[44]
Practical atheism can take various forms:
- Absence of religious motivation—belief in gods does not motivate moral action, religious action, or any other form of action;
- Active exclusion of the problem of gods and religion from intellectual pursuit and practical action;
- Indifference—the absence of any interest in the problems of gods and religion; or
- Unawareness of the concept of a deity.[45]
Theoretical atheism[link]
Ontological arguments[link]
Further information: Agnostic atheism and Theological noncognitivism
Theoretical (or theoric) atheism explicitly posits arguments against the existence of gods, responding to common theistic arguments such as the argument from design or Pascal's Wager. Theoretical atheism is mainly an ontology, precisely a physical ontology.
Epistemological arguments[link]
Further information: Agnostic atheism and Theological noncognitivism
Epistemological atheism argues that people cannot know a God or determine the existence of a God. The foundation of epistemological atheism is agnosticism, which takes a variety of forms. In the philosophy of immanence, divinity is inseparable from the world itself, including a person's mind, and each person's consciousness is locked in the subject. According to this form of agnosticism, this limitation in perspective prevents any objective inference from belief in a god to assertions of its existence. The rationalistic agnosticism of Kant and the Enlightenment only accepts knowledge deduced with human rationality; this form of atheism holds that gods are not discernible as a matter of principle, and therefore cannot be known to exist. Skepticism, based on the ideas of Hume, asserts that certainty about anything is impossible, so one can never know for sure whether or not a god exists. The allocation of agnosticism to atheism is disputed; it can also be regarded as an independent, basic worldview.[43]
Other arguments for atheism that can be classified as epistemological or ontological, including logical positivism and ignosticism, assert the meaninglessness or unintelligibility of basic terms such as "God" and statements such as "God is all-powerful." Theological noncognitivism holds that the statement "God exists" does not express a proposition, but is nonsensical or cognitively meaningless. It has been argued both ways as to whether such individuals can be classified into some form of atheism or agnosticism. Philosophers A. J. Ayer and Theodore M. Drange reject both categories, stating that both camps accept "God exists" as a proposition; they instead place noncognitivism in its own category.[46][47]
Metaphysical arguments[link]
Further information: Monism and Physicalism
One author writes:
"Metaphysical atheism... includes all doctrines that hold to metaphysical monism (the homogeneity of reality). Metaphysical atheism may be either: a) absolute — an explicit denial of God's existence associated with materialistic monism (all materialistic trends, both in ancient and modern times); b) relative — the implicit denial of God in all philosophies that, while they accept the existence of an absolute, conceive of the absolute as not possessing any of the attributes proper to God: transcendence, a personal character or unity. Relative atheism is associated with idealistic monism (pantheism, panentheism, deism)."[48]
Logical arguments[link]
Further information: Deductive arguments against the existence of God, Problem of evil, Divine hiddenness
Logical atheism holds that the various conceptions of gods, such as the personal god of Christianity, are ascribed logically inconsistent qualities. Such atheists present deductive arguments against the existence of God, which assert the incompatibility between certain traits, such as perfection, creator-status, immutability, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, omnibenevolence, transcendence, personhood (a personal being), nonphysicality, justice, and mercy.[10]
Theodicean atheists believe that the world as they experience it cannot be reconciled with the qualities commonly ascribed to God and gods by theologians. They argue that an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent God is not compatible with a world where there is evil and suffering, and where divine love is hidden from many people.[50] A similar argument is attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism.[51]
Reductionary accounts of religion[link]
Further information: Evolutionary origin of religions, Evolutionary psychology of religion, and Psychology of religion
Philosophers such as Ludwig Feuerbach[52] and Sigmund Freud argued that God and other religious beliefs are human inventions, created to fulfill various psychological and emotional wants or needs. This is also a view of many Buddhists.[53] Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, influenced by the work of Feuerbach, argued that belief in God and religion are social functions, used by those in power to oppress the working class. According to Mikhail Bakunin, "the idea of God implies the abdication of human reason and justice; it is the most decisive negation of human liberty, and necessarily ends in the enslavement of mankind, in theory and practice." He reversed Voltaire's famous aphorism that if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him, writing instead that "if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him."[54]
Atheist philosophies[link]
Further information: Atheist existentialism and Humanism
Axiological, or constructive, atheism rejects the existence of gods in favor of a "higher absolute", such as humanity. This form of atheism favors humanity as the absolute source of ethics and values, and permits individuals to resolve moral problems without resorting to God. Marx and Freud used this argument to convey messages of liberation, full-development, and unfettered happiness.[43] One of the most common criticisms of atheism has been to the contrary—that denying the existence of a god leads to moral relativism, leaving one with no moral or ethical foundation,[55] or renders life meaningless and miserable.[56] Blaise Pascal argued this view in his Pensées.[57]
French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre identified himself as a representative of an "atheist existentialism"[58] concerned less with denying the existence of God than with establishing that "man needs ... to find himself again and to understand that nothing can save him from himself, not even a valid proof of the existence of God."[59] Sartre said a corollary of his atheism was that "if God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept, and ... this being is man."[58] The practical consequence of this atheism was described by Sartre as meaning that there are no a priori rules or absolute values that can be invoked to govern human conduct, and that humans are "condemned" to invent these for themselves, making "man" absolutely "responsible for everything he does".[60]
Atheism, religion, and morality[link]
Association with world views and social behaviors[link]
Sociologist Phil Zuckerman analyzed previous social science research on secularity and non-belief, and concluded that societal well-being is positively correlated with irreligion. His findings relating specifically to atheism include:[61][62]
- Compared to religious people, "atheists and secular people" are less nationalistic, prejudiced, antisemitic, racist, dogmatic, ethnocentric, close-minded, and authoritarian.
- In the US, in states with the highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. In the most religious US states, the murder rate is higher than average.
Atheism and irreligion[link]
People who self-identify as atheists are often assumed to be irreligious, but some sects within major religions reject the existence of a personal, creator deity.[63] In recent years, certain religious denominations have accumulated a number of openly atheistic followers, such as atheistic or humanistic Judaism[64][65] and Christian atheists.[66][67][68]
The strictest sense of positive atheism does not entail any specific beliefs outside of disbelief in any deity; as such, atheists can hold any number of spiritual beliefs. For the same reason, atheists can hold a wide variety of ethical beliefs, ranging from the moral universalism of humanism, which holds that a moral code should be applied consistently to all humans, to moral nihilism, which holds that morality is meaningless.[69]
Philosophers such as Georges Bataille, Slavoj Žižek,[70] Alain de Botton,[71] and Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist,[72] have all argued that atheists should reclaim religion as an act of defiance against theism, precisely not to leave religion as an unwarranted monopoly to theists.
Divine command vs. ethics[link]
Although it is a philosophical truism, encapsulated in Plato's Euthyphro dilemma, that the role of the gods in determining right from wrong is either unnecessary or arbitrary, the argument that morality must be derived from God and cannot exist without a wise creator has been a persistent feature of political if not so much philosophical debate.[73][74][75] Moral precepts such as "murder is wrong" are seen as divine laws, requiring a divine lawmaker and judge. However, many atheists argue that treating morality legalistically involves a false analogy, and that morality does not depend on a lawmaker in the same way that laws do.[76] Other atheists, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, have disagreed with this view and have stated that morality "has truth only if God is truth—it stands or falls with faith in God."[77][78][79]
There exist normative ethical systems that do not require principles and rules to be given by a deity. Some include virtue ethics, social contract, Kantian ethics, utilitarianism, and Objectivism. Sam Harris has proposed that moral prescription (ethical rule making) is not just an issue to be explored by philosophy, but that we can meaningfully practice a science of morality. Any such scientific system must, nevertheless, respond to the criticism embodied in the naturalistic fallacy.[80]
Philosophers Susan Neiman[81] and Julian Baggini[82] (among others) assert that behaving ethically only because of divine mandate is not true ethical behavior but merely blind obedience. Baggini argues that atheism is a superior basis for ethics, claiming that a moral basis external to religious imperatives is necessary to evaluate the morality of the imperatives themselves—to be able to discern, for example, that "thou shalt steal" is immoral even if one's religion instructs it—and that atheists, therefore, have the advantage of being more inclined to make such evaluations.[83] The contemporary British political philosopher Martin Cohen has offered the more historically telling example of Biblical injunctions in favour of torture and slavery as evidence of how religious injunctions follow political and social customs, rather than vice versa, but also noted that the same tendency seems to be true of supposedly dispassionate and objective philosophers.[84] Cohen extends this argument in more detail in Political Philosophy from Plato to Mao, where he argues that the Qur'an played a role in perpetuating social codes from the early 7th century despite changes in secular society.[85]
Dangers of religions[link]
See also: Criticism of religion
Some prominent atheists—such as Bertrand Russell, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins—have criticized religions, citing harmful aspects of religious practices and doctrines.[86] Atheists have often engaged in debate with religious advocates, and the debates sometimes address the issue of whether religions provide a net benefit to individuals and society.
One argument that religions can be harmful, made by atheists such as Sam Harris, is that Western religions' reliance on divine authority lends itself to authoritarianism and dogmatism.[87] Atheists have also cited data showing that there is a correlation between religious fundamentalism and extrinsic religion (when religion is held because it serves ulterior interests)[88] and authoritarianism, dogmatism, and prejudice.[89] These arguments—combined with historical events that are argued to demonstrate the dangers of religion, such as the Crusades, inquisitions, witch trials, and terrorist attacks—have been used in response to claims of beneficial effects of belief in religion.[90] Believers counter-argue that some regimes that espouse atheism, such as in Soviet Russia, have also been guilty of mass murder.[91][92]
Etymology[link]
In early ancient Greek, the adjective atheos (ἄθεος, from the privative ἀ- + θεός "god") meant "godless". It was first used as a term of censure roughly meaning "ungodly" or "impious". In the 5th century BCE, the word began to indicate more deliberate and active godlessness in the sense of "severing relations with the gods" or "denying the gods". The term ἀσεβής (asebēs) then came to be applied against those who impiously denied or disrespected the local gods, even if they believed in other gods. Modern translations of classical texts sometimes render atheos as "atheistic". As an abstract noun, there was also ἀθεότης (atheotēs), "atheism". Cicero transliterated the Greek word into the Latin atheos. The term found frequent use in the debate between early Christians and Hellenists, with each side attributing it, in the pejorative sense, to the other.[94]
The term atheist (from Fr. athée), in the sense of "one who denies or disbelieves the existence of God",[95] predates atheism in English, being first found as early as 1566,[96] and again in 1571.[97] Atheist as a label of practical godlessness was used at least as early as 1577.[98] The term atheism was derived from the French athéisme, and appears in English about 1587.[99] An earlier work, from about 1534, used the term atheonism.[100][101] Related words emerged later: deist in 1621,[102] theist in 1662,[103] deism in 1675,[104] and theism in 1678.[105] At that time "deist" and "deism" already carried their modern meaning. The term theism came to be contrasted with deism.
Karen Armstrong writes that "During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the word 'atheist' was still reserved exclusively for polemic ... The term 'atheist' was an insult. Nobody would have dreamed of calling himself an atheist."[9] In the middle of the seventeenth century it was still assumed that it was impossible not to believe in God;[106] atheist meant not accepting the current conception of the divine.[107]
Atheism was first used to describe a self-avowed belief in late 18th-century Europe, specifically denoting disbelief in the monotheistic Abrahamic god.[108] In the 20th century, globalization contributed to the expansion of the term to refer to disbelief in all deities, though it remains common in Western society to describe atheism as simply "disbelief in God".[25]
History[link]
Main article: History of atheism
Although the term atheism originated in 16th-century France,[99] ideas that would be recognized today as atheistic are documented from the Vedic period and the classical antiquity.
Early Indic religion[link]
Main article: Atheism in Hinduism
Atheistic schools are found in early Indian thought and have existed from the times of the historical Vedic religion.[109] Among the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, Samkhya, the oldest philosophical school of thought, does not accept God, and the early Mimamsa also rejected the notion of God.[110] The early Mimamsa not only did not accept God but asserted that human action itself was enough to create the necessary circumstances for the enjoyment of its fruits.[111] The thoroughly materialistic and anti-theistic philosophical Cārvāka (also called Nastika or Lokaiata) school that originated in India around the 6th century BCE is probably the most explicitly atheistic school of philosophy in India, similar to the Greek Cyrenaic school. This branch of Indian philosophy is classified as heterodox due to its rejection of the authority of Vedas and hence is not considered part of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism, but it is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement within Hinduism.[112] Chatterjee and Datta explain that our understanding of Cārvāka philosophy is fragmentary, based largely on criticism of the ideas by other schools, and that it is not a living tradition:
"Though materialism in some form or other has always been present in India, and occasional references are found in the Vedas, the Buddhistic literature, the Epics, as well as in the later philosophical works we do not find any systematic work on materialism, nor any organized school of followers as the other philosophical schools possess. But almost every work of the other schools states, for refutation, the materialistic views. Our knowledge of Indian materialism is chiefly based on these."[113]
Other Indian philosophies generally regarded as atheistic include Classical Samkhya and Purva Mimamsa. The rejection of a personal creator God is also seen in Jainism and Buddhism in India.[114]
Classical antiquity[link]
Western atheism has its roots in pre-Socratic Greek philosophy, but did not emerge as a distinct world-view until the late Enlightenment.[115] The 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher Diagoras is known as the "first atheist",[116] and is cited as such by Cicero in his De Natura Deorum.[117] Critias viewed religion as a human invention used to frighten people into following moral order.[118] Atomists such as Democritus attempted to explain the world in a purely materialistic way, without reference to the spiritual or mystical. Other pre-Socratic philosophers who probably had atheistic views included Prodicus and Protagoras. In the 3rd-century BCE the Greek philosophers Theodorus Cyrenaicus[117][119] and Strato of Lampsacus[120] also did not believe gods exist.
Socrates (c. 471–399 BCE) was accused of impiety (see Euthyphro dilemma) on the basis that he inspired questioning of the state gods.[121] Although he disputed the accusation that he was a "complete atheist",[122] saying that he could not be an atheist as he believed in spirits,[123] he was ultimately sentenced to death. Socrates also prays to various gods in Plato's dialogue Phaedrus[124] and says "By Zeus" in the dialogue The Republic.[125]
Euhemerus (c. 330–260 BCE) published his view that the gods were only the deified rulers, conquerors and founders of the past, and that their cults and religions were in essence the continuation of vanished kingdoms and earlier political structures.[126] Although not strictly an atheist, Euhemerus was later criticized for having "spread atheism over the whole inhabited earth by obliterating the gods".[127]
Atomic materialist Epicurus (c. 341–270 BCE) disputed many religious doctrines, including the existence of an afterlife or a personal deity; he considered the soul purely material and mortal. While Epicureanism did not rule out the existence of gods, he believed that if they did exist, they were unconcerned with humanity.[128]
The Roman poet Lucretius (c. 99–55 BCE) agreed that, if there were gods, they were unconcerned with humanity and unable to affect the natural world. For this reason, he believed humanity should have no fear of the supernatural. He expounds his Epicurean views of the cosmos, atoms, the soul, mortality, and religion in De rerum natura ("On the nature of things"),[129] which popularized Epicurus' philosophy in Rome.[130]
The Roman philosopher Sextus Empiricus held that one should suspend judgment about virtually all beliefs—a form of skepticism known as Pyrrhonism—that nothing was inherently evil, and that ataraxia ("peace of mind") is attainable by withholding one's judgment. His relatively large volume of surviving works had a lasting influence on later philosophers.[131]
The meaning of "atheist" changed over the course of classical antiquity. The early Christians were labeled atheists by non-Christians because of their disbelief in pagan gods.[132] During the Roman Empire, Christians were executed for their rejection of the Roman gods in general and Emperor-worship in particular. When Christianity became the state religion of Rome under Theodosius I in 381, heresy became a punishable offense.[133]
Early Middle Ages to the Renaissance[link]
The espousal of atheistic views was rare in Europe during the Early Middle Ages and Middle Ages (see Medieval Inquisition); metaphysics, religion and theology were the dominant interests.[134] There were, however, movements within this period that forwarded heterodox conceptions of the Christian God, including differing views of the nature, transcendence, and knowability of God. Individuals and groups such as Johannes Scotus Eriugena, David of Dinant, Amalric of Bena, and the Brethren of the Free Spirit maintained Christian viewpoints with pantheistic tendencies. Nicholas of Cusa held to a form of fideism he called docta ignorantia ("learned ignorance"), asserting that God is beyond human categorization, and our knowledge of God is limited to conjecture. William of Ockham inspired anti-metaphysical tendencies with his nominalistic limitation of human knowledge to singular objects, and asserted that the divine essence could not be intuitively or rationally apprehended by human intellect. Followers of Ockham, such as John of Mirecourt and Nicholas of Autrecourt furthered this view. The resulting division between faith and reason influenced later theologians such as John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Martin Luther.[134]
The Renaissance did much to expand the scope of freethought and skeptical inquiry. Individuals such as Leonardo da Vinci sought experimentation as a means of explanation, and opposed arguments from religious authority. Other critics of religion and the Church during this time included Niccolò Machiavelli, Bonaventure des Périers, and François Rabelais.[131]
Early modern period[link]
The Renaissance and Reformation eras witnessed a resurgence in religious fervor, as evidenced by the proliferation of new religious orders, confraternities, and popular devotions in the Catholic world, and the appearance of increasingly austere Protestant sects such as the Calvinists. This era of interconfessional rivalry permitted an even wider scope of theological and philosophical speculation, much of which would later be used to advance a religiously skeptical world-view.
Criticism of Christianity became increasingly frequent in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in France and England, where there appears to have been a religious malaise, according to contemporary sources. Some Protestant thinkers, such as Thomas Hobbes, espoused a materialist philosophy and skepticism toward supernatural occurrences, while the Jewish-Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza rejected divine providence in favour of a panentheistic naturalism. By the late 17th century, deism came to be openly espoused by intellectuals such as John Toland who coined the term "pantheist".
The first known explicit atheist was the German critic of religion Matthias Knutzen in his three writings of 1674.[135] He was followed a half century later by another explicit atheist writer, the French priest Jean Meslier.[136] Knutzen and Meslier were in turn followed by other openly atheistic thinkers, such as Baron d'Holbach, Jacques-André Naigeon, and other French materialists.[137]
The philosopher David Hume developed a skeptical epistemology grounded in empiricism, and Immanuel Kant's philosophy has strongly questioned the very possibility of a metaphysical knowledge. Both philosophers undermined the metaphysical basis of natural theology and criticized classical arguments for the existence of God. However, they were not atheists themselves.
The French Revolution took atheism and anti-clerical deism outside the salons and into the public sphere. A major goal of the French revolution was a restructuring and subordination of the clergy with respect to the state through the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Attempts to enforce it led to anti-clerical violence and the expulsion of many clergy from France. The chaotic political events in revolutionary Paris eventually enabled the more radical Jacobins to seize power in 1793, ushering in the Reign of Terror. The Jacobins were deists and introduced the Cult of the Supreme Being as a new French state religion. Some atheists surrounding Jacques Hébert instead sought to establish a Cult of Reason, a form of atheistic pseudo-religion with a goddess personifying reason. Both movements in part contributed to attempts to forcibly de-Christianize France. The Cult of Reason ended after three years when its leadership, including Jacques Hébert, was guillotined by the Jacobins. The anti-clerical persecutions ended with the Thermidorian Reaction.
The Napoleonic era institutionalized the secularization of French society, and exported the revolution to northern Italy, in the hopes of creating pliable republics. In the 19th century, atheists contributed to political and social revolution, facilitating the upheavals of 1848, the Risorgimento in Italy, and the growth of an international socialist movement.
In the latter half of the 19th century, atheism rose to prominence under the influence of rationalistic and freethinking philosophers. Many prominent German philosophers of this era denied the existence of deities and were critical of religion, including Ludwig Feuerbach, Arthur Schopenhauer, Max Stirner, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche.[138]
Since 1900[link]
See also: State atheism
Atheism in the 20th century, particularly in the form of practical atheism, advanced in many societies. Atheistic thought found recognition in a wide variety of other, broader philosophies, such as existentialism, objectivism, secular humanism, nihilism, anarchism, logical positivism, Marxism, feminism,[139] and the general scientific and rationalist movement.
Logical positivism and scientism paved the way for neopositivism, analytical philosophy, structuralism, and naturalism. Neopositivism and analytical philosophy discarded classical rationalism and metaphysics in favor of strict empiricism and epistemological nominalism. Proponents such as Bertrand Russell emphatically rejected belief in God. In his early work, Ludwig Wittgenstein attempted to separate metaphysical and supernatural language from rational discourse. A. J. Ayer asserted the unverifiability and meaninglessness of religious statements, citing his adherence to the empirical sciences. Relatedly the applied structuralism of Lévi-Strauss sourced religious language to the human subconscious in denying its transcendental meaning. J. N. Findlay and J. J. C. Smart argued that the existence of God is not logically necessary. Naturalists and materialistic monists such as John Dewey considered the natural world to be the basis of everything, denying the existence of God or immortality.[36][140]
The 20th century also saw the political advancement of atheism, spurred on by interpretation of the works of Marx and Engels. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, religious instruction was banned by the State. While the Soviet Constitution of 1936 guaranteed freedom to hold religious services, the Soviet state under Stalin's policy of state atheism did not consider education a private matter; it outlawed religious instruction and waged campaigns to persuade people, at times violently, to abandon religion.[141][142][143][144][145] Several other communist states also opposed religion and mandated state atheism,[146] including the former governments of Albania,[147][148][149] and currently, China,[150][151] North Korea,[151][152] and Cuba.[151][153]
Other leaders like E. V. Ramasami Naicker (Periyar), a prominent atheist leader of India, fought against Hinduism and Brahmins for discriminating and dividing people in the name of caste and religion.[154] This was highlighted in 1956 when he arranged for the erection of a statue depicting a Hindu god in a humble representation and made antitheistic statements.[155]
In 1966, Time magazine asked "Is God Dead?"[156] in response to the Death of God theological movement, citing the estimation that nearly half of all people in the world lived under an anti-religious power, and millions more in Africa, Asia, and South America seemed to lack knowledge of the one God.[157]
In 1967, the Albanian government under Enver Hoxha announced the closure of all religious institutions in the country, declaring Albania the world's first officially atheist state,[158] although religious practice in Albania was restored in 1991. These regimes enhanced the negative associations of atheism, especially where anti-communist sentiment was strong in the United States, despite the fact that prominent atheists were anti-communist.[159]
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the number of actively anti-religious regimes has reduced considerably. In 2006, Timothy Shah of the Pew Forum noted "a worldwide trend across all major religious groups, in which God-based and faith-based movements in general are experiencing increasing confidence and influence vis-à-vis secular movements and ideologies."[160] However, Gregory S. Paul and Phil Zuckerman consider this a myth and suggest that the actual situation is much more complex and nuanced.[161]
The religiously motivated terrorist events of 9/11 and the partially successful attempts of the Discovery Institute to change the American science curriculum to include creationist ideas, together with support for those ideas from George W. Bush in 2005, all triggered the noted atheist authors Sam Harris, Daniel C. Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Victor J. Stenger and Christopher Hitchens to publish books that were best sellers in America and worldwide.[162]
A 2010 survey found that those identifying themselves as atheists or agnostics are on average more knowledgeable about religion than followers of major faiths. Nonbelievers scored better on questions about tenets central to Protestant and Catholic faiths. Only Mormon and Jewish faithful scored as well as atheists and agnostics.[163]
New Atheism[link]
Main article: New Atheism
New Atheism is the name given to a movement among some early-21st-century atheist writers who have advocated the view that "religion should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized, and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises."[164] The movement is commonly associated with Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Victor J. Stenger.[165][166] Several best-selling books by these authors, published between 2004 and 2007, form the basis for much of the discussion of New Atheism.[167]
Demographics[link]
Main article: Demographics of atheism
It is difficult to quantify the number of atheists in the world. Respondents to religious-belief polls may define "atheism" differently or draw different distinctions between atheism, non-religious beliefs, and non-theistic religious and spiritual beliefs.[169] A Hindu atheist would declare oneself as a Hindu, although also being an atheist at the same time.[170] A 2005 survey published in Encyclopædia Britannica found that the non-religious made up about 11.9% of the world's population, and atheists about 2.3%. This figure did not include those who follow atheistic religions, such as some Buddhists.[20] A broad figure estimates the number of atheists and agnostics on Earth at 1.1 billion.[171]
A November–December 2006 poll published in the Financial Times gives rates for the United States and five European countries. The lowest rates of atheism were in the United States at only 4%, while the rates of atheism in the European countries surveyed were considerably higher: Italy (7%), Spain (11%), Great Britain (17%), Germany (20%), and France (32%).[21][172] The European figures are similar to those of an official European Union survey, which reported that 18% of the EU population do not believe in a god.[173] Other studies have placed the estimated percentage of atheists, agnostics, and other nonbelievers in a personal god as low as single digits in Poland, Romania, Cyprus, and some other European countries,[174] and up to 85% in Sweden, 80% in Denmark, 72% in Norway, and 60% in Finland.[19] According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 19% of Australians have "no religion", a category that includes atheists.[172] Between 64% and 65% of Japanese are atheists, agnostics, or do not believe in a god.[19]
An international study has reported positive correlations between levels of education and not believing in a deity,[61] and the EU survey finds a positive correlation between leaving school early and believing in a God.[173] A letter published in Nature in 1998 reported a survey suggesting that belief in a personal god or afterlife was at an all-time low among the members of the U.S. National Academy of Science, 7.0% of whom believed in a personal god as compared with more than 85% of the general U.S. population,[175] although this study has been criticized by Rodney Stark and Roger Finke for its definition of belief in God. The definition was "I believe in a God to whom one may pray in the expectation of receiving an answer". [176] An article published by The University of Chicago Chronicle that discussed the above study, stated that 76% of physicians believe in God, more than the 7% of scientists above, but still less than the 85% of the general population.[177] Another study assessing religiosity among scientists who are members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science found that "just over half of scientists (51%) believe in some form of deity or higher power; specifically, 33% of scientists say they believe in God, while 18% believe in a universal spirit or higher power."[178] Frank Sulloway of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michael Shermer of California State University conducted a study which found in their polling sample of "credentialed" U.S. adults (12% had Ph.Ds and 62% were college graduates) 64% believed in God, and there was a correlation indicating that religious conviction diminished with education level.[179] An inverse correlation between religiosity and intelligence has been found by 39 out of 43 studies carried out between 1927 and 2002, according to an article in Mensa Magazine.[180] These findings broadly agree with a 1958 statistical meta-analysis by Professor Michael Argyle of the University of Oxford. He analyzed seven research studies that had investigated correlation between attitude to religion and measured intelligence among school and college students from the U.S. Although a clear negative correlation was found, the analysis did not identify causality but noted that factors such as authoritarian family background and social class may also have played a part.[181] Sociologist Philip Schwadel found that higher levels of education correlate with greater tolerance for atheists' public opposition to religion, greater skepticism of religious leaders, and a reconsideration of "the role of religion in secular society".[182]
See also[link]
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Book: Atheism |
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Notes[link]
- ^
- Nielsen, Kai (2011). "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40634/atheism. Retrieved 2011-12-06. "Instead of saying that an atheist is someone who believes that it is false or probably false that there is a God, a more adequate characterization of atheism consists in the more complex claim that to be an atheist is to be someone who rejects belief in God for the following reasons...: for an anthropomorphic God, the atheist rejects belief in God because it is false or probably false that there is a God; for a nonanthropomorphic God... because the concept of such a God is either meaningless, unintelligible, contradictory, incomprehensible, or incoherent; for the God portrayed by some modern or contemporary theologians or philosophers... because the concept of God in question is such that it merely masks an atheistic substance—e.g., "God" is just another name for love, or ... a symbolic term for moral ideals."
- Edwards, Paul (2005) [1967]. "Atheism". In Donald M. Borchert. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA (Gale). p. 359. ISBN 978-0-02-865780-6. "On our definition, an 'atheist' is a person who rejects belief in God, regardless of whether or not his reason for the rejection is the claim that 'God exists' expresses a false proposition. People frequently adopt an attitude of rejection toward a position for reasons other than that it is a false proposition. It is common among contemporary philosophers, and indeed it was not uncommon in earlier centuries, to reject positions on the ground that they are meaningless. Sometimes, too, a theory is rejected on such grounds as that it is sterile or redundant or capricious, and there are many other considerations which in certain contexts are generally agreed to constitute good grounds for rejecting an assertion." (page 175 in 1967 edition)
- ^ Rowe, William L. (1998). "Atheism". In Edward Craig. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-07310-3. http://books.google.com/?id=lnuwFH_M5o0C&pg=PA530&lpg=PA530&dq=atheism+routledge#v=onepage&q=atheism%20routledge&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "As commonly understood, atheism is the position that affirms the nonexistence of God. So an atheist is someone who disbelieves in God, whereas a theist is someone who believes in God. Another meaning of "atheism" is simply nonbelief in the existence of God, rather than positive belief in the nonexistence of God. ...an atheist, in the broader sense of the term, is someone who disbelieves in every form of deity, not just the God of traditional Western theology."
- ^ a b Simon Blackburn, ed. (2008). "atheism". The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2008 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t98.e278. Retrieved 2011-12-05. "Either the lack of belief that there exists a god, or the belief that there exists none. Sometimes thought itself to be more dogmatic than mere agnosticism, although atheists retort that everyone is an atheist about most gods, so they merely advance one step further."
- ^ Religioustolerance.org's short article on Definitions of the term "Atheism" suggests that there is no consensus on the definition of the term. Most dictionaries (see the OneLook query for "atheism") first list one of the more narrow definitions.
- Runes, Dagobert D.(editor) (1942 edition). Dictionary of Philosophy. New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams & Co. Philosophical Library. ISBN 0-06-463461-2. http://www.ditext.com/runes/a.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "(a) the belief that there is no God; (b) Some philosophers have been called "atheistic" because they have not held to a belief in a personal God. Atheism in this sense means "not theistic". The former meaning of the term is a literal rendering. The latter meaning is a less rigorous use of the term though widely current in the history of thought" – entry by Vergilius Ferm
- ^ "atheism". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/atheism. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
- ^ "Definitions: Atheism". Department of Religious Studies, University of Alabama. http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/aboutreldefinitions.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09. [dead link]
- ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). 1989. "Belief in a deity, or deities, as opposed to atheism"
- ^ "Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theism. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "belief in the existence of a god or gods"
- ^ a b Armstrong, Karen (1999). A History of God. London: Vintage. ISBN 0-09-927367-5.
- ^ a b Various authors. "Logical Arguments for Atheism". Internet Infidels, The Secular Web Library. Retrieved 2007-APR-09.
- ^ Honderich, Ted (Ed.) (1995). "Humanism". The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p 376. ISBN 0-19-866132-0.
- ^ Fales, Evan. "Naturalism and Physicalism", in Martin 2007, pp. 122–131.
- ^ Baggini 2003, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Stenger 2007, pp. 17–18, citing Parsons, Keith M. (1989). God and the Burden of Proof: Plantinga, Swinburne, and the Analytical Defense of Theism. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-0-87975-551-5.
- ^ Carol S. Matthews (19 October 2009). A New Vision A New Heart A Renewed Call - Volume Two. William Carey Library. ISBN 978-0-87808-364-0. http://books.google.com/?id=RfGhUW8RdUIC&pg=PA194&dq=neopaganism+atheism#v=onepage&q&f=false. "Although Neo-Pagans share common commitments to nature and spirit there is a diversity of beliefs and practices. Some are atheists, others are polytheists (several gods exists), some are pantheists (all is God) and others are panentheists (all is in God)."
- ^ Carol S. Matthews (19 October 2009). New Religions. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7910-8096-2. http://books.google.com/?id=stQQJlV9FT8C&pg=PA115&dq=neopaganism+atheism#v=onepage&q&f=false. "There is no universal worldview that all Neo-Pagans/Wiccans hold. One online information source indicates that depending on how the term God is defined, Neo-Pagans might be classified as monotheists, duotheists (two gods), polytheists, pantheists, or atheists."
- ^ Kedar, Nath Tiwari (1997). Comparative Religion. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 50. ISBN 81-208-0293-4. http://books.google.com.vc/books?id=Jb0rCQD9NcoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=atheism&f=false.
- ^ Chakravarti, Sitansu (1991). Hinduism, a way of life. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. p. 71. ISBN 978-81-208-0899-7. http://books.google.com/?id=J_-rASTgw8wC&pg=PA71. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "According to Hinduism, the path of the atheist is very difficult to follow in matters of spirituality, though it is a valid one."
- ^ a b c Zuckerman, Phil (2007). Martin, Michael T. ed. The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-521-60367-6. OL22379448M. http://books.google.com/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA56. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ a b "Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-2005". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9432620. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
- 2.3% Atheists: Persons professing atheism, skepticism, disbelief, or irreligion, including the militantly antireligious (opposed to all religion).
- 11.9% Nonreligious: Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, uninterested, or dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion but not militantly so.
- ^ a b "Religious Views and Beliefs Vary Greatly by Country, According to the Latest Financial Times/Harris Poll". Financial Times/Harris Interactive. 2006-12-20. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1131. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/a/atheism/index.html
- ^ "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Atheism. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^
- "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica Concise. Merriam Webster. http://www.merriam-webster.com/concise/atheism?show=0&t=1323944845. Retrieved 2011-12-15. "Critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or divine beings. Unlike agnosticism, which leaves open the question of whether there is a God, atheism is a positive denial. It is rooted in an array of philosophical systems."
- Zuckerman, edited by Phil (2010). Atheism and secularity. Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.]: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-313-35183-9. "A major source of these biases is the lack of clear definitions. Atheism and secularity are defined in opposition to religion, with atheism (the rejection of theism) often perceived as an extreme form of secularism (the decline of religious influence over society). But atheism is a narrow term referring to a specific belief (that there is no god), whereas secularism has various meanings, including a range of attitudes (such as religious indifference, doubt, agnosticism, and atheism) as as behaviors (such as lack of regular church attendance or disregard for traditional religious morality)."
- Nielsen, Kai (2011). "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40634/atheism. Retrieved 2011-12-06. "atheism, in general, the critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or spiritual beings. As such, it is usually distinguished from theism, which affirms the reality of the divine and often seeks to demonstrate its existence. Atheism is also distinguished from agnosticism, which leaves open the question whether there is a god or not, professing to find the questions unanswered or unanswerable."
- "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Atheism. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "But dogmatic atheism is rare compared with the sceptical type, which is identical with agnosticism in so far as it denies the capacity of the mind of man to form any conception of God, but is different from it in so far as the agnostic merely holds his judgment in suspense, though, in practice, agnosticism is apt to result in an attitude towards religion which is hardly distinguishable from a passive and unaggressive atheism."
- ^ a b c d Martin, Michael. The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge University Press. 2006. ISBN 0-521-84270-0.
- ^ Britannica (2011). "Atheism as rejection of religious beliefs". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (15th ed.). p. 666. 0852294735. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40634/atheism. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ d'Holbach, P. H. T. (1772). Good Sense. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7319. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
- ^ Smith 1979, p. 14.
- ^ Nagel, Ernest (1959). "Philosophical Concepts of Atheism". Basic Beliefs: The Religious Philosophies of Mankind. Sheridan House. "I shall understand by "atheism" a critique and a denial of the major claims of all varieties of theism... atheism is not to be identified with sheer unbelief... Thus, a child who has received no religious instruction and has never heard about God, is not an atheist – for he is not denying any theistic claims. Similarly in the case of an adult who, if he has withdrawn from the faith of his father without reflection or because of frank indifference to any theological issue, is also not an atheist – for such an adult is not challenging theism and not professing any views on the subject."
reprinted in Critiques of God, edited by Peter A. Angeles, Prometheus Books, 1997. - ^ a b Flew, Antony (1976). The Presumption of Atheism, and other Philosophical Essays on God, Freedom, and Immortality. New York: Barnes and Noble. pp. 14ff. "In this interpretation an atheist becomes: not someone who positively asserts the non-existence of God; but someone who is simply not a theist. Let us, for future ready reference, introduce the labels 'positive atheist' for the former and 'negative atheist' for the latter."
- ^ Maritain, Jacques (July 1949). "On the Meaning of Contemporary Atheism". The Review of Politics 11 (3): 267–280. DOI:10.1017/S0034670500044168. http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/jm3303.htm.
- ^ Kenny, Anthony (2006). "Why I Am Not an Atheist". What I believe. Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-8971-0. "The true default position is neither theism nor atheism, but agnosticism ... a claim to knowledge needs to be substantiated; ignorance need only be confessed."
- ^ "Many atheists I know would be certain of a high place in heaven". Irish Times. 2009-07-07. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0725/1224251303564.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Baggini 2003, pp. 30–34. "Who seriously claims we should say 'I neither believe nor disbelieve that the Pope is a robot', or 'As to whether or not eating this piece of chocolate will turn me into an elephant I am completely agnostic'. In the absence of any good reasons to believe these outlandish claims, we rightly disbelieve them, we don't just suspend judgement."
- ^ Baggini 2003, p. 22. "A lack of proof is no grounds for the suspension of belief. This is because when we have a lack of absolute proof we can still have overwhelming evidence or one explanation which is far superior to the alternatives."
- ^ a b Smart, J.C.C. (2004-03-09). "Atheism and Agnosticism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 50. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
- ^ Cudworth, Ralph (1678). The True Intellectual System of the Universe: the first part, wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted and its impossibility demonstrated.
- ^ See, for instance, "Atheists call for church head to retract slur". 1996-09-03. http://www.lds-mormon.com/atheist.shtml. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Lowder, Jeffery Jay (1997). "Atheism and Society". http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jeff_lowder/society.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Harris, Sam (2008). Letter to a Christian Nation. Random House, Vintage Books. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-307-27877-7. http://books.google.com/?id=ypyMZlkgHGIC&pg=PA51&dq=In+fact,+%22atheism%22+is+a+term+that+should+not+even+exist.+No+one+ever+needs+to+identify+himself+as+a+%22non-astrologer%22+or+a+%22non-alchemist.%22+We+do+not+have+words+for+people+who+doubt+that+Elvis+is+still+alive+or+that+aliens+have+traversed+the+galaxy+only+to#v=onepage&q=In%20fact%2C%20%22atheism%22%20is%20a%20term%20that%20should%20not%20even%20exist.%20No%20one%20ever%20needs%20to%20identify%20himself%20as%20a%20%22non-astrologer%22%20or%20a%20%22non-alchemist.%22%20We%20do%20not%20have%20words%20for%20people%20who%20doubt%20that%20Elvis%20is%20still%20alive%20or%20that%20aliens%20have%20traversed%20the%20galaxy%20only%20to&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Paul Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, System of Nature; or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World (London, 1797), Vol. 1, p. 25
- ^ a b c Zdybicka 2005, p. 20.
- ^ Schafersman, Steven D. (February 1997). "Naturalism is an Essential Part of Science and Critical Inquiry". Conference on Naturalism, Theism and the Scientific Enterprise. Department of Philosophy, The University of Texas. http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:NSuw6hjn_w0J:www.tcnj.edu/~scholars/111%2520Evolution%2520FSP/NATURALISM%2520IS%2520AN%2520ESSENTIAL%2520PART%2520OF%2520SCIENCE%2520AND%2520CRITICAL%2520INQUIRY.doc+Naturalism+is+an+Essential+Part+of+Science+and+Critical+Inquiry&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiOoQ0c8zeA-NUM5qRN7EZqXoJs8b3hGUyuOedNRD9OheY2WLJHpdgNCsxwDJ0iJVdxIhSyytGXR-RXodM3cV8JYd6mEmBRuSQhAsvgFyIDPrw2HT3KXZTEoujo4lXsMckPLn-U&sig=AHIEtbS7vrl9TTdgC7ZY94opxblINuXYMw&pli=1. Retrieved 2011-04-07. Revised May 2007
- ^ Zdybicka 2005, p. 21.
- ^ Drange, Theodore M. (1998). "Atheism, Agnosticism, Noncognitivism". Internet Infidels, Secular Web Library. Retrieved 2007-APR-07.
- ^ Ayer, A. J. (1946). Language, Truth and Logic. Dover. pp. 115–116. In a footnote, Ayer attributes this view to "Professor H. H. Price".
- ^ Zdybicka 2005, p. 19.
- ^ David Hume. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Project Gutenberg (e-text). http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4583. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
- ^ Drange, Theodore M. (1996). "The Arguments From Evil and Nonbelief". Internet Infidels, Secular Web Library. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
- ^ V.A. Gunasekara, "The Buddhist Attitude to God.". Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20080102053643/http://www.buddhistinformation.com/buddhist_attitude_to_god.htm. In the Bhuridatta Jataka, "The Buddha argues that the three most commonly given attributes of God, viz. omnipotence, omniscience and benevolence towards humanity cannot all be mutually compatible with the existential fact of dukkha."
- ^ Feuerbach, Ludwig (1841) The Essence of Christianity
- ^ Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught. Grove Press, 1974. Pages 51–52.
- ^ Bakunin, Michael (1916). "God and the State". New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association. http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/bakunin/godandstate/godandstate_ch1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Gleeson, David (August 10, 2006). "Common Misconceptions About Atheists and Atheism". American Chronicle. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/12346. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
- ^ Smith 1979, p. 275. "Perhaps the most common criticism of atheism is the claim that it leads inevitably to moral bankruptcy."
- ^ Pascal, Blaise (1669). Pensées, II: "The Misery of Man Without God".
- ^ a b Sartre, Jean-Paul (2004). "An existentialist ethics". In Gensler, Harry J.; Spurgin, Earl W.; Swindal, James C.. Ethics: Contemporary Readings. London: Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 0-415-25680-1.
- ^ Sartre, Jean-Paul (2001). "Existentialism and Humanism". In Priest, Stephen. Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings. London: Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 0-415-21367-3.
- ^ Sartre, Jean-Paul (2001). "Existentialism and Humanism". In Priest, Stephen. Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings. London: Routledge. p. 32. ISBN 0-415-21367-3.
- ^ a b Zuckerman, Phil (2009). "Atheism, Secularity, and Well-Being: How the Findings of Social Science Counter Negative Stereotypes and Assumptions". Sociology Compass 3 (6): 949–971. DOI:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00247.x. http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/Zuckerman_on_Atheism.pdf.
- ^ Societies without God are more benevolent, The Guardian, September 2, 2010
- ^ Winston, Robert (Ed.) (2004). Human. New York: DK Publishing, Inc. p. 299. ISBN 0-7566-1901-7. "Nonbelief has existed for centuries. For example, Buddhism and Jainism have been called atheistic religions because they do not advocate belief in gods."
- ^ "Humanistic Judaism". BBC. 2006-07-20. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/subdivisions/humanistic.shtml. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Levin, S. (May 1995). "Jewish Atheism". New Humanist 110 (2): 13–15.
- ^ "Christian Atheism". BBC. 2006-05-17. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/christianatheism.shtml. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Altizer, Thomas J. J. (1967). The Gospel of Christian Atheism. London: Collins. pp. 102–103. http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=523. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Lyas, Colin (January 1970). "On the Coherence of Christian Atheism". Philosophy: the Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy 45 (171): 1–19. DOI:10.1017/S0031819100009578.
- ^ Smith 1979, pp. 21–22
- ^ Slavoj Žižek: Less Than Nothing (2012)
- ^ Alain de Botton: Religion for Atheists (2012)
- ^ Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist: The Global Empire (2012)
- ^ Smith 1979, p. 275. "Among the many myths associated with religion, none is more widespread -or more disastrous in its effects—than the myth that moral values cannot be divorced from the belief in a god."
- ^ In Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (Book Eleven: Brother Ivan Fyodorovich, Chapter 4) there is the famous argument that If there is no God, all things are permitted.: "'But what will become of men then?' I asked him, 'without God and immortal life? All things are lawful then, they can do what they like?'"
- ^ For Kant, the presupposition of God, soul, and freedom was a practical concern, for "Morality, by itself, constitutes a system, but happiness does not, unless it is distributed in exact proportion to morality. This, however, is possible in an intelligible world only under a wise author and ruler. Reason compels us to admit such a ruler, together with life in such a world, which we must consider as future life, or else all moral laws are to be considered as idle dreams..." (Critique of Pure Reason, A811).
- ^ Baggini 2003, p. 38
- ^ Human Rights, Virtue, and the Common Good. Rowman & Littlefield. 1996. ISBN 978-0-8476-8279-9. http://books.google.com/?id=19ccmx1W58IC&pg=PA16&dq=has+truth+only+if+God+is+truth%E2%80%93it+stands+or+falls+with+faith+in+God#v=onepage&q=has%20truth%20only%20if%20God%20is%20truth%E2%80%93it%20stands%20or%20falls%20with%20faith%20in%20God&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "That problem was brought home to us with dazzling clarity by Nietzsche, who had reflected more deeply than any of his contemporaries on the implications of godlessness and come to the conclusion that a fatal contradiction lay at the heart of modern theological enterprise: it thought that Christian morality, which it wished to preserve, was independent of Christian dogma, which it rejected. This, in Nietzsche's mind, was an absurdity. It amounted to nothing less than dismissing the architect while trying to keep the building or getting rid of the lawgiver while claiming the protection of the law."
- ^ The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Wiley-Blackwell. 2009-05-11. ISBN 978-1-4051-7657-6. http://books.google.com/?id=g8bHRrVu3SsC&pg=PA392&dq=there+is+no+God+there+is+no+morality+Nietzsche#v=onepage&q=there%20is%20no%20God%20there%20is%20no%20morality%20Nietzsche&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "Morality "has truth only if God is truth–it stands or falls with faith in God" (Nietzche 1968, p. 70). The moral argument for the existence of God essentially takes Nietzche's assertion as one of its premises: if there is no God, then "there are altogether no moral facts.""
- ^ Victorian Subjects. Duke University Press. 1991. ISBN 978-0-8223-1110-2. http://books.google.com/?id=VgMB9-tMSMoC&pg=PA85&dq=has+truth+only+if+God+is+truth%E2%80%93it+stands+of+falls+with+faith+in+God#v=onepage&q=has%20truth%20only%20if%20God%20is%20truth%E2%80%93it%20stands%20of%20falls%20with%20faith%20in%20God&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "Like other mid-nineteenth-century writers, George Eliot was not fully aware of the implications of her humanism, and, as Nietzsche saw, attempted the difficult task of upholding the Christian morality of altruism without faith in the Christian God."
- ^ Moore, G. E. (1903). Principia Ethica. http://fair-use.org/g-e-moore/principia-ethica/s.13. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Susan Neiman (November 6, 2006). Beyond Belief Session 6 (Conference). Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA: The Science Network.
- ^ Baggini 2003, p. 40
- ^ Baggini 2003, p. 43
- ^ 101 Ethical Dilemmas, 2nd edition, by Cohen, M., Routledge 2007, pp184-5. (Cohen notes particularly that Plato and Aristotle produced arguments in favour of slavery.)
- ^ Political Philosophy from Plato to Mao, by Cohen, M, Second edition 2008
- ^
- Harris, Sam, The end of faith: religion, terror, and the future of reason, W. W. Norton & Company, 2005
- Harris, Sam, Letter to a Christian Nation, Random House, Inc., 2008
- Dawkins, Richard, The God Delusion, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008
- Hitchens, Christopher, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Random House, Inc., 2007
- Russell, Bertrand, Why I am not a Christian, and other essays on religion and related subjects, Simon and Schuster, 1957
- ^ Harris, Sam (2006a). "The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos". Free Inquiry. http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=sharris_26_3. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Moreira-almeida, A.; Lotufo Neto, F.; Koenig, H.G. (2006). "Religiousness and mental health: a review". Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria 28 (3): 242–250. DOI:10.1590/S1516-44462006005000006. PMID 16924349. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-44462006000300018&script=sci_arttext. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
- ^ See for example: Kahoe, R.D. (June 1977). "Intrinsic Religion and Authoritarianism: A Differentiated Relationship". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 16 (2): 179–182. DOI:10.2307/1385749. JSTOR 1385749. Also see: Altemeyer, Bob; Hunsberger, Bruce (1992). "Authoritarianism, Religious Fundamentalism, Quest, and Prejudice". International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 2 (2): 113–133. DOI:10.1207/s15327582ijpr0202_5. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a785040926~db=all. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Harris, Sam (2005). "An Atheist Manifesto". Truthdig. http://www.truthdig.com/dig/print/200512_an_atheist_manifesto. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "In a world riven by ignorance, only the atheist refuses to deny the obvious: Religious faith promotes human violence to an astonishing degree."
- ^ John S. Feinberg, Paul D. Feinberg (2010-11-04). Ethics for a Brave New World. Stand To Reason. ISBN 978-1-58134-712-8. http://books.google.com/?id=Nl-f5SKq9mgC&pg=PA697&dq=Aleksandr+Solzhenitsyn+But+if+I+were+asked+today+to+formulate+as+concisely+as+possible+the+main+cause+of+the+ruinous+revolution+that+swallowed+up+some+60+million+of+our+people,+I+could+not+put+it+more+accurately+than+to+repeat:+'Men+have+forgotten+God;+that's+why#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2007–10–18. "Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spend well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.'"
- ^ Dinesh D'Souza. "Answering Atheist’s Arguments". Catholic Education Resource Center. http://catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0214.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ The word αθεοι—in any of its forms—appears nowhere else in the Septuagint or the New Testament. Robertson, A.T. (1960) [1932]. "Ephesians: Chapter 2". Word Pictures in the New Testament. Broadman Press. http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/EPH2.RWP.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "Old Greek word, not in LXX, only here in N.T. Atheists in the original sense of being without God and also in the sense of hostility to God from failure to worship him. See Paul's words in Ro 1:18–32."
- ^ Drachmann, A. B. (1977 ("an unchanged reprint of the 1922 edition")). Atheism in Pagan Antiquity. Chicago: Ares Publishers. ISBN 0-89005-201-8. http://books.google.com/?id=cguq-yNii_QC&dq=Atheism+in+Pagan+Antiquity&printsec=frontcover&q=. "Atheism and atheist are words formed from Greek roots and with Greek derivative endings. Nevertheless they are not Greek; their formation is not consonant with Greek usage. In Greek they said atheos and atheotēs; to these the English words ungodly and ungodliness correspond rather closely. In exactly the same way as ungodly, atheos was used as an expression of severe censure and moral condemnation; this use is an old one, and the oldest that can be traced. Not till later do we find it employed to denote a certain philosophical creed."
- ^ OED, Atheist
- ^ Martiall, John (1566). A Replie to Mr Calfhills Blasphemous Answer Made Against the Treatise of the Cross. English recusant literature, 1558–1640. 203. Louvain. p. 51. http://books.google.com/books?id=20snAQAAIAAJ&q=%22to%20entre#v=snippet&q=atheist&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Rendered as Atheistes: Golding, Arthur (1571). The Psalmes of David and others, with J. Calvin's commentaries. pp. Ep. Ded. 3. "The Atheistes which say..there is no God." Translated from Latin.
- ^ Hanmer, Meredith (1577). The auncient ecclesiasticall histories of the first six hundred years after Christ, written by Eusebius, Socrates, and Evagrius. London. p. 63. OCLC 55193813. "The opinion which they conceaue of you, to be Atheists, or godlesse men."
- ^ a b Rendered as Athisme: de Mornay, Philippe (1587). A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion: Against Atheists, Epicures, Paynims, Iewes, Mahumetists, and other infidels [De la vérite de la religion chréstienne (1581)]. Translated from French by Arthur Golding & Philip Sidney. London. pp. xx. 310. "Athisme, that is to say, vtter godlesnes."
- ^ Vergil, Polydore (c1534). English history. http://books.google.com/?id=gW-gAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=vergil+english+history#v=onepage&q=Godd%20would%20not&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "Godd would not longe suffer this impietie, or rather atheonisme."
- ^ The Oxford English Dictionary also records an earlier, irregular formation, atheonism, dated from about 1534. The later and now obsolete words athean and atheal are dated to 1611 and 1612 respectively. prep. by J. A. Simpson ... (1989). The Oxford English Dictionary (Second ed.). Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-861186-2.
- ^ Burton, Robert (1621). deist. Part III, section IV. II. i. http://books.google.com/?id=cPgveWnCdRcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=anatomy+of+melancholy#v=onepage&q=deists&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09. "Cousin-germans to these men are many of our great Philosophers and Deists"
- ^ Martin, Edward (1662). "Five Letters". His opinion concerning the difference between the Church of England and Geneva [etc.]. London. p. 45. "To have said my office..twice a day..among Rebels, Theists, Atheists, Philologers, Wits, Masters of Reason, Puritanes [etc.]."
- ^ Bailey, Nathan (1675). An universal etymological English dictionary. http://books.google.com/?id=CFBGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT255&dq=deism#v=onepage&q=deism&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ "Secondly, that nothing out of nothing, in the sense of the atheistic objectors, viz. that nothing, which once was not, could by any power whatsoever be brought into being, is absolutely false; and that, if it were true, it would make no more against theism than it does against atheism.." Cudworth, Ralph. The true intellectual system of the universe. 1678. Chapter V Section II p.73
- ^ "17th Century History – Investigating Atheism". Investigatingatheism.info. http://www.investigatingatheism.info/historyseventeenth.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ http://www.foothill.edu/attach/bss/schaefers.ch9.pt2.ppt
- ^ In part because of its wide use in monotheistic Western society, atheism is usually described as "disbelief in God", rather than more generally as "disbelief in deities". A clear distinction is rarely drawn in modern writings between these two definitions, but some archaic uses of atheism encompassed only disbelief in the singular God, not in polytheistic deities. It is on this basis that the obsolete term adevism was coined in the late 19th century to describe an absence of belief in plural deities. Britannica (1911). "Atheonism". Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ Pandian (1996). India, that is, sidd. Allied Publishers. p. 64. ISBN 978-81-7023-561-3. http://books.google.com/?id=B90uj14NHjMC&pg=PA64. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Dasgupta, Surendranath (1992). A history of Indian philosophy, Volume 1. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. p. 258. ISBN 978-81-208-0412-8. http://books.google.com/?id=PoaMFmS1_lEC&pg=PA258. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Tripathi (2001). Psycho-Religious Studies of Man, Mind and Nature. Global Vision Publishing House. p. 81. ISBN 978-81-87746-04-1. http://books.google.com/?id=zWFM_SaX24AC&pg=PA81. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore. A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy. (Princeton University Press: 1957, Twelfth Princeton Paperback printing 1989) pp. 227–249. ISBN 0-691-01958-4.
- ^ Satischandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Eighth Reprint Edition. (University of Calcutta: 1984). p. 55.
- ^ Joshi, L.R. (1966). "A New Interpretation of Indian Atheism". Philosophy East and West 16 (3/4): 189–206. DOI:10.2307/1397540. JSTOR 1397540.
- ^ Baggini 2003, pp. 73–74. "Atheism had its origins in Ancient Greece but did not emerge as an overt and avowed belief system until late in the Enlightenment."
- ^ Solmsen, Friedrich (1942). Plato's Theology. Cornell University Press. p 25.
- ^ a b ...nullos esse omnino Diagoras et Theodorus Cyrenaicus... Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De natura deorum. Comments and English text by Richard D. McKirahan. Thomas Library, Bryn Mawr College, 1997, page 3. ISBN 0-929524-89-6
- ^ "religion, study of". (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^ Diogenes Laërtius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, ii
- ^ Cicero, Lucullus, 121. in Reale, G., A History of Ancient Philosophy. SUNY Press. (1985).
- ^ "Atheism". The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press. 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-11-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20061104032305/http://www.bartleby.com/65/at/atheism.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Brickhouse, Thomas C.; Nicholas D. Smith (2004). Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Plato and the Trial of Socrates. Routledge. p. 112. ISBN 0-415-15681-5. In particular, he argues that the claim he is a complete atheist contradicts the other part of the indictment, that he introduced "new divinities".
- ^ "Apology". Classics.mit.edu. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ "The Dialogues of Plato, vol. 1". Oll.libertyfund.org. http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php&title=111. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ "The Republic". Classics.mit.edu. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Fragments of Euhemerus' work in Ennius' Latin translation have been preserved in Patristic writings (e.g. by Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea), which all rely on earlier fragments in Diodorus 5,41–46 & 6.1. Testimonies, especially in the context of polemical criticism, are found e.g. in Callimachus, Hymn to Zeus 8.
- ^ Plutarch, Moralia—Isis and Osiris 23
- ^ BBC. "Ethics and Religion—Atheism". bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^
- On the Nature of Things by Lucretius at Project Gutenberg Book I, "Substance is Eternal". Translated by W.E. Leonard. 1997. Retrieved 2007-APR-12.
- ^ Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE), who leaned considerably toward Epicureanism, also rejected the idea of an afterlife, which e.g. lead to his plea against the death sentence during the trial against Catiline, where he spoke out against the Stoicist Cato (cf. Sallust, The War With Catiline, Caesar's speech: 51.29 & Cato's reply: 52.13).
- ^ a b Stein, Gordon (Ed.) (1980). "The History of Freethought and Atheism". An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism. New York: Prometheus. Retrieved 2007-APR-03.
- ^
"Atheism" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia. - ^ Maycock, A. L. and Ronald Knox (2003). Inquisition from Its Establishment to the Great Schism: An Introductory Study. ISBN 0-7661-7290-2.
- ^ a b Zdybicka 2005, p. 4
- ^ Winfried Schröder, in: Matthias Knutzen: Schriften und Materialien (2010), p. 8. See also Rececca Moore, The Heritage of Western Humanism, Scepticism and Freethought (2011), calling Knutzen "the first open advocate of a modern atheist perspective" online here
- ^ "Michel Onfray on Jean Meslier". William Paterson University. http://nova.wpunj.edu/newpolitics/issue40/Onfray40.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ d'Holbach, P. H. T. (1770). The System of Nature. 2. http://fulltextarchive.com/page/The-System-of-Nature-Vol-21/. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
- ^ Ray, Matthew Alun (2003). Subjectivity and Irreligion: Atheism and Agnosticism in Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. ISBN 978-0-7546-3456-0. http://books.google.com/?id=BKz2FcDrFy0C&pg=PA1&dq=nietzsche+schopenhauer+marx+feuerbach. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Overall, Christine (2007). Feminism and Atheism. ISBN 978-0-521-84270-9. http://books.google.com/?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA233&lpg=PA233&dq=%22Feminism+and+Atheism%22&q=%22Feminism%20and%20Atheism%22. Retrieved 2011-04-09. in Martin 2007, pp. 233–246
- ^ Zdybicka 2005, p. 16
- ^ Gerhard Simon (19 October 2009). Church, State, and Opposition in the U.S.S.R.. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-02612-4. http://books.google.com/?id=sTLc8H3b4vUC&pg=PA64. "On the other hand the Communist Party has never made any secret of the fact, either before or after 1917, that it regards 'militant atheism' as an integral part of its ideology and will regard 'religion as by no means a private matter'. It therefore uses 'the means of ideological influence to educate people in the spirit of scientific materialism and to overcome religious prejudices..' Thus it is the goal of the C.P.S.U. and thereby also of the Soviet state, for which it is after all the 'guiding cell', gradually to liquidate the religious communities."
- ^ Dimitry Pospielovsky (19 October 2009). The Orthodox Church in the History of Russia. St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 978-0-88141-179-9. http://books.google.com/?id=2cP0wc_E6yEC&pg=PA395&dq=liquidation+of+religion+militant+atheism#v=onepage&q=liquidation%20of%20religion%20militant%20atheism&f=false. "It might be expected that as a Christian leader, he would at least declare that a Christian could not vote for a party that preached and practiced genocide, whether racial or class-based , nor for a party whose ideology included a militant atheism aiming at liquidation of religion."
- ^ Simon Richmond (19 October 2009). Russia & Belarus. BBC Worldwide. ISBN 978-1-74104-291-7. http://books.google.com/?id=jcNZUzdd-ukC&pg=PA79&dq=liquidation+of+religion+militant+atheism#v=onepage&q=liquidation%20of%20religion%20militant%20atheism&f=false. "Soviet 'militant atheism' led to the closure and destruction of nearly all the mosques and madrasahs (Muslim religious schools) in Russia, although some remained in the Central Asian states. Under Stalin there were mass deportations and liquidation of the Muslim elite."
- ^ Tʻinatʻin Bočorišvili, William Sweet, Daniel R. Ahern (2005-06-30). Politics, ethics and challenges to democracy in 'new independent states'. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-56518-224-0. http://books.google.com/?id=qzkttrhVe9gC&pg=PA125&dq=soviet+union+state+atheism#v=onepage&q=soviet%20union%20state%20atheism&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "During the past 150 years in Azerbaijan, Islam has experienced an ascendancy over the official Orthodoxy of the Russian Empire and, then, the state atheism of the Soviet Union."
- ^ Russian postmodernism: new perspectives on post-Soviet culture. Berghahn Books. 1999. ISBN 978-1-57181-028-1. http://books.google.com/?id=8pciFcaGXR0C&pg=PA379&dq=soviet+union+state+atheism#v=onepage&q=soviet%20union%20state%20atheism&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "The seven decades of Soviet atheism, whether one calls it "mass atheism," "scientific atheism," "state atheism," was unquestionably a new phenomenon in world history."
- ^ Baggini, Julian (Summer 2003). The Perils of Atheism. 118. New Humanist. http://newhumanist.org.uk/627/the-perils-of-atheism. Retrieved 2011-04-07. Extract from his book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction (2003), Oxford University Press
- ^ William B. Simons, Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden (2001). The Constitutions of the Communist World. Springer. ISBN 978-0-8147-2214-5. http://books.google.com/?id=aAtQZ0vjf5gC&pg=PA18&dq=The+State+recognizes+no+religion,+and+supports+and+carries+out+atheistic+propaganda+in+order+to+implant+a+scientific+materialistic+world+outlook+in+people#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "Article 37. The State recognizes no religion and supports and carries out atheist propaganda in order to implant a scientific materialist world outlook in people."
- ^ Robert Elsie (2001). A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk culture. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-2214-5. http://books.google.com/?id=aAtQZ0vjf5gC&pg=PA18&dq=The+State+recognizes+no+religion,+and+supports+and+carries+out+atheistic+propaganda+in+order+to+implant+a+scientific+materialistic+world+outlook+in+people#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "Article 37 of the Albanian constitution of 1976 stipulated, "The State recognizes no religion and supports and carries out atheist propaganda in order to implant a scientific materialist world outlook in people.""
- ^ Richard Felix Staar (1982). Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe. The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University. ISBN 978-0-8179-7692-7. http://books.google.com/?id=ugeMgomY7hAC&pg=PA13&dq=The+State+recognizes+no+religion,+and+supports+and+carries+out+atheistic+propaganda+in+order+to+implant+a+scientific+materialistic+world+outlook+in+people#v=onepage&q=The%20State%20recognizes%20no%20religion%2C%20and%20supports%20and%20carries%20out%20atheistic%20propaganda%20in%20order%20to%20implant%20a%20scientific%20materialistic%20world%20outlook%20in%20people&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "By 1976 all places of worship had been closed. However, the regime has had to admit that religion still maintains a following among Albanians. In order to suppress religious life, the following article has been included in the 1976 constitution: "The state recognizes no religion and supports and carries out atheistic propaganda to implant the scientific materialistic world outlook in people" (Article 37). In its antireligious moves, the regime has gone so far as to order persons to change their names if they are of a religious origin."
- ^ China in the 21st century. Oxford University Press. 2010-04-16. ISBN 978-0-19-539447-4. http://books.google.com/?id=X49uEF5XUX0C&pg=PA108&dq=state+atheism+china#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "China is still officially an atheist country, but many religions are growing rapidly, including evangelical Christianity (estimates of how many Chinese have converted to some form of Protestantism range widely, but at least tens of millions have done so) and various hybrid sects that combine elements of traditional creeds and belief systems (Buddhism mixed with local folk cults, for example)."
- ^ a b c The State of Religion Atlas. Simon & Schuster. 1993-12. http://books.google.com/?id=BY4YAQAAMAAJ&q=north+korea+atheist+state&dq=north+korea+atheist+state. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "Atheism continues to be the official position of the governments of China, North Korea and Cuba."
- ^ World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia. Marshall Cavendish. 2007-09. ISBN 978-0-7614-7631-3. http://books.google.com/?id=YG2AFyFppJQC&pg=PA933&dq=north+korea+atheist+state#v=onepage&q=north%20korea%20atheist%20state&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "North Korea is officially an atheist state in which almost the entire population is nonreligious."
- ^ Freeing God's Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights. Rowman & Littlefield. 2006-09. ISBN 978-0-7425-4732-2. http://books.google.com/?id=EkIvbxefBNsC&pg=PA43&dq=cuba+state+atheism#v=onepage&q=cuba%20state%20atheism&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-05. "Cuba is the only country in the Americas that has attempted to impose state atheism, and since the 1960s onward its jails have been filled with pastors and other believers."
- ^ Michael, S. M. (1999). "Dalit Visions of a Just Society". In S. M. Michael (ed.). Untouchable: Dalits in Modern India. Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 31–33. ISBN 1-55587-697-8.
- ^ "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." Hiorth, Finngeir (1996). "Atheism in South India". International Humanist and Ethical Union, International Humanist News. Retrieved 2007-05-30
- ^ TIME Magazine cover online. Apr 8, 1966. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
- ^ "Toward a Hidden God". Time Magazine online. Apr 8, 1966. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
- ^ Majeska, George P.; Bociurkiw, Bohdan R.; Strong, John W. (1976). "Religion and Atheism in the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe, Review". The Slavic and East European Journal 20 (2): 204–206. DOI:10.2307/305838. JSTOR 305838.
- ^ Rafford, R.L. (1987). "Atheophobia—an introduction". Religious Humanism 21 (1): 32–37.
- ^ "Timothy Samuel Shah Explains 'Why God is Winning'." 2006-07-18. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
- ^ Paul, Gregory; Phil Zuckerman (2007). "Why the Gods Are Not Winning". Edge 209. http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge209.html#gp. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Vermont Law Review Vol. 33:225 2008, Finding Shared Values in a Diverse Society: Lessons From the Intelligent Design Controversy by Alan E. Garfield (page 231).
- ^ Landsberg, Mitchell (September 28, 2010). "Atheists, agnostics most knowledgeable about religion, survey says". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/28/nation/la-na-religion-survey-20100928. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
- ^ Hooper, Simon. "The rise of the New Atheists". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/08/atheism.feature/index.html. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- ^ Gribbin, Alice (December 22, 2011). "Preview: The Four Horsemen of New Atheism reunited". New Statesman. http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/12/richard-dawkins-issue-hitchens. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
- ^ Stenger, Victor J. The New Atheism. ISBN 1-59102-751-9.
- ^ Stenger, Victor J. "The New Atheism". Colorado University. http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/battle.html. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
- ^ "ReportDGResearchSocialValuesEN2.PDF" (PDF). http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents, Section on accuracy of non-Religious Demographic Data". http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Huxley, Andrew (2002). Religion, Law and Tradition: Comparative Studies in Religious Law. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-7007-1689-0. OL7763963M. http://books.google.com/books?id=YsUMTA4MebwC&pg=PA120. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Joas, Hans; Wiegandt, Klaus, eds. (2010). Secularization and the World Religions. Liverpool University Press. p. 122 (footnote 1). ISBN 978-1-84631-187-1. OL25285702M. http://books.google.com/books?id=rQTdki1xyK0C&pg=PA122. Retrieved 2012-04-18.
- ^ a b "Characteristics of the Population". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2006. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/1301.0Feature+Article7012009%E2%80%9310. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ a b (PDF) Social values, Science and Technology. Directorate General Research, European Union. 2005. pp. 7–11. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Zuckerman, Phil (2007). Martin, Michael T. ed. The Cambridge companion to atheism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-521-84270-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA51. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ Larson, Edward J.; Larry Witham (1998). "Correspondence: Leading scientists still reject God". Nature 394 (6691): 313–4. DOI:10.1038/28478. PMID 9690462. Available at StephenJayGould.org, Stephen Jay Gould archive. Retrieved 2006-12-17
- ^ William H. Swatos; Daniel V. A. Olson, ed. "The Secularization Debate (chapter by Rodney Stark)". Rowman & Littlefield. http://books.google.com/books?id=2P_RJqdUYBAC&pg=PA57&dq=He+wanted+to+show+that+men+of+science+were+irreligious.&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HNeST8PGMcfk6QHZg8GNBA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=He%20wanted%20to%20show%20that%20men%20of%20science%20were%20irreligious.&f=false. Retrieved 2011-08-19. "Recently, quite amazing time series data on the beliefs of scientists were published in Nature. Leuba's standard for belief in God is so stringent it would exclude a substantial portion of "mainline" clergy. It obviously was an intentional ploy on his part. He wanted to show that men of science were irreligious."
- Rodney Stark; Roger Finke. Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. University of California Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=N4p9eiXV6dMC&pg=PA73&dq=Leuba's+standard+for+belief+in+God+is+so+stringent&hl=en&ei=3QNPTpHhDITKsQK65NzRBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Leuba's%20standard%20for%20belief%20in%20God%20is%20so%20stringent&f=falsel. Retrieved 2011-08-19. "Recently, quite amazing time series data on the beliefs of scientists were published in Nature. Leuba's standard for belief in God is so stringent it would exclude a substantial portion of "mainline" clergy. It obviously was an intentional ploy on his part. He wanted to show that men of science were irreligious."
- ^ "Survey on physicians’ religious beliefs shows majority faithful". The University of Chicago. http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/050714/doctorsfaith.shtml. Retrieved 2011–04-08. "The first study of physician religious beliefs has found that 76 percent of doctors believe in God and 59 percent believe in some sort of afterlife. The survey, performed by researchers at the University and published in the July issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that 90 percent of doctors in the United States attend religious services at least occasionally compared to 81 percent of all adults."
- ^ "Scientists and Belief". Pew Research Center. http://pewforum.org/Science-and-Bioethics/Scientists-and-Belief.aspx. Retrieved 2011–04-08. "A survey of scientists who are members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in May and June 2009, finds that members of this group are, on the whole, much less religious than the general public.1 Indeed, the survey shows that scientists are roughly half as likely as the general public to believe in God or a higher power. According to the poll, just over half of scientists (51%) believe in some form of deity or higher power; specifically, 33% of scientists say they believe in God, while 18% believe in a universal spirit or higher power."
- ^ Shermer, Michael (1999). How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God. New York: William H Freeman. pp. pp76–79. ISBN 0-7167-3561-X.
- ^ According to Dawkins (2006), p. 103. Dawkins cites Bell, Paul. "Would you believe it?" Mensa Magazine, UK Edition, Feb. 2002, pp. 12–13. Analyzing 43 studies carried out since 1927, Bell found that all but four reported such a connection, and he concluded that "the higher one's intelligence or education level, the less one is likely to be religious or hold 'beliefs' of any kind."
- ^ Argyle, Michael (1958). Religious Behaviour. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 93–96. ISBN 0-415-17589-5.
- ^ Schwadel, Philip (2011). "The Effects of Education on Americans’ Religious Practices, Beliefs, and Affiliations". Review of Religious Research 53 (2). DOI:10.1007/s13644-011-0007-4.
References[link]
- Baggini, Julian (2003). Atheism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280424-3.
- Martin, Michael, ed. (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-60367-6. http://books.google.ca/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA8#v=onepage&q&f=true. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Smith, George H. (1979). Atheism: The Case Against God. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-124-X.
- Stenger, Victor J. (2007). God: The Failed Hypothesis—How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-59102-652-5.
- Zdybicka, Zofia J. (2005). "Atheism". In Maryniarczyk, Andrzej. Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 1. Polish Thomas Aquinas Association. http://ptta.pl/pef/haslaen/a/atheism.pdf. Retrieved 2011-04-09
Further reading[link]
- Berman, David (1990). A History of Atheism in Britain: From Hobbes to Russell. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04727-7. http://books.google.ca/books?id=Li4OAAAAQAAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=A%20History%20of%20Atheism%20in%20Britain%3A%20From%20Hobbes%20to%20Russell&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Buckley, M. J. (1990). At the Origins of Modern Atheism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-04897-1.
- Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-05548-9. http://books.google.ca/books?id=yq1xDpicghkC&lpg=PP1&dq=The%20God%20Delusion&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Flew, Antony (2005). God and Philosophy. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-59102-330-0.
- Tom Flynn, ed. (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-59102-391-2.
- Gaskin, J.C.A., ed. (1989). Varieties of Unbelief: From Epicurus to Sartre. •New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-340681-X.
- Germani, Alan (2008-09-15). "The Mystical Ethics of the New Atheists". The Objective Standard (Glen Allen Press) 3 (3). http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2008-fall/mystical-ethics-new-atheists.asp. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Harbour, Daniel (2003). An Intelligent Person's Guide to Atheism. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-3229-9.
- Harris, Sam (2006). Letter to a Christian Nation. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-26577-7. http://books.google.ca/books?id=RlZATs3xD0gC&lpg=PP1&dq=Letter%20to%20a%20Christian%20Nation&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Harris, Sam (October 2, 2007). "The Problem with Atheism". The Washington Post. http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/sam_harris/2007/10/the_problem_with_atheism.html. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Hitchens, Christopher (2007). God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve. ISBN 978-0-446-57980-3. http://books.google.ca/books?id=sGgoYfGyqSMC&lpg=PP1&dq=God%20Is%20Not%20Great%3A%20How%20Religion%20Poisons%20Everything&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Howson, Colin (2011). Objecting to God. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-18665-0
- Jacoby, Susan (2004). Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. Metropolitan Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-7442-0.
- Krueger, D. E. (1998). What is Atheism?: A Short Introduction. New York: Prometheus. ISBN 1-57392-214-5.
- Le Poidevin, R. (1996). Arguing for Atheism: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09338-4. http://books.google.ca/books?id=M4YlYZi_cMUC&lpg=PP1&dq=Arguing%20for%20Atheism%3A%20An%20Introduction%20to%20the%20Philosophy%20of%20Religion&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
- Mackie, J. L. (1982). The Miracle of Theism: Arguments For and Against the Existence of God. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-824682-X.
- Maritain, Jacques (1953). The Range of Reason. London: Geoffrey Bles. ISBN B0007DKP00. http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/range.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Martin, Michael (1990). Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-943-0. http://books.google.ca/books?id=MNZqCoor4eoC&lpg=PP1&dq=Atheism%3A%20A%20Philosophical%20Justification&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Michael Martin & Ricki Monnier, ed. (2003). The Impossibility of God. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-59102-120-0.
- Michael Martin & Ricki Monnier, ed. (2006). The Improbability of God. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-59102-381-5.
- McTaggart, John; McTaggart, Ellis (1930) [1906]. Some Dogmas of Religion (New ed.). London: Edward Arnold & Co.. ISBN 0-548-14955-0.
- Nielsen, Kai (1985). Philosophy and Atheism. New York: Prometheus. ISBN 0-87975-289-0.
- Nielsen, Kai (2001). Naturalism and Religion. New York: Prometheus. ISBN 1-57392-853-4.
- Onfray, Michel (2007). Atheist Manifesto. New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55970-820-3. http://books.google.ca/books?id=QpEAYMo7pFkC&lpg=PP1&dq=Atheist%20Manifesto&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Oppy, Graham (2006). Arguing about Gods. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-86386-4. http://books.google.ca/books?id=DlVtfUxPD14C&lpg=PP1&dq=Arguing%20about%20Gods&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Robinson, Richard (1964). An Atheist's Values. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-824191-7. http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/athval0.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Rosenberg, Alex (2011). The Atheist's Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life Without Illusions. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-08023-0
- Russell, Paul (October 4, 2005). "Hume on Religion". In Edward N. Zalta. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-religion/. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- Sharpe, R.A. (1997). The Moral Case Against Religious Belief. London: SCM Press. ISBN 0-334-02680-6.
- Thrower, James (1971). A Short History of Western Atheism. London: Pemberton. ISBN 0-301-71101-1.
- Walters, Kerry (2010). Atheism: A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-2493-8
External links[link]
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- Atheism in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- The New Atheists in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Atheism at the Open Directory Project – Includes links to organizations and websites.
- Positive atheism: Great Historical Writings Historical writing sorted by authors.
- Religion & Ethics—Atheism at bbc.co.uk.
- Secular Web library – Library of both historical and modern writings, a comprehensive online resource for freely available material on atheism.
- The Demand for Religion – A study on the demographics of Atheism by Wolfgang Jagodzinski (University of Cologne) and Andrew Greeley (University of Chicago and University of Arizona).
- Atheism at enotes.com
- Kai Nielsen (July 1963). "Can Faith Validate God-Talk?". Theology Today 20. http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1963/v20-2-article2.htm. Retrieved 2011-12-05.
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| Penn Jillette | |
|---|---|
 Penn Jillette after the Penn & Teller show at the Rio in Paradise, Nevada, May 23, 2007 |
|
| Born | Penn Fraser Jillette (1955-03-05) March 5, 1955 (age 57) Greenfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Residence | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Magician, illusionist, writer, actor, inventor |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Known for | Half of the comedy magic duo known as Penn & Teller |
| Height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)[1] |
| Political party | Libertarian Party |
| Religion | None (atheist) |
| Website | |
| Penn and Teller.com | |
Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American illusionist, comedian, musician, and best-selling author known for his work with fellow magician Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of atheism, scientific skepticism, libertarianism and free market capitalism.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Jillette was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. His mother, Valda R. Jillette (née Parks) (November 8, 1909 – January 1, 2000),[2] was a secretary, and his father, Samuel H. Jillette (March 14, 1912 – February 14, 1999),[2] worked at Greenfield's Franklin County Jail.[3][4][5] Jillette became disenchanted with traditional illusionist acts that presented the craft as authentic magic, such as The Amazing Kreskin on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. At age eighteen, he saw a show by illusionist James Randi, and became enamored of his approach to magic that openly acknowledged deception as entertainment rather than a mysterious supernatural power. Jillette regularly acknowledges Randi as the one person on the planet he loves the most besides members of his family.
Jillette worked with high school classmate Michael Moschen in developing and performing a juggling act during the years immediately following their 1973 graduation.[5] In 1974, Jillette graduated from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.[6] That same year, he was introduced to Teller by Weir Chrisemer, a mutual friend.[7] The three then formed a three-person act called Asparagus Valley Cultural Society which played in Amherst, Massachusetts and San Francisco.[5] In 1981, he and Teller teamed up as Penn & Teller, and went on to do a successful on- and Off Broadway show called "Penn & Teller" that toured nationally.[5]
Career and showtime[link]
In 1994 Jillette purchased a home in Las Vegas and dubbed it "The Slammer".[8] It has been featured in dozens of television shows and articles and was designed by his friend Colin Summers. He currently records music there, and previously conducted his radio show at the studio inside "The Slammer".[9][10]
Jillette was also a regular contributor to the now-defunct PC/Computing magazine in the early 1990s, having a regular back section column between 1990 and 1994. True to form, the columns were often as much about Uma Thurman as actual PC computing issues. Jillette and PC Computing parted ways over a dispute with a new editor. Jillette felt the new editor was trying to tell him how to write his column and what topics he should be covering. Jillette asserts that he is unsure if he was fired or if he actually quit.
Jillette was the primary voice announcer for the U.S.-based cable network Comedy Central in the 1990s.[11][12]
Starting in 1996, he had a recurring role on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as Drell, the head of the Witches' Council. He and Teller both appeared in the pilot with Debbie Harry as the third member of the Council. The show was created by Jillette's friend Nell Scovell.
For a brief time in 1997, Jillette wrote bi-weekly dispatches for the search engine Excite.com. Each column ended with a pithy comment identifying which of the Penn & Teller duo he was. (For example: "Penn Jillette is the half of Penn & Teller that's detained at airports.") Jillette made a habit of linking many words in his online column to wacky sites that generally had nothing to do with the actual words. The columns are no longer available on the current Excite.com site, but have been republished with permission at PennAndTeller.com.[13]
Starting in 2003, Jillette, along with his partner Teller, began producing and hosting the show Penn & Teller: Bullshit! In the show, the two analyze cultural phenomena, debunk myths, criticize people and aspects of society they deem "bullshit".
In 2005 with actor Paul Provenza, Jillette co-produced and co-directed The Aristocrats (2005), a documentary film tracing the life of a dirty joke known as "The Aristocrats".
From January 3, 2006 to March 2, 2007, Jillette hosted, along with fellow atheist, skeptic, and juggler Michael Goudeau, a live, hour-long radio talk show broadcast on the radio station brand known as Free FM. The show, Penn Radio, broadcast from his Vintage Nudes Studio in Jillette's Las Vegas home. The most notable recurring segment of the show was "Monkey Tuesday" and later "The Pull of the Weasel". On March 2, 2007, Jillette, on Free FM, announced that he would no longer be doing his radio show. He stated that he is a "show biz wimp" and decided to stop doing the show so he could spend more time with his kids Zolten Penn Jillette and Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette.
During the 2006–07 television season, Jillette hosted the prime time game show "Identity" on NBC-TV.
In 2008, Jillette was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. He was the first celebrity to be eliminated. A reference to his large feet as a sign of another large body part was bleeped in the West Coast airing.[citation needed]
In 2009, Jillette did a spoken guest appearance on a song by Pakistani rapper Adil Omar. The song was titled "Spookshow" and produced by DJ Solo of Soul Assassins. The lyrics condemn religious extremism and encourage skepticism. It is set to be featured on a compilation album by Thick Syrup Records alongside artists like Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Half Japanese and more.[citation needed]
On May 24, 2010, Jillette began a bi-weekly show on Revision3 called Penn Point. It is currently on hiatus. The last update was posted on October 26, 2011.[14]
On August 16, 2011 Jillette's book God, No! Signs You May Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales was released and made the New York Times Best Sellers in its first week of publication.
An avid upright bassist, Penn frequently accompanies jazz pianist Mike Jones, who opens for the magician's Las Vegas show.[15]
Jillette was one of the contestants on The Celebrity Apprentice season 5, beginning on February 19, 2012. He was fired from the show by Donald Trump on the April 22 episode of the show. Also on February 19, 2012, along with Michael Goudeau, he started the podcast Penn's Sunday School.
Business ventures[link]
Jill-Jet[link]
In July 1999, Jillette was granted U.S. Patent 5,920,923 for the "Jill-Jet", a hot-tub jet specially angled for a woman's pleasure. He has credited Debbie Harry of Blondie for suggesting the idea, as the two of them were once in a hot-tub and Harry made a remark about changing the jets for a woman's pleasure. Jillette liked the idea enough to pursue patent application at the USPTO under the patent title "Hydro-therapeutic stimulator".[16] The abstract of the patent explains that a "discharge nozzle is located within the tub and connected to the outlet, mounted to the seat so that the discharged water from the circulation pump automatically aligns with and is directed to stimulation points (i.e., the clitoris) of the female user when the female user sits in the seat." An article in the June 2006 issue of Playboy shed additional light on the invention. Originally, it was to be called the "ClitJet", however he stated that "Jill-Jet" was more suitable because it included his name in the title. Also, "jilling off" is a colloquialism for female masturbation.[citation needed]
On the Penn Radio show, telling the listeners about the photo shoot for the Playboy article, Jillette mentioned that he has a Jill-Jet installed in a tub at "The Slammer", and that several of his female friends and friends' spouses enjoy it a lot, but he is not aware of any other installations of a water jet in such a configuration anywhere else.
Vintage Nudes Studio[link]
Jillette created a private recording studio in his Las Vegas home.[17] The addition, designed by Outside The Lines Studio and built by Crisci Custom Builders between October 2003 and June 2004 as part of his Las Vegas home,[18] was named Vintage Nudes Studios by Jillette for playing cards that he had collected. The cards are displayed in the interior design in a manner which is meaningful to magicians.[19] The studio was home to Free FM's Penn Radio show, and is currently the home of the Penn's Sunday School stream and podcast.[17][20]
Personal life[link]
Jillette is married to Emily Zolten and has a daughter Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette and a son Zolten Jillette.
He says he has never used recreational drugs or alcohol. He is, however, an advocate of the legalization of all drugs and discontinuing the War on Drugs.[21]
Jillette is an atheist, libertarian (he has stated that he may consider himself to be an Anarcho-capitalist),[22] and skeptic, as well as an adherent to Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy, as stated on his Penn Says podcast. Jillette is a Fellow at the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, and has stated that he "always" votes Libertarian.[23] In January 2007, Jillette took the "Blasphemy Challenge" offered by the Rational Response Squad and publicly denied the existence of a holy spirit.[24] His cars' license plates read "atheist", "nogod", and "godless".[25] "Strangely enough, they wouldn't give me 'Infidel,'" he says.[25]
In 2005 he wrote and read an essay for National Public Radio claiming that he was "beyond atheism. Atheism is not believing in God ... I believe there is no God."[26] His atheism, he has explained, has informed every aspect of his life and thoughts, and as such is as crucial to him as theistic beliefs are to the devout. Jillette welcomes and even encourages open discussion, debate, and proselytizing on the issue of God's existence, believing that the issue is too important for opinions about it to remain private. Jillette does not, however, dismiss all who do believe in God: A 2008 edition of his Penn Says podcast expresses his appreciation for a fan who brought him the gift of a pocket Gideon Bible after a performance because he realized that this individual sincerely cared enough about him to try to help him.[27]
Jillette has stated that there is not enough information to make an informed decision on global warming, and that it is an emotion versus logic issue.[28]
Red fingernail[link]
Speculation arises from Jillette's red fingernail on his left hand. From a FAQ from Penn & Teller's official website, there are three common answers:
- It means he once shot a man for asking personal questions.
- When Jillette first began performing, his mother told him to get a manicure because people would be looking at his hands. In response to this, he had all of his nails painted red as a joke. The one remaining red fingernail is in honor of his mother.[29]
- It's just cool and can also sometimes provide excellent misdirection.[7]
On the episode of Penn Radio broadcast on November 29, 2006, Jillette related the real story behind his red fingernail. It began as a joke with his mother. When he was 18 years old, his mother advised him to keep his hands looking nice, since he then was working as a magician and his audience would be looking at his hands. Jillette colored the single nail red and showed it to his mother. He has continued to paint that single nail to the present. The color he uses is Jelly Apple Red (#054) by Essie.[30][29]
Appearances[link]
Filmography[link]
- Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)
- The Growth (2009)
- The Aristocrats (2005)
- Michael Moore Hates America (2004)
- Fantasia 2000 (2000)
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
- Toy Story (1995)
- Hackers (1995)
- Car 54, Where Are You? (1994)
- The Residents: Twenty Twisted Questions (1992)
- Half Japanese – The Band That Would Be King (1991)
- Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989)
- Gandahar (1988)
- Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)
- My Chauffeur (1986)
- Off Beat (1985)
- Savage Island (1985)
Television[link]
- Miami Vice
- "Prodigal Son" (1985) TV episode ... Jimmy Borges
- Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
- "Illusions of Grandeur" (1 episode, 1994) ... Romick
- VR 5
- "Pilot" (1 episode, 1995) ... Mr.Orwell Kravitz
- Friends
- "The One With the Cuffs" (1 episode, 1997) ... Encyclopedia Salesman
- The Drew Carey Show
- "See Drew Run" (1997) TV episode ... Archibald Fenn
- "Drew Meets Lawyers" (1995) TV episode ... Archibald Fenn
- Sabrina The Teenage Witch
- "First Kiss" (1997) TV episode .... Drell
- "Jenny's Non-Dream" (1997) TV episode ... Drell
- "Terrible Things" (1996) TV episode ... Drell
- "Pilot" (1996) TV episode ... Drell
- Babylon 5
- "Day of the Dead" (1998) TV episode ... Rebo
- Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular 1998–99
- "Hollywood Squares" (1999–2004) regular
- The Simpsons
- "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"
- "The Great Simpsina" (2 episodes, 1999, 2011) ... himself
- Dharma & Greg (2001)
- The West Wing
- "In the Room" (2004) ... himself
- Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (2003–2010)
- The Moxy Show (original voice of Flea; later replaced by an unidentified actor in some episodes)
- Identity (premiered in December 2006); returned on March 16, 2008 on NBC and will air for seven weeks every Friday at 8 pm ET.[22]
- Real Time with Bill Maher (2006) TV episode ... himself
- Dancing with the Stars (2008) ... himself[31]
- Numb3rs
- "Magic Show" (2008) TV episode ... himself
- "Glenn Beck" (Fox News)
- Handy Manny
- "Halloween/Squeeze's Magic Show" (2008) TV episode ... Magic Marty
- Penn & Teller Go Public (1985) TV program produced by Community Television of Southern California and aired on Public Television stations.
- The Defenders
- "Whitten v. Fenlee" (2010) TV episode ... Ruben Charters
- Fetch with Ruff Ruffman
- "You Can't Teach an Orange Dog New Tricks" (2009) TV episode...Himself
- Penn & Teller: Fool Us (2010–)
- Real Time with Bill Maher (October 14, 2011) TV episode ... himself
- Penn & Teller Tell a Lie (2011–)
- Celebrity Apprentice 5 (2012)
Music videos[link]
- Ramones – "Something to Believe In"
- Run D.M.C. – "It's Tricky"
- Katy Perry – "Waking Up in Vegas"
- Too Much Joy – "Donna Everywhere"
- Rascal Flatts – "Why Wait"
Music[link]
Books by Jillette[link]
- Jillette, Penn (2011). God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-1036-9.
- Jillette, Penn (2004). Sock. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. ISBN 0-312-32805-2.
- Jillette, Penn (2005). How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0-312-36068-1.
- Jillette, Penn (1989). Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends. New York: Villard. ISBN 0-394-75351-8.
- Jillette, Penn and Teller (1992). Penn and Teller's How to Play with Your Food. New York: Villard. ISBN 0-679-74311-1.
- Jillette, Penn and Teller (1997). Penn and Teller's How to Play In Traffic. Berkley Trade. ISBN 1-57297-293-9.
Podcasts[link]
- "Penn Point" on Revision3.com
- "Penn Says" on Crackle.com
- "Penn's Sunday School" at pennsundayschool.com
References[link]
- ^ "Biography for Penn Jillette". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0422710/bio.
- ^ a b Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011. Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.
- ^ Kelly, Kevin (December 7, 1986). "What you see, what you get". Boston Globe. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/659808331.html?dids=659808331:659808331&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+07%2C+1986&author=Kevin+Kelly%2C+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=WHAT+YOU+SEE%2C+WHAT+YOU+GET&pqatl=google. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
- ^ http://www.recorder.com/story.cfm?id_no=5432510[dead link]
- ^ a b c d Trillin, Calvin (May 15, 1989). "A couple of Eccentric Guys". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1989/05/15/1989_05_15_058_TNY_CARDS_000353087.
- ^ Curtis, Bryan (February 4, 2006). "Penn Jillette: The magician-comedian-writer's secrets revealed!". Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2135432/. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
- ^ a b Ferrel, Anne "Nita" (March 27, 2003). "Frequently Asked Questions About the Bad Boys of Magic...". PennAndTeller.com. http://www.pennandteller.com/sincity/penn-n-teller/faq.html. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
- ^ Tschorn, Adam (April 22, 2004). ["http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/22/home/hm-jillette22?pg=1" "Welcome to the Slammer"]. Los Angeles Times. "http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/22/home/hm-jillette22?pg=1". Retrieved 2009-06-29.
- ^ "The Slammer". Outside The Lines Studio. http://www.otlstudio.com/projects/199601.php. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
- ^ della Cava, Marco R. (October 29, 2004). "This is the manic magic house that Penn built". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-10-28-at-home-penn-jillette_x.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-16.
- ^ "Identity: Penn Jillette". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/Identity/host.shtml. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
- ^ "Penn Jillette: Full Biography". Hollywood.com. http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Penn_Jillette/1350693. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
- ^ ""Penn's Columns" (index)". PennAndTeller.com. http://www.pennandteller.com/sincity/penn-n-teller/pcc.html. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
- ^ "Penn Point". Revision3. http://revision3.com/pennpoint.
- ^ Malone, Andrew (December 2002). "Penn Jillette's Bass Magic". JazzTimes. http://jazztimes.com/sections/tangents/articles/19709-penn-jillette-s-bass-magic. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ Jillette, Penn (July 13, 1999). ""Hydro-therapeutic stimulator" (U.S. Patent 5,920,923)". USPTO Patent Full Text and Image Database. United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5920923.PN.&OS=PN/5920923&RS=PN/5920923. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
- ^ a b "Penn Jillette Detailed Biography". NetGlimse.com. http://www.netglimse.com/celebs/pages/penn_jillette/index.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ "The Slammer: Vintage Nudes Studio". Outside The Lines. 2009-02-21. http://otlstudio.com/projects/200401.php. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
- ^ The table in the studio from which "Vintage Nude Studios" gets its name
- ^ "Outside The Lines Studio | Gallery.php?image=20040118". Otlstudio.com. 2009-02-21. http://otlstudio.com/gallery.php?image=20040118. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- ^ Penn and Teller - War on Drugs (Full Episode) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIL5454ltQ (23:35)
- ^ a b Steigerwald, Bill (2003-05-24). "Dear graduates: Work for freedom". Pittsburgh Tribune Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_136178.html. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
- ^ Who's Getting Your Vote?, Reason
- ^ "Penn's Blasphemy". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2INdxjHgU0. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
- ^ a b Wang, K.S. (2009-06-01). "Celebrity Drive: Penn Jillette, Magician, Comedian, Host, Author". Motor Trend. http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0906_penn_jillette_celebrity_drive/index.html. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
- ^ This I Believe: There Is No God. November 21, 2005.
- ^ natecalaway (2009-02-28). "The Gift of A Bible". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa9JE_ZVL88&feature=related. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- ^ PTBSonShowtime (2008-06-01). "Penn & Teller Discuss The Being Green Episode". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWt2Rir8OQk. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- ^ a b pennsays. "Painting My Fingernail". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxq9ORifmOs. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- ^ "Watch Penn Says, Painting My Fingernail, Episode 45 Online Free". Crackle. http://www.crackle.com/Play/?ml=fu%3D2336040%26fx%3D&id=2459400. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- ^ Bruno, Mike (February 19, 2008). "'Dancing With the Stars' Announces Lineup". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20178686,00.html. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
External links[link]
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This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (July 2011) |
| Find more about Penn Jillette on Wikipedia's sister projects: | |
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Quotations from Wikiquote |
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Source texts from Wikisource |
- Penn & Teller's official website
- Penn's old YouTube channel (Available only in the United States, discontinued Apr 23, 2010)
- Penn's new YouTube channel (Available everywhere)
- Penn Jillette at the Internet Broadway Database
- Penn Jillette at the Internet Movie Database
- Penn Point Jillette's video blog on Revision3
- Penn Says Jillette's video blog on Crackle.com
- Penn Jillette columns includes Jillette's PC-Computing columns
- Penn Jillette/The magician-comedian-writer's secrets revealed! – Slate, February 4, 2006
- Penn Jillette/Telling It Like It Is, With Teller – AskMen.com interview
- "Voodoo and Violence", interview in Reason by Steve Kurtz
- Jillette's home "The Slammer"
- "Penn Jillette's 10 Commandments for atheists". USA Today. October 28, 2011. http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-10-28/penn-jillette-ten-commandments/50978982/1.
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| Name | Jillette, Penn |
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| Date of birth | March 5, 1955 |
| Place of birth | Greenfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
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| Born | (1942-03-28) March 28, 1942 (age 70) Boston, Massachusetts |
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| Era | 20th / 21st-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Analytic philosophy |
| Main interests | Philosophy of mind Philosophy of biology Philosophy of science Cognitive science |
| Notable ideas | Heterophenomenology Intentional stance Intuition pump Multiple Drafts Model Greedy reductionism Deepity |
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Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28, 1942)[1][2] is an American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science.[3] He is currently the Co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and a University Professor at Tufts University. Dennett is a firm atheist and secularist, a member of the Secular Coalition for America advisory board,[4] as well as an outspoken supporter of the Brights movement. Dennett is referred to as one of the "Four Horsemen of New Atheism," along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens.[5]
Contents |
Early life and education[link]
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Dennett spent part of his childhood in Lebanon, where, during World War II, his father was a covert counter-intelligence agent with the Office of Strategic Services posing as a cultural attaché to the American Embassy in Beirut.[6] When he was five, his mother took him back to Massachusetts after his father died in an unexplained plane crash.[7] His sister is the investigative journalist Charlotte Dennett.[6]
He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and spent one year at Wesleyan University before receiving his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Harvard University in 1963, where he was a student of W. V. Quine. In 1965, he received his Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he studied under Gilbert Ryle and was a member of Hertford College.
Academic career[link]
As of January 2012, Dennett is the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, University Professor, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies (with Ray Jackendoff) at Tufts University.[8]
Dennett describes himself as "an autodidact — or, more properly, the beneficiary of hundreds of hours of informal tutorials on all the fields that interest me, from some of the world's leading scientists."[9]
He is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Science.[10] He is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.[11] He was named 2004 Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association.[12]
In February 2010 he was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.[13]
In 2012 he was awarded the Erasmus Prize, an annual award for a person who has made an exceptional contribution to European culture, society or social science, "for his ability to translate the cultural significance of science and technology to a broad audience."[14]
Free will[link]
While he is a confirmed compatibilist on free will, in "On Giving Libertarians What They Say They Want" — Chapter 15 of his 1978 book Brainstorms,[15] Dennett articulated the case for a two-stage model of decision making in contrast to libertarian views.
The model of decision making I am proposing has the following feature: when we are faced with an important decision, a consideration-generator whose output is to some degree undetermined produces a series of considerations, some of which may of course be immediately rejected as irrelevant by the agent (consciously or unconsciously). Those considerations that are selected by the agent as having a more than negligible bearing on the decision then figure in a reasoning process, and if the agent is in the main reasonable, those considerations ultimately serve as predictors and explicators of the agent's final decision.[16]
While other philosophers have developed two-stage models, including William James, Henri Poincaré, Arthur Holly Compton, and Henry Margenau, Dennett defends this model for the following reasons:
- First...The intelligent selection, rejection, and weighing of the considerations that do occur to the subject is a matter of intelligence making the difference.
- Second, I think it installs indeterminism in the right place for the libertarian, if there is a right place at all.
- Third...from the point of view of biological engineering, it is just more efficient and in the end more rational that decision making should occur in this way.
- A fourth observation in favor of the model is that it permits moral education to make a difference, without making all of the difference.
- Fifth — and I think this is perhaps the most important thing to be said in favor of this model — it provides some account of our important intuition that we are the authors of our moral decisions.
- Finally, the model I propose points to the multiplicity of decisions that encircle our moral decisions and suggests that in many cases our ultimate decision as to which way to act is less important phenomenologically as a contributor to our sense of free will than the prior decisions affecting our deliberation process itself: the decision, for instance, not to consider any further, to terminate deliberation; or the decision to ignore certain lines of inquiry.
These prior and subsidiary decisions contribute, I think, to our sense of ourselves as responsible free agents, roughly in the following way: I am faced with an important decision to make, and after a certain amount of deliberation, I say to myself: "That's enough. I've considered this matter enough and now I'm going to act," in the full knowledge that I could have considered further, in the full knowledge that the eventualities may prove that I decided in error, but with the acceptance of responsibility in any case.[17]
Leading libertarian philosophers such as Robert Kane have rejected Dennett's model, specifically that random chance is directly involved in a decision, on the basis that they believe this eliminates the agent's motives and reasons, character and values, and feelings and desires. They claim that, if chance is the primary cause of decisions, then agents cannot be liable for resultant actions. Kane says:
[As Dennett admits,] a causal indeterminist view of this deliberative kind does not give us everything libertarians have wanted from free will. For [the agent] does not have complete control over what chance images and other thoughts enter his mind or influence his deliberation. They simply come as they please. [The agent] does have some control after the chance considerations have occurred.
But then there is no more chance involved. What happens from then on, how he reacts, is determined by desires and beliefs he already has. So it appears that he does not have control in the libertarian sense of what happens after the chance considerations occur as well. Libertarians require more than this for full responsibility and free will.[18]
Other philosophical views[link]
Dennett has remarked in several places (such as "Self-portrait", in Brainchildren) that his overall philosophical project has remained largely the same since his time at Oxford. He is primarily concerned with providing a philosophy of mind that is grounded in empirical research. In his original dissertation, Content and Consciousness, he broke up the problem of explaining the mind into the need for a theory of content and for a theory of consciousness. His approach to this project has also stayed true to this distinction. Just as Content and Consciousness has a bipartite structure, he similarly divided Brainstorms into two sections. He would later collect several essays on content in The Intentional stance and synthesize his views on consciousness into a unified theory in Consciousness Explained. These volumes respectively form the most extensive development of his views.[19]
In Consciousness Explained, Dennett's interest in the ability of evolution to explain some of the content-producing features of consciousness is already apparent, and this has since become an integral part of his program. He defends a theory known by some as Neural Darwinism. He also presents an argument against qualia; he argues that the concept is so confused that it cannot be put to any use or understood in any non-contradictory way, and therefore does not constitute a valid refutation of physicalism. His strategy mirrors his teacher Ryle's approach of redefining first person phenomena in third person terms, and denying the coherence of the concepts which this approach struggles with. Much of Dennett's work since the 1990s has been concerned with fleshing out his previous ideas by addressing the same topics from an evolutionary standpoint, from what distinguishes human minds from animal minds (Kinds of Minds), to how free will is compatible with a naturalist view of the world (Freedom Evolves). In his 2006 book, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Dennett attempts to subject religious belief to the same treatment, explaining possible evolutionary reasons for the phenomenon of religious adherence.
Dennett self-identifies with a few terms:
[Others] note that my 'avoidance of the standard philosophical terminology for discussing such matters' often creates problems for me; philosophers have a hard time figuring out what I am saying and what I am denying. My refusal to play ball with my colleagues is deliberate, of course, since I view the standard philosophical terminology as worse than useless — a major obstacle to progress since it consists of so many errors.
— Daniel Dennett, The Message is: There is no Medium
Yet, in Consciousness Explained, he admits "I am a sort of 'teleofunctionalist', of course, perhaps the original teleofunctionalist'". He goes on to say, "I am ready to come out of the closet as some sort of verificationist". In Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon he admits to being "a bright", and defends the term.
In Darwin's Dangerous Idea, Dennett writes that evolution can account for the origin of morality. He rejects the idea of the naturalistic fallacy as the idea that ethics is in some free-floating realm, writing that the fallacy is to rush from facts to values.
Role in evolutionary debate[link]
Dennett sees evolution by natural selection as an algorithmic process (though he spells out that algorithms as simple as long division often incorporate a significant degree of randomness).[20] This idea is in conflict with the evolutionary philosophy of paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, who preferred to stress the "pluralism" of evolution (i.e. its dependence on many crucial factors, of which natural selection is only one).
Dennett's views on evolution are identified as being strongly adaptationist, in line with his theory of the intentional stance, and the evolutionary views of biologist Richard Dawkins. In Darwin's Dangerous Idea, Dennett showed himself even more willing than Dawkins to defend adaptationism in print, devoting an entire chapter to a criticism of the ideas of Gould. This stems from Gould's long-running public debate with E. O. Wilson and other evolutionary biologists over human sociobiology and its descendant evolutionary psychology, which Gould and Richard Lewontin opposed, but which Dennett advocated, together with Dawkins and Steven Pinker.[21] Strong disagreements have been launched against Dennett from Gould and his supporters, who allege that Dennett overstated his claims and misrepresented Gould's to reinforce what Gould describes as Dennett's "Darwinian fundamentalism".[22]
Dennett's theories have had a significant influence on the work of evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller. He has also written about and advocated the notion of memetics as a philosophically useful tool, most recently in his "Brains, Computers, and Minds," a three part presentation through Harvard's MBB 2009 Distinguished Lecture Series.
He has recently been doing research into clerics who are secretly atheists and how they rationalize their works. He found what he called a "Don't ask, don't tell" conspiracy because believers did not want to hear of loss of faith. That made unbelieving preachers feel isolated but they did not want to lose their jobs and sometimes their church-supplied lodgings and generally consoled themselves that they were doing good in their pastoral roles by providing comfort and required ritual.[23] The research, with Linda LaScola, was further extended to include other denominations and non-Christian clerics.[24]
Personal life[link]
Dennett lives with his wife in North Andover, Massachusetts, and has a daughter, a son, and three grandchildren.[25] He is also an avid sailor.
In October 2006, Dennett was hospitalized due to an aortic dissection. After a nine-hour surgery, he was given a new aorta. In an essay posted on the Edge website, Dennett gives his firsthand account of his health problems, his consequent feelings of gratitude towards the scientists, cardiologist, surgeons, EMT's, phlebotomists, orderlies, housekeepers, physician assistants, X-ray technicians, meal-bringers, launderers, physical therapists, perfusionist, neurologist, and nurses whose hard work made his recovery possible, and his complete lack of a "deathbed conversion".
To whom, then, do I owe a debt of gratitude? To the cardiologist who has kept me alive and ticking for years, and who swiftly and confidently rejected the original diagnosis of nothing worse than pneumonia. To the surgeons, neurologists, anesthesiologists, and the perfusionist, who kept my systems going for many hours under daunting circumstances. To the dozen or so physician assistants, and to nurses and physical therapists and x-ray technicians and a small army of phlebotomists so deft that you hardly know they are drawing your blood, and the people who brought the meals, kept my room clean, did the mountains of laundry generated by such a messy case, wheel-chaired me to x-ray, and so forth. These people came from Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Haiti, the Philippines, Croatia, Russia, China, Korea, India—and the United States, of course—and I have never seen more impressive mutual respect, as they helped each other out and checked each other's work. But for all their teamwork, this local gang could not have done their jobs without the huge background of contributions from others. I remember with gratitude my late friend and Tufts colleague, physicist Allan Cormack, who shared the Nobel Prize for his invention of the c-t scanner. Allan—you have posthumously saved yet another life, but who's counting? The world is better for the work you did. Thank goodness. Then there is the whole system of medicine, both the science and the technology, without which the best-intentioned efforts of individuals would be roughly useless. So I am grateful to the editorial boards and referees, past and present, of Science, Nature, Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, and all the other institutions of science and medicine that keep churning out improvements, detecting and correcting flaws.
— Daniel C. Dennett, Thank Goodness!
By his account, upon having been told by friends and relatives that they had prayed for him, he resisted the urge to ask them, "Did you also sacrifice a goat?"[26][27]
Selected books[link]
- Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology (MIT Press 1981) (ISBN 0-262-54037-1)
- Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting (MIT Press 1984) — on free will and determinism (ISBN 0-262-04077-8)
- The Mind's I (Bantam, Reissue edition 1985, with Douglas Hofstadter) (ISBN 0-553-34584-2)
- Content and Consciousness (Routledge & Kegan Paul Books Ltd; 2nd ed. January 1986) (ISBN 0-7102-0846-4)
- The Intentional Stance (6th printing), Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1996, ISBN 0-262-54053-3 (First published 1987)
- Consciousness Explained (Back Bay Books 1992) (ISBN 0-316-18066-1)
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (Simon & Schuster; reprint edition 1996) (ISBN 0-684-82471-X)
- Kinds of Minds: Towards an Understanding of Consciousness (Basic Books 1997) (ISBN 0-465-07351-4)
- Brainchildren: Essays on Designing Minds (Representation and Mind) (MIT Press 1998) (ISBN 0-262-04166-9) — A Collection of Essays 1984–1996
- Freedom Evolves (Viking Press 2003) (ISBN 0-670-03186-0)
- Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness (MIT Press 2005) (ISBN 0-262-04225-8)
- Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (Penguin Group 2006) (ISBN 0-670-03472-X).
- Neuroscience and Philosophy: Brain, Mind, and Language (Columbia University Press 2007) (ISBN 978-0-231-14044-7), co-authored with Maxwell Bennett, Peter Hacker, and John Searle
- Science and Religion (Oxford University Press 2010) (ISBN 0-199-73842-4), co-authored with Alvin Plantinga
See also[link]
- The Atheism Tapes
- Cartesian materialism
- Conscious Robots
- Evolutionary psychology of religion
- Greedy reductionism
- Geoffrey Miller
- Heterophenomenology
- Intentional stance
- List of Jean Nicod Prize laureates
- Memetics
- Multiple drafts theory of consciousness
- Philosophy of Religion
- American philosophy
- List of American philosophers
Further reading[link]
- John Brockman (1995). The Third Culture. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-80359-3 (Discusses Dennett and others).
- Daniel C. Dennett (1997), "Chapter 3. True Believers: The Intentional Strategy and Why it Works", in John Haugeland, Mind Design II: Philosophy, Psychology, Artificial Intelligence. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ISBN 0-262-08259-4 (reprint of 1981 publication).[a]
- Andrew Brook and Don Ross (editors) (2000). Daniel Dennett. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00864-6
- Don Ross, Andrew Brook and David Thompson (editors) (2000) Dennett's Philosophy: A Comprehensive Assessment Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-18200-9
- John Symons (2000) On Dennett. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. ISBN 0-534-57632-X
- Matthew Elton (2003). Dennett: Reconciling Science and Our Self-Conception. Cambridge, U.K: Polity Press. ISBN 0-7456-2117-1
- P.M.S. Hacker and M.R. Bennett (2003) Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience. Oxford, and Malden, Mass: Blackwell ISBN 1-4051-0855-X (Has an appendix devoted to a strong critique of Dennett's philosophy of mind)
Notes[link]
a. ^ "True Believers: The Intentional Strategy and Why it Works" is a reprint of a paper first published in 1981 in Scientific Explanation, edited by A.F. Heath (Oxford: Oxford University Press). The paper was originally presented as a Herbert Spencer lecture at Oxford in November 1979. It was also published as chapter 2 in Dennett's book The Intentional Stance (see further reading above).
References[link]
- ^ Autobiography
- ^ About the Author
- ^ Beardsley, T. (1996) Profile: Daniel C. Dennett – Dennett's Dangerous Idea, Scientific American 274(2), 34-35.
- ^ Secular Coalition for America Advisory Board Biography
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b Feuer, Alan (2007-10-23), "A Dead Spy, a Daughter’s Questions and the C.I.A.", New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/nyregion/23spydad.html, retrieved 2008-09-16
- ^ Brown, Andrew (2004-04-17). "The semantic engineer". The Guardian. http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,6000,1193371,00.html. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ Center for Cognitive Studies
- ^ Dennett, Daniel C. (2005-09-13) [2004], "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up", in John Brockman, Curious Minds: How a Child Becomes a Scientist, New York: Vintage Books, ISBN 1-4000-7686-2, http://www.edge.org/books/curious_index.html
- ^ American Scientist
- ^ Secular Humanism Laureate
- ^ Humanist of the Year
- ^ "Honorary FFRF Board Announced". http://ffrf.org/news/releases/honorary-ffrf-board-announced/. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ "Erasmus Prize 2012 Awarded to Daniel C. Dennett". http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=346065. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology, MIT Press (1978), pp.286-299
- ^ Brainstorms, p.295
- ^ Brainstorms, pp.295-97
- ^ Robert Kane, A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will, Oxford (2005) p.64-5
- ^ Guttenplan, Samuel (1994), A companion to the philosophy of mind, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 642, ISBN 0-631-19996-9
- ^ p. 52-60, Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (Simon & Schuster; reprint edition 1996) (ISBN 0-684-82471-X)
- ^ Although Dennett has expressed criticism of human sociobiology, calling it a form of "greedy reductionism", he is generally sympathetic towards the explanations proposed by evolutionary psychology. Gould also is not one sided, and writes: "Sociobiologists have broadened their range of selective stories by invoking concepts of inclusive fitness and kin selection to solve (successfully I think) the vexatious problem of altruism—previously the greatest stumbling block to a Darwinian theory of social behavior. . . . Here sociobiology has had and will continue to have success. And here I wish it well. For it represents an extension of basic Darwinism to a realm where it should apply." Gould, 1980. "Sociobiology and the Theory of Natural Selection" In G. W. Barlow and J. Silverberg, eds., Sociobiology: Beyond Nature/Nurture? Boulder CO: Westview Press, pp. 257-269.
- ^ 'Evolution: The pleasures of Pluralism' — Stephen Jay Gould's review of Darwin's Dangerous Idea, June 26, 1997
- ^ Preachers who are not Believers (PDF), Evolutionary Psychology, Vol. 8, Issue 1, March, 2010, pp. 122-50, (ISSN 1474-7049).
- ^ Podcast: interview with Daniel Dennett. Further developments of the research: pastors, priests, and an Imam who are closet atheists.
- ^ Daniel C. Dennett's Home Page
- ^ Richard Dawkins: 'The Genius of Charles Darwin' (2008.).
- ^ 'Thank Goodness!', edge 195, Nov. 3, 2006
External links[link]
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- Inside Jokes Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind Matthew M. Hurley, Daniel C. Dennett and Reginald B. Adams, Jr at The MIT Press
- Faculty webpage
- Daniel C. Dennett at Internet Movie Database
- Scientific American Frontiers Profile: Daniel Dennett 2000-12-19
- Searchable bibliography of Dennett's works
- Daniel Dennett on Information Philosopher
- Media
- Edge/Third Culture: Daniel C. Dennett
- Daniel Dennett multimedia files
- Profile at TED several videos on dangerous memes, consciousness, others
- Radio interview on Philosophy Talk 2009-12-06
- The Nature of Knowledge Lecture at the University of Edinburgh 2006-03-14
- On Preaching and Teaching The Science Network interview with Daniel Dennett 2007-11-02
- The Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies video interview with Daniel Dennett 2010-03-05 (with transcript)
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dennett, Daniel |
| Alternative names | Dennett, Dan |
| Short description | American philosopher |
| Date of birth | (1942-03-28) March 28, 1942 (age 70) |
| Place of birth | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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"Romney" redirects here. For other uses, see Romney (disambiguation).
| Mitt Romney | |
|---|---|
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| 70th Governor of Massachusetts | |
| In office January 2, 2003 – January 4, 2007 |
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| Lieutenant | Kerry Healey |
| Preceded by | Jane Swift (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Deval Patrick |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Willard Mitt Romney (1947-03-12) March 12, 1947 (age 65) Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Ann Romney (m. 1969) «start: (1969)»"Marriage: Ann Romney to Mitt Romney" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Mitt_Romney) |
| Children | Taggart (b. 1970) Matthew (b. 1971) Joshua (b. 1975) Benjamin (b. 1978) Craig (b. 1981) |
| Residence | Belmont, Massachusetts Wolfeboro, New Hampshire San Diego, California |
| Alma mater | Brigham Young University (BA) Harvard University (MBA, JD) |
| Religion | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) |
| Positions | Co-founder, Bain Capital (1984–1999) CEO, Bain & Company (1991–1992) CEO, 2002 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee (1999–2002) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | MittRomney.com |
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This article is part of a series about Mitt Romney |
Mitt Romney
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2012 Presidential campaign |
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Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States in the 2012 election. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts (2003–07).
The son of Lenore and George W. Romney (Governor of Michigan, 1963–69), he was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 1966, after one year at Stanford University, he left the United States to spend thirty months in France as a Mormon missionary. In 1969, he married Ann Davies, and the couple had five children together. In 1971, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brigham Young University and, in 1975, a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as a Baker Scholar. He entered the management consulting industry, which in 1977, led to a position at Bain & Company. Later serving as Chief Executive Officer, he helped bring the company out of financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded the spin-off Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the nation. His net worth is estimated at $190–250 million, wealth that has helped fund his political campaigns. Active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as Ward Bishop and later Stake President in his area near Boston. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, losing to long-time incumbent Ted Kennedy. In 1999, he was hired as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics; and he helped turn the fiscally troubled games into a success.
He was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002 but did not seek re-election in 2006. During his term he presided over a series of spending cuts and increases in fees that eliminated a projected $1.5 billion deficit. He also signed into law the Massachusetts health care reform legislation, the first of its kind in the nation, which provided near-universal health insurance access via state-level subsidies and individual mandates.
Romney ran for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, winning several primaries and caucuses but losing the nomination to John McCain. In the following years, he gave speeches and raised campaign funds on behalf of his fellow Republicans. In June 2011, he announced that he would seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination; as of May 2012, he has won enough caucuses and primaries to become the party's presumptive nominee.
Contents
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Early life and education[link]
See also: Romney family
Heritage and youth[link]
Willard Mitt Romney[1] was born at Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan,[2] the youngest child of George W. Romney, a self-made man who by 1948 had become an automobile executive, and Lenore Romney (née LaFount), an aspiring actress turned homemaker.[3][4][5] His mother was a native of Logan, Utah, and his father was born in a Mormon colony in Chihuahua, Mexico, to American parents.[6][7] He is of primarily English descent, and also has more distant Scottish and German ancestry.[8][9][10] He is a fifth-generation member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).[11][12] A great-great-grandfather, Miles Romney, converted to the faith in its first decade, and another great-great-grandfather, Parley P. Pratt, was an early leader in the church during the same time.[13]
He was preceded in birth by three siblings: Margo Lynn, Jane LaFount, and G. Scott. Mitt followed after a gap of nearly six years. He was named after family friend, hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, and his father's cousin Milton "Mitt" Romney, a former quarterback for the Chicago Bears.[14][nb 1] In 1953, the family moved from Detroit to the affluent suburb of Bloomfield Hills.[16] In 1954, his father became the chairmen and CEO of American Motors, a company he helped avoid bankruptcy, and return to profitability.[16] By the time Mitt was twelve, his father had become a nationally known figure in print and on television,[17] and Mitt idolized him.[18]
He attended public elementary schools[15] until the seventh grade, when he began commuting to Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, a traditional private boys' preparatory school where he was one of only a few Mormons and where many students came from backgrounds even more privileged than he.[19][20] He was not particularly athletic and at first did not excel academically.[18] During his sophomore year he participated in the 1962 campaign in which his father was elected Governor of Michigan.[nb 2] When his parents moved to the state capitol as part of George Romney taking office, Mitt took up residence at Cranbrook's Stevens Hall.[19] George Romney was re-elected twice; Mitt worked for him as an intern in the governor's office, and was present at the 1964 Republican National Convention when his moderate father battled conservative party nominee Barry Goldwater over issues of civil rights and ideological extremism.[18][22] During these years, Romney had a steady set of chores and summer jobs, including working as a security guard at a Chrysler plant.[23]
At Cranbrook he was a manager for the ice hockey team and a member of the pep squad,[19] and during his final year joined the cross country running team.[15] He belonged to eleven school organizations and school clubs, and started the Blue Key Club boosters group.[19] During his final year at Cranbook, Romney improved academically, but was still not a star pupil.[18][20] He won an award for those "whose contributions to school life are often not fully recognized through already existing channels".[20] Romney was involved in many pranks.[nb 3]
In March of his senior year, he began dating Ann Davies, two years his younger, whom he had first met in elementary school; she attended the private Kingswood School, the sister school to Cranbrook.[27][20] The two informally agreed to marriage around the time of his June 1965 graduation.[18]
University, France mission, marriage and children: 1965–1975[link]
Romney attended Stanford University for a year,[18][nb 4] where he worked as a night security guard in order to pay for trips home to see Ann.[28] Although the campus was becoming radicalized with the beginnings of 1960s social and political movements, he kept a well-groomed appearance and participated in pre-Big Game actions designed to protect the Stanford Axe.[18] In May 1966, he was part of a counter-protest against a group staging a sit-in in the university administration building in opposition to draft status tests.[18][29]
"As you can imagine, it's quite an experience to go to Bordeaux and say, 'Give up your wine! I've got a great religion for you!'"
—Mitt Romney in 2002 reflecting upon his missionary experience.[30]
In July 1966, he left for a thirty-month stay in France as a Mormon missionary,[18][31] a traditional rite of passage that his father and many other relatives had volunteered for.[nb 5] He arrived in Le Havre with ideas about how to change and promote the French Mission, while facing physical and economic deprivation in their cramped quarters.[33][13] Rules against drinking, smoking, and dating were strictly enforced.[13] Most individual Mormon missionaries do not gain many converts,[35] and Romney was no exception:[33] he later estimated ten to twenty for his entire mission.[36] The nominally Catholic but secular, wine-loving French people were especially resistant to a religion that prohibits alcohol.[18][13][30] He became demoralized, and later recalled it as the only time when "most of what I was trying to do was rejected."[33] In Nantes, he suffered a bruised jaw while defending two female missionaries who were being bothered by a group of local rugby players.[13] He continued to work hard; having grown up in Michigan rather than the more insular Utah world, Romney was better able to interact with the French than other missionaries.[37][13] He was promoted to zone leader in Bordeaux in early 1968, then in the spring of that year became assistant to the mission president in Paris, the highest position for a missionary.[33][13][38] In the Mission Home in Paris he enjoyed palace-like accommodations.[38] Romney's support for the U.S. role in the Vietnam War was only reinforced when the French greeted him with hostility over the matter and he debated them in return.[13][33] He witnessed the May 1968 general strike and student uprisings and was upset by the breakdown in social order.[39]
In June 1968, an automobile he was driving in southern France was hit by another vehicle, seriously injuring him and killing one of his passengers, the wife of the mission president.[nb 6] Romney, who was not at fault in the accident,[nb 6] became co-acting president of a mission demoralized and disorganized by the May civil disturbances and by the car accident.[37] He rallied and motivated the others and they met an ambitious goal of 200 baptisms for the year, the most for the mission in a decade.[37] By the end of his stint in December 1968, he was overseeing the work of 175 fellow members.[33][40] Romney developed a lifelong affection for France and its people, and speaks French.[42] The experience in the country instilled in him a belief that life is fragile and that he needed seriousness of purpose.[18][37][13] It also represented a crucible, after having been an indifferent Mormon growing up: "On a mission, your faith in Jesus Christ either evaporates or it becomes much deeper ... For me it became much deeper."[33]
While he was away, Ann Davies had converted to the Mormon faith, guided by George Romney, and had begun attending Brigham Young University (BYU).[18] Mitt was nervous that she had been wooed by others while he was away, and she had indeed started dating popular campus figure Kim S. Cameron and had sent Romney in France a "Dear John letter", greatly upsetting him; he wrote to her to in an attempt to win her back.[43][15] At their first meeting following Romney's return they reconnected, and decided to get married immediately but agreed to wait three months to appease their parents.[44] At Ann's request, Romney began attending Brigham Young too, in February 1969.[43][nb 4] The couple were married on March 21, 1969, in a civil ceremony at Ann's family's home in Bloomfield Hills that was presided over by a church elder.[46][47][48] The following day, the couple flew to Utah for a wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple.[46][47]
Romney had missed much of the tumultuous American anti-Vietnam War movement while away, and was surprised to learn that his father had turned against the effort during his unsuccessful 1968 presidential campaign.[33] Regarding the military draft, Romney had initially received a student deferment, then, like most Mormon missionaries, a ministerial deferment while in France, and then a student deferment.[33][49] When those ran out, his high number in the December 1969 draft lottery (300) ensured he would not be selected.[33][49][50]
At culturally conservative BYU, he remained isolated from much of the upheaval of the era, and did not join in protests against the war, or the LDS Church's policy at the time of denying full membership to blacks.[24][33][43] He became president of, and an innovative fundraiser for, the all-male Cougar Club booster organization and showed a new-found discipline in his studies.[33][43] In his senior year, he took leave to work as driver and advance man for his mother Lenore Romney's eventually unsuccessful 1970 campaign for U.S. Senator from Michigan.[24][46] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with highest honors in 1971,[43] and gave commencement addresses to both the College of Humanities and to the whole of BYU.[nb 7]
The Romneys' first son, Taggart, was born in 1970[46] while they were undergraduates at Brigham Young[52] and living in a basement apartment.[33][43] Ann subsequently gave birth to Matt (1971), Josh (1975), Ben (1978), and Craig (1981).[46] Her work as a homemaker would enable her husband to pursue his career.[53]
Romney still wanted to pursue a business path, but his father, by now serving in President Richard Nixon's cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, advised him that a law degree would be valuable to his career.[54][55] Thus he became one of only fifteen students to enroll at the recently created joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration four-year program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.[56] Fellow students considered him guilelessly optimistic, noting his solid work ethic and buttoned-down demeanor and appearance.[56][57] He readily adapted to the business school's pragmatic, data-driven case study method of teaching, participated in class well, and led a study group whom he pushed to get all A's.[55] He had a different social experience from most of his classmates, since he lived in a Belmont, Massachusetts, house with Ann and two children.[46][55] He was non-ideological and did not involve himself in the political or social issues of the day.[46][55] He graduated in 1975 cum laude from the law school, in the top third of that class, and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class.[51][56]
Business career[link]
Management consulting[link]
Romney was recruited by several firms and chose to remain in Massachusetts to work for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), reasoning that working as a management consultant to a variety of companies would better prepare him for a future position as a chief executive.[54][58][nb 8] He was part of a 1970s wave of top graduates who chose to go into consulting rather than join a major company directly.[60] His legal and business education proved useful in his job[54] while he applied BCG principles such as the growth-share matrix.[61] He was viewed as having a bright future there.[54][62]
In 1977, he was hired away by Bain & Company, a management consulting firm in Boston that had been formed a few years earlier by Bill Bain and other former BCG employees.[61][54][63] Bain would later say of the thirty-year-old Romney, "He had the appearance of confidence of a guy who was maybe ten years older."[64] With Bain & Company, Romney learned what writers and business analysts have dubbed the "Bain way",[54][63][65] which consisted of immersing the firm in each client's business,[54][64] and not just issuing recommendations but staying with the company until changes were put into place.[61][63][66] Romney became a vice president of the firm in 1978,[15] and worked with clients such as the Monsanto Company, Outboard Marine Corporation, Burlington Industries, and Corning Incorporated.[58] Within a few years, he was one of Bain & Company's best consultants and was sought after by clients over more senior partners.[54][67]
Private equity[link]
File:Bain Capital.png
Logo of Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney co-founded in 1984
Romney was restless for a company of his own to run, and in 1983, Bill Bain offered him the chance to head a new venture that would buy into companies, have them benefit from Bain techniques, and then reap higher rewards than consulting fees.[54][61] He initially refrained from accepting the offer, and Bain re-arranged the terms in a complicated partnership structure so that there was no financial or professional risk to Romney.[54][64][68] Thus, in 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found the spin-off private equity investment firm, Bain Capital.[66] In the face of skepticism from potential investors, Bain and Romney spent a year raising the $37 million in funds needed to start the new operation, which had fewer than ten employees.[58][64][69] As general partner of the new firm, Romney spent little money on costs such as office appearance, and saw weak spots in so many potential deals that by 1986, few had been done.[54] At first, Bain Capital focused on venture capital opportunities.[54] Their first big success was a 1986 investment to help start Staples Inc., after founder Thomas G. Stemberg convinced Romney of the market size for office supplies and Romney convinced others; Bain Capital eventually reaped a nearly sevenfold return on its investment, and Romney sat on the Staples board of directors for over a decade.[54][69][70]
Romney soon switched Bain Capital's focus from startups to the relatively new business of leveraged buyouts: buying existing firms with money mostly borrowed against their assets, partnering with existing management to apply the "Bain way" to their operations (rather than the hostile takeovers practiced in other leverage buyout scenarios), and selling them off in a few years.[54][64] Existing CEOs were offered large equity stakes in the process, owing to Bain Capital's belief in the emerging agency theory that CEOs should be bound to maximizing shareholder value rather than other goals.[70] Bain Capital lost most of its money in many of its early leveraged buyouts, but then started finding deals that made large returns.[54] The firm invested in or acquired Accuride, Brookstone, Domino's Pizza, Sealy Corporation, Sports Authority, and Artisan Entertainment, as well as lesser-known companies in the industrial and medical sectors.[54][64][71] He ran Bain Capital for fourteen years, during which time the firm's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent.[58] Much of this profit was earned from a relatively small number of deals; Bain Capital's overall success–to–failure ratio was about even.[nb 9]
Less an entrepreneur than an executive running an investment operation,[67][72] Romney was skilled at presenting and selling the deals the company made.[68] The firm initially gave a cut of its profits to Bain & Company, but Romney persuaded Bain to give that up.[68] Within Bain Capital, Romney spread profits from deals widely within the firm to keep people motivated, often keeping less than ten percent for himself.[73] Viewed as a fair manager, he received considerable loyalty from the firm's members.[70] Romney's wary instincts were still in force at times, and he was generally data-driven and averse to risk.[54][70] He wanted to drop a Bain Capital hedge fund that initially lost money, but other partners prevailed and it eventually gained billions.[54] He also personally opted out of the Artisan Entertainment deal, not wanting to profit from a studio that produced R-rated films.[54] Romney was on the board of directors of Damon Corporation, a medical testing company later found guilty of defrauding the government; Bain Capital tripled its investment before selling off the company, and the fraud was discovered by the new owners (Romney was never implicated).[54] In some cases, Romney had little involvement with a company once acquired.[69]
"Sometimes the medicine is a little bitter but it is necessary to save the life of the patient. My job was to try and make the enterprise successful, and in my view the best security a family can have is that the business they work for is strong."
—Mitt Romney in 2007, commenting on job losses at companies that Bain Capital executed leveraged buyouts of.[68]
Bain Capital's leveraged buyouts sometimes led to layoffs, either soon after acquisition or later after the firm had left.[61][68][69] How jobs added compared to those lost due to these investments and buyouts is unknown, due to a lack of records and Bain Capital's penchant for privacy on behalf of itself and its investors.[74][75][76] In any case, maximizing the value of acquired companies and the return to Bain's investors, not job creation, was the firm's fundamental goal, as it was for most private equity operations.[69][77] Bain Capital's acquisition of Ampad exemplified a deal where it profited handsomely from early payments and management fees, even though the subject company itself ended up going into bankruptcy.[54][70][77] Dade Behring was another case where Bain Capital received an eightfold return on its investment, but the company itself was saddled with debt and laid off over a thousand employees before Bain Capital exited (the company subsequently went into bankruptcy, with more layoffs, before recovering and prospering).[74] Bain was among the private equity firms that took the most fees in such cases.[64][70]
In 1990, Romney was asked to return to Bain & Company, which was facing financial collapse.[66] He was announced as its new CEO in January 1991[78][79] but drew only a symbolic salary of one dollar.[66] He managed an effort to restructure the firm's employee stock-ownership plan, real-estate deals and bank loans, while rallying the firm's thousand employees, imposing a new governing structure that included Bain and the other founding partners giving up control, and increasing fiscal transparency.[54][58][66] Within about a year, he had led Bain & Company through a turnaround and returned the firm to profitability without further layoffs or partner defections.[58] He turned Bain & Company over to new leadership and returned to Bain Capital in December 1992.[54][79][80]
Romney took a leave of absence from Bain Capital in February 1999 to serve as the President and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee.[54][81] By that time, Bain Capital was on its way to being one of the top private equity firms in the nation,[68] having increased its number of partners from 5 to 18, with 115 employees overall, and $4 billion under its management.[64][69] Bain Capital's approach of applying consulting expertise to the companies it invested in became widely copied within the private equity industry.[25][69] Economist Steven Kaplan would later say, "[Romney] came up with a model that was very successful and very innovative and that now everybody uses."[70]
Personal wealth[link]
In August 2001, Romney announced that he would not return to Bain Capital.[81] He transferred his ownership to other partners and negotiated an agreement that allowed him to receive a passive profit share as a retired partner in some Bain Capital entities, including buyout and investment funds.[73][82] Because the private equity business continued to thrive, this deal brought him millions of dollars in annual income.[73] As a result of his business career, by 2007, Romney and his wife had a net worth of between $190 and $250 million, most of it held in blind trusts since 2003.[82] In 2012, it was estimated that he had amassed twice the net worth of the last eight presidents combined,[83] and would rank among the four richest in American history if elected.[83][84]
An additional blind trust existed in the name of the Romneys' children and grandchildren that was valued at between $70 and $100 million as of 2007.[85] The couple's net worth remained in the same range as of 2011, and was still held in blind trusts.[86] In 2010, Romney and his wife received $21.7 million in income, almost all of it from investments, of which about $3 million went to federal income taxes (a rate of 13.9 percent, based upon the beneficial rate accorded investment income by the U.S. tax code) and almost $3 million to charity, including $1.5 million to the LDS Church.[87] Romney has always tithed to the church, including stock from Bain Capital holdings.[13][88][89] In 2010, the Romney family's Tyler Charitable Foundation gave out about $650,000, with some of it going to organizations that fight specific diseases such as cystic fibrosis and multiple sclerosis.[90]
Local LDS Church leadership[link]
During his years in business, Romney also served in the local lay clergy (consisting of all Mormon men over the age of 12).[13] Around 1977, he became a counselor to the president of the Boston Stake.[91] He later served as bishop of the ward (leader of the congregation) at Belmont, Massachusetts, from 1981 to 1986, acting as the ecclesiastical and administrative head of his congregation.[92][93] As such, in addition to home teaching, he also formulated Sunday services and classes using LDS scriptures to guide the congregation.[94] He forged bonds with other religious institutions in the area when the Belmont meetinghouse was destroyed by a fire of suspicious origins in 1984; the congregation rotated its meetings to other houses of worship while it was rebuilt.[88][93]
From 1986 to 1994, he presided over the Boston Stake, which included more than a dozen wards in eastern Massachusetts with about 4,000 church members altogether.[67][94][95] He organized a team to handle financial and management issues, sought to counter anti-Mormon sentiments, and tried to solve social problems among poor Southeast Asian converts.[88][93] An unpaid position, his local church leadership often took 30 or more hours a week of his time,[94] and he became known for his tireless energy in the role.[67] He generally refrained from overnight business travel owing to his church responsibilities.[94]
He took a hands-on role in general matters, helping in maintenance efforts in- and outside homes, visiting the sick, and counseling troubled or burdened church members.[92][93][94] A number of local church members later credited him with turning their lives around or helping them through difficult times.[88][93][94] Some others were rankled by his leadership style and desired a more consensus-based approach.[93] Romney tried to balance the conservative dogma insisted upon by the church leadership in Utah with the desire of some Massachusetts members to have a more flexible application of doctrine.[67] He agreed with some modest requests from the liberal women's group Exponent II for changes in the way the church dealt with women, but clashed with women whom he felt were departing too much from doctrine.[67] In particular, he counseled women not to have abortions except in the rare cases allowed by LDS doctrine, and also in accordance with doctrine, encouraged prospective mothers who were not in successful marriages to give up children for adoption.[67] Romney later said that the years spent as an LDS minister gave him direct exposure to people struggling in economically difficult circumstances, and empathy for those going through problematic family situations.[96]
1994 U.S. senatorial campaign[link]
Main article: United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1994
By 1993, Romney had been thinking about entering politics, partly based upon Ann's urging and partly to follow in his father's footsteps.[46] He decided to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, who was seeking re-election for the sixth time. Kennedy was potentially vulnerable that year – in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole, and in part because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy had suffered some negative public relations regarding his character.[97][98][99] Romney changed his affiliation from Independent to Republican in October 1993 and formally announced his candidacy in February 1994.[46] He took a leave of absence from Bain Capital in November 1993, and stepped down from his church leadership role during 1994, due to the campaign.[100][94]
Radio personality Janet Jeghelian took an early lead in polls among candidates for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat, but Romney proved the most effective fundraiser.[101][102] He won 68 percent of the vote at the May 1994 Massachusetts Republican Party convention; businessman John Lakian finished a distant second and Jeghelian was eliminated.[103] Romney defeated Lakian in the September 1994 primary with over 80 percent of the vote.[15][104]
In the general election, Kennedy faced the first serious re-election challenger of his career in the young, telegenic, and well-funded Romney.[97] Romney ran as a fresh face, as a businessperson who stated he had created ten thousand jobs, and as a Washington outsider with a solid family image and moderate stances on social issues.[97][105] When Kennedy tried to tie Romney's policies to those of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Romney responded, "Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to take us back to Reagan-Bush."[106] Romney stated: "Ultimately, this is a campaign about change."[107] After two decades out of public view, his father George re-emerged during the campaign.[108][109]
Romney's campaign was effective in portraying Kennedy as soft on crime, but had trouble establishing its own positions in a consistent manner.[110] By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be approximately even.[97][111][112] Kennedy responded with a series of attack ads, which focused on Romney's seemingly shifting political views on issues such as abortion and on the treatment of workers at the Ampad plant owned by Romney's Bain Capital.[97][113][114] The latter was effective in blunting Romney's momentum.[70] Kennedy and Romney held a widely watched late October debate without a clear winner, but by then, Kennedy had pulled ahead in polls and stayed ahead afterward.[115] Romney spent $3 million of his own money in the race and more than $7 million overall.[116][nb 10] In the November general election, despite a disastrous showing for Democrats overall, Kennedy won the election with 58 percent of the vote to Romney's 41 percent,[54] the smallest margin in Kennedy's eight re-election campaigns for the Senate.[119]
2002 Winter Olympics[link]
Romney returned to Bain Capital the day after the election, but the loss had a lasting effect; he told his brother, "I never want to run for something again unless I can win."[46][120] When his father died in 1995, Mitt donated his inheritance to BYU's George W. Romney Institute of Public Management and joined the board and was vice-chair of the Points of Light Foundation (which had incorporated his father's National Volunteer Center).[45][81] His mother died in 1998. Romney felt restless as the decade neared a close; the goal of simply making more money was losing its appeal to him.[46][120] He no longer had a church leadership position, although he still taught Sunday School.[92] During the long and controversial approval and construction process for the $30 million Mormon temple in Belmont, he feared that as a political figure who had opposed Kennedy, he would become a focal point for opposition to the structure.[93] He thus kept to a limited, behind-the-scenes role in attempts to ease tensions between the church and local residents, but locals nonetheless sometimes referred to it as "Mitt's Temple".[88][92][93]
Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998; Mitt described watching her fail a series of neurological tests as the worst day of his life.[46] After two years of severe difficulties with the disease, she found while living in Park City, Utah (where the couple had built a vacation home) a mixture of mainstream, alternative, and equestrian therapies that gave her a lifestyle mostly without limitations.[53] When the offer came for him to take over the troubled 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, to be held in Salt Lake City in Utah, she urged him to take it, and eager for a new challenge, he did.[120][121] On February 11, 1999, Romney was hired as the president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002.[122]
Before Romney came on, the event was running $379 million short of its revenue benchmarks.[122] Plans were being made to scale back the Games to compensate for the fiscal crisis, and there were fears the Games might be moved away entirely.[123] The Games had also been damaged by allegations of bribery involving top officials, including prior Salt Lake Olympic Committee president and CEO Frank Joklik. Joklik and committee vice president Dave Johnson were forced to resign.[124] Romney was chosen by Utah figures looking for someone with expertise in business and law and with connections to the state and the LDS Church.[125] The appointment faced some initial criticism from non-Mormons, and fears from Mormons, that it represented cronyism or gave the Games too Mormon an image.[30]
Romney ran the planning for the Games like a business.[126] He revamped the organization's leadership and policies, reduced budgets, and boosted fundraising, alleviated the concerns corporate sponsors and recruited many new ones.[120][125] He appealed to Utah's citizenry with a message of optimism that helped restore confidence in the effort.[120][126] He worked to ensure the safety of the Games following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by coordinating a $300 million security budget.[121] Overall, he oversaw a $1.32 billion budget, 700 employees, and 26,000 volunteers.[122] The federal government provided between approximately $400 million[125][127][128] and $600 million[126][129] of that budget, much of it a result of Romney's having aggressively lobbied Congress and federal agencies.[129][130][131] It would prove to be a record level of federal funding for the staging of a U.S. Olympics, a fact Romney would cite as a selling point during his campaign for the Massachusetts governorship.[128][130] An additional federal $1.1 billion was spent on indirect support in the form of highway and transit projects.[132]
Romney emerged as the public face of the Olympic effort, appearing in photographs, news stories and Olympics pins.[120] Robert H. Garff, the chair of the organizing committee, later said that "It was obvious that he had an agenda larger than just the Olympics,"[120] and that Romney wanted to use the Olympics to propel himself into the national spotlight and a political career.[125][133] Garff believed the initial budget shortfall was not as bad as Romney portrayed, given there were still three years to reorganize.[125] Utah Senator Bob Bennett said that much of the needed federal money was already in place and an analysis by The Boston Globe stated that the committee already had nearly $1 billion in committed revenues.[125] Olympics critic Steve Pace, who led Utahns for Responsible Public Spending, thought Romney exaggerated the initial fiscal state in order to lay the groundwork for a well-publicized rescue.[133] Kenneth Bullock, another board member of the organizing committee and also head of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, often clashed with Romney at the time, and later said that Romney deserved some credit for the turnaround but not as much as he claimed:[120] Bullock said: "He tried very hard to build an image of himself as a savior, the great white hope. He was very good at characterizing and castigating people and putting himself on a pedestal."[125]
Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up clearing a profit of $100 million.[134] His performance as Olympics head was rated positively by 87 percent of Utahns.[135] Romney and his wife contributed $1 million to the Olympics, and he donated to charity the $1.4 million in salary and severance payments he received for his three years as president and CEO.[136]
Romney was widely praised for his efforts with the 2002 Winter Olympics[121] including by President George W. Bush,[25] and it solidified his reputation as a turnaround artist.[125] Harvard Business School taught a case study based around his actions.[61] He wrote a book about his experience titled Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games, published in 2004. The role gave Romney experience in dealing with federal, state, and local entities, a public persona he had previously lacked, and the chance to re-launch his political aspirations.[120] He was mentioned as a possible candidate for statewide office in both Massachusetts and Utah, and also as possibly joining the Bush administration.[121][137][138]
Governor of Massachusetts[link]
2002 gubernatorial campaign[link]
Main article: Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2002
In 2002, Republican Acting Governor Jane Swift's administration was plagued by political missteps and personal scandals.[135] Many Republicans viewed her as a liability and considered her unable to win a general election.[139] Prominent party figures – as well as the White House – wanted Romney to run for governor,[137][140] and the opportunity appealed to him for its national visibility.[141] One poll taken at that time showed Republicans favoring Romney over Swift by more than 50 percentage points.[142] On March 19, 2002, Swift announced she would not seek her party's nomination, and hours later Romney declared his candidacy,[142] for which would face no opposition in the primary.[143] In June 2002, Massachusetts Democratic Party officials contested Romney's eligibility to run for governor, citing residency issues involving his time in Utah for the Olympics.[144] That same month, the bipartisan Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission unanimously ruled that he was an eligible candidate.[145]
He again ran as a political outsider,[135] saying he was "not a partisan Republican" but rather a "moderate" with "progressive" views.[146] Supporters of Romney hailed his business success, especially with the Olympics, as the record of someone who would be able to bring a new era of efficiency into Massachusetts politics.[143] The campaign was the first to use microtargeting techniques, in which fine-grained groups of voters were reached with narrowly tailored messaging.[147] Nevertheless, Romney initially had difficulty connecting with voters and fell behind his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, in polls before rebounding.[148] During the election he contributed over $6 million – a state record at the time – to the nearly $10 million raised for his campaign overall.[149][150] Romney was elected governor on November 5, 2002, with 50 percent of the vote to O'Brien's 45 percent.[151]
Tenure, 2003–2007[link]
Main article: Governorship of Mitt Romney
When Romney was sworn in as the 70th governor of Massachusetts on January 2, 2003, [152] both houses of the Massachusetts state legislature held large Democratic majorities.[153] He picked his cabinet and advisors more on managerial abilities than partisan affiliation.[23] Upon entering office in the middle of a fiscal year, he faced an immediate $650 million shortfall and a projected $3 billion deficit for the next year.[138] Unexpected revenue of $1.0–1.3 billion from a previously enacted capital gains tax increase and $500 million in unanticipated federal grants decreased the deficit to $1.2–1.5 billion.[154][155] Through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and removal of corporate tax loopholes,[154] the state ran surpluses of around $600–700 million for the last two full fiscal years Romney was in office, although it began running deficits again after that.[nb 11]
Romney supported raising various fees by more than $300 million, including those for driver's licenses, marriage licenses, and gun licenses.[138][154] He increased a special gasoline retailer fee by two cents per gallon, generating about $60 million per year in additional revenue.[138][154] (Opponents said the reliance on fees sometimes imposed a hardship on those who could least afford them.)[154] Romney also closed tax loopholes that brought in another $181 million from businesses over the next two years and over $300 million for his term.[138][160] Romney did so in the face of conservative and corporate critics that considered them tax increases.[160]
The state legislature, with Romney's support, also cut spending by $1.6 billion, including $700 million in reductions in state aid to cities and towns.[161] The cuts also included a $140 million reduction in state funding for higher education, which led state-run colleges and universities to increase tuition by 63 percent over four years.[138][154] Romney sought additional cuts in his last year as governor by vetoing nearly 250 items in the state budget, but all were overridden by the heavily Democratic legislature.[162]
The cuts in state spending put added pressure on localities to reduce services or raise property taxes, and the share of town and city revenues coming from property taxes rose from 49 to 53 percent.[138][154] The combined state and local tax burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney's governorship but remained below the national average.[138]
Romney sought to bring near-universal health insurance coverage to the state. This came after Staples founder Stemberg told him at the start of his term that doing so would be the best way he could help people,[163][164][165] and after the federal government, owing to the rules of Medicaid funding, threatened to cut $385 million in those payments to Massachusetts if the state did not reduce the number of uninsured recipients of health care services.[23][163][166] Although he had not campaigned on the idea of universal health insurance,[165] Romney decided that because people without insurance still received expensive health care, the money spent by the state for such care could be better used to subsidize insurance for the poor.[164][165]
After positing that any measure adopted not raise taxes and not resemble the previous decade's failed "Hillarycare" proposal, Romney formed a team of consultants from diverse political backgrounds.[23][163][166] Beginning in late 2004, they came up with a set of proposals more ambitious than an incremental one from the Massachusetts Senate and more acceptable to him than one from the Massachusetts House of Representatives that incorporated a new payroll tax.[23][163][166] In particular, Romney pushed for incorporating an individual mandate at the state level.[21] Past rival Ted Kennedy, who had made universal heath coverage his life's work and who, over time, had developed a warm relationship with Romney,[167] gave the plan a positive reception, which encouraged Democratic legislators to cooperate.[163][166] The effort eventually gained the support of all major stakeholders within the state, and Romney helped break a logjam between rival Democratic leaders in the legislature.[163][166]
"There really wasn't Republican or Democrat in this. People ask me if this is conservative or liberal, and my answer is yes. It's liberal in the sense that we're getting our citizens health insurance. It's conservative in that we're not getting a government takeover."
—Mitt Romney upon passage of the Massachusetts health reform law in 2006.[163]
On April 12, 2006, Romney signed the resulting Massachusetts health reform law, commonly called "Romneycare", which requires nearly all Massachusetts residents to buy health insurance coverage or face escalating tax penalties, such as the loss of their personal income tax exemption.[168] The bill also establishes means-tested state subsidies for people who do not have adequate employer insurance and whose income is below a threshold, with funds that were previously used to compensate for the health costs of the uninsured.[169][170][171] He vetoed eight sections of the health care legislation, including a controversial $295-per-employee assessment on businesses that do not offer health insurance and provisions guaranteeing dental benefits to Medicaid recipients.[168][172] The legislature overrode all eight vetoes, but the governor's office said the differences were not essential.[172] The law was the first of its kind in the nation and became the signature achievement of Romney's term in office.[166][nb 12]
At the beginning of his governorship, Romney opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions, but advocated tolerance and supported some domestic partnership benefits.[166][174][175] Faced with the dilemma of choosing between same-sex marriage or civil unions after the November 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing same-sex marriages (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health), Romney reluctantly backed a state constitutional amendment in February 2004 that would have banned same-sex marriage but still allow civil unions, viewing it as the only feasible way to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.[176] In May 2004, Romney instructed town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but citing a 1913 law that barred out-of-state residents from getting married in Massachusetts if their union would be illegal in their home state, no marriage licenses were to be issued to out-of-state same-sex couples not planning to move to Massachusetts.[174][177] In June 2005, Romney abandoned his support for the compromise amendment, stating that the amendment confused voters who oppose both same-sex marriage and civil unions.[174] Instead, Romney endorsed a petition effort led by the Coalition for Marriage & Family that would have banned same-sex marriage and made no provisions for civil unions.[174] In 2004 and 2006, he urged the U.S. Senate to vote in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment.[178][179]
In 2005, Romney revealed a change of view regarding abortion, moving from the "unequivocal" pro-choice position expressed during his 2002 campaign to a pro-life one in opposition to Roe v. Wade.[166] He subsequently vetoed a bill on pro-life grounds that would expand access to emergency contraception in hospitals and pharmacies[180] (the veto was overridden by the legislature).[181]
Romney generally used the bully pulpit approach towards promoting his agenda, staging well-organized media events to appeal directly to the public rather than pushing his proposals in behind-doors sessions with the state legislature.[166] Romney dealt with a public crisis of confidence in Boston's Big Dig project – that followed a fatal ceiling collapse in 2006 – by wresting control of the project from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.[166]
During 2004, Romney spent considerable effort trying to bolster the state Republican Party, but it failed to gain any seats in the state legislative elections that year.[138][182] He was given a prime-time appearance at the 2004 Republican National Convention, and was already being discussed as a potential 2008 presidential candidate.[183] Midway through his term, Romney decided that he wanted to stage a full-time run for president,[184] and on December 14, 2005, announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term.[185][186] As chair of the Republican Governors Association, Romney traveled around the country, meeting prominent Republicans and building a national political network;[184] he spent part or all of more than 200 days out of state during 2006, preparing for his run.[187]
He had a 61 percent job approval rating in public polls after his initial fiscal actions in 2003, but it began to sink after that.[188] His frequent out-of-state travel contributed to a decline in his approval rating towards the end of his term;[189][188] at 34 percent in November 2006, his rating level ranked 48th of the 50 U.S. governors.[190] Dissatisfaction with Romney's administration and the weak condition of the Republican state party were among several factors that led to Democrat Deval Patrick's lopsided win over Republican Kerry Healey, Romney's Lieutenant Governor, in the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial election.[191][189]
Romney filed to register a presidential campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission on his penultimate day in office as governor.[192] His term ended January 4, 2007.
2008 presidential campaign[link]
Main article: Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2008
Romney formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president on February 13, 2007, at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.[193] In his speech, he frequently invoked his father and his own family and stressed experiences in the private, public, and voluntary sectors that had brought him to this point.[193][194] He said, "Throughout my life, I have pursued innovation and transformation,"[194] and casting himself as a political outsider, said, "I do not believe Washington can be transformed from within by a lifelong politician."[195]
Romney's campaign initially emphasized his résumé of a highly profitable career in the business world and his stewardship of the Olympics.[184][196][nb 13] He also had political experience as governor, together with a political pedigree courtesy of his father, and had a reputation for a strong work ethic and energy level.[184][196][65] Ann Romney, who had become an outspoken advocate for those with multiple sclerosis,[199] was in remission and would be an active participant in his campaign,[200] helping to soften his political personality.[65] Moreover, a number of commentators noted that with his square jaw and ample hair graying at the temples, the 6-foot-2-inch (1.88 m)[201] Romney – referred to as handsome in scores of media stories[202] – physically matched one of the common images of what some believed a president should look like.[66][203][204][205] Romney's liabilities included having run for senator and served as governor in one of the nation's most liberal states, having taken some positions there that were opposed by the party's conservative base, and subsequently shifting those positions.[184][196][200] His religion was also viewed with suspicion and skepticism by some in the Evangelical portion of the party.[206]
Romney assembled for his campaign a veteran group of Republican staffers, consultants, and pollsters.[196][207] He was little-known nationally, though, and stayed around the 10 percent range in Republican preference polls for the first half of 2007.[184] He proved the most effective fundraiser of any of the Republican candidates;[208] his Olympics ties helped him with fundraising from Utahns and from sponsors and trustees of the games.[136] He also partly financed his campaign with his own personal fortune.[196] These resources, combined with the mid-year near-collapse of nominal front-runner John McCain's campaign, made Romney a threat to win the nomination and the focus of the other candidates' attacks.[209] Romney's staff suffered from internal strife and the candidate himself was indecisive at times, constantly asking for more data before making a decision.[196][210]
During all of his political campaigns, Romney has generally avoided speaking publicly about specific Mormon doctrines, referring to the U.S. Constitution prohibition of religious tests for public office.[211] But persistent questions about the role of religion in Romney's life in this race, as well as Southern Baptist minister and former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's rise in the polls based upon an explicitly Christian-themed campaign, led to the December 6, 2007, "Faith in America" speech.[212] He said should neither be elected nor rejected based upon his religion,[213] and echoed Senator John F. Kennedy's famous speech during his 1960 presidential campaign in saying, "I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law."[212] Instead of discussing the specific tenets of his faith, he said that he would be informed by it and that, "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone."[212][213] Academics would later study the role religion had played in the campaign.[nb 14]
In the January 3, 2008, Iowa Republican caucuses, the first contest of the primary season, Romney received 25 percent of the vote and placed second to the vastly outspent Huckabee, who received 34 percent.[216][217] Of the 60 percent of caucus-goers who were evangelical Christians, Huckabee was supported by about half of them while Romney by only a fifth.[216] Two days later, Romney won the lightly contested Wyoming Republican caucuses.[218]
At a Saint Anselm College debate, Huckabee and McCain pounded away at Romney's image as a flip flopper.[216] Indeed, this label would stick to Romney through the campaign[196] (but was one that Romney rejected as unfair and inaccurate, except for his acknowledged change of mind on abortion).[65][219] Romney seemed to approach the campaign as a management consulting exercise, and showed a lack of personal warmth and political feel; journalist Evan Thomas wrote that Romney "came off as a phony, even when he was perfectly sincere."[65][220] Romney's staff would conclude that competing as a candidate of social conservatism and ideological purity rather than of pragmatic competence had been a mistake.[65]
Romney finished in second place by 5 percentage points to the resurgent McCain in the next-door-to-his-home-state New Hampshire primary on January 8.[216] Romney rebounded to win the January 15 Michigan primary over McCain by a solid margin, capitalizing on his childhood ties to the state and his vow to bring back lost automotive industry jobs which was seen by several commentators as unrealistic.[nb 15] On January 19, Romney won the lightly contested Nevada caucuses, but placed fourth in the intense South Carolina primary, where he had effectively ceded the contest to his rivals.[225] McCain gained further momentum with his win in South Carolina, leading to a showdown between him and Romney in the Florida primary.[226][227]
For ten days, Romney campaigned intensively on economic issues and the burgeoning subprime mortgage crisis, while McCain repeatedly, and inaccurately, asserted that Romney favored a premature withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.[nb 16] McCain won key last-minute endorsements from Florida Senator Mel Martinez and Governor Charlie Crist, which helped push him to a 5 percentage point victory on January 29.[226][227] Although many Republican officials were now lining up behind McCain,[227] Romney persisted through the nationwide Super Tuesday contests on February 5. There he won primaries or caucuses in several states, including Massachusetts, Alaska, Minnesota, Colorado, and Utah, but McCain won more, including large states such as California and New York.[229] Trailing McCain in delegates by a more than two-to-one margin, Romney announced the end of his campaign on February 7 during a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.[229]
Altogether, Romney had won 11 primaries and caucuses,[230] received about 4.7 million total votes,[231] and garnered about 280 delegates.[232] He spent $110 million during the campaign, including $45 million of his own money.[233]
Romney endorsed McCain for president a week later.[232] He became one of the McCain campaign's most visible surrogates, appearing on behalf of the GOP nominee at fundraisers, state Republican party conventions, and on cable news programs.[234] His efforts earned McCain's respect and the two developed a warmer relationship; he was on the nominee's short list for the vice presidential running mate slot, where his economic expertise would have balanced one of McCain's weaknesses.[235] McCain, behind in the polls, opted instead for a high-risk, high-reward "game changer", and selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.[236] McCain lost the election to Democratic Senator Barack Obama.
Activity between presidential campaigns[link]
Following the election, Romney paved the way for a possible 2012 presidential campaign by using his Free and Strong America political action committee (PAC) to raise money for other Republican candidates and to pay his existing political staff's salaries and consulting fees.[237][238] An informal network of former staff and supporters around the nation were eager for him to run again.[239] He continued to give speeches and raise funds for Republicans,[240] but turned down many potential media appearances, fearing overexposure.[219] He also spoke before business, educational, and motivational groups.[241] He served on the board of directors of Marriott International from 2009 to 2011 (having earlier served on it from 1993 to 2002).[242]
In 2009, the Romneys sold their primary residence in Belmont and their ski chalet in Utah, leaving them an estate along Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and an oceanfront home in the La Jolla district of San Diego, California, which they had bought the year before.[219][243][244] The San Diego home was beneficial in location and climate for Ann Romney's multiple sclerosis therapies and for recovering from her late 2008 diagnosis and lumpectomy for mammary ductal carcinoma in situ.[243][245][246] Both it and the New Hampshire location were near some of their grandchildren,[243] who by 2011 numbered sixteen.[247] Romney maintained his voting registration in Massachusetts, however, and bought a smaller condominium in Belmont during 2010.[245][248][nb 17] In February 2010, Romney had a minor altercation with LMFAO member Skyler Gordy, known as Sky Blu, on an airplane flight.[nb 18]
Romney's book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, was released in March 2010; an 18-state book tour was undertaken.[255] The book, which debuted atop The New York Times Best Seller list,[256] avoided anecdotes about his personal or political life in favor of a presentation of his economic and geopolitical views.[257][258] Earnings from the book were donated to charity.[86]
In nationwide opinion polling for the 2012 Republican Presidential primaries, Romney led or placed in the top three with Palin and Huckabee. A January 2010 National Journal survey of political insiders found that a majority of Republican insiders, and a plurality of Democratic insiders, predicted Romney would be the party's 2012 nominee.[259] Romney campaigned heavily for Republican candidates in the 2010 midterm elections,[260] raising more money than the other prospective 2012 Republican presidential candidates.[261] Beginning in early 2011, Romney presented a more relaxed visual image, including rarely wearing a necktie.[262][263]
2012 presidential campaign[link]
Main article: Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012
See also: Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012 , Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries, and Republican Party vice presidential candidates, 2012
On April 11, 2011, Romney announced in a video taped outdoors at the University of New Hampshire that he had formed an exploratory committee for a run for the Republican presidential nomination.[264][265] A Quinnipiac University political science professor stated, "We all knew that he was going to run. He's really been running for president ever since the day after the 2008 election."[265]
Romney stood to gain from the Republican electorate's tendency to nominate candidates who had previously run for president and appeared to be "next in line" to be chosen.[239][266][267] The early stages of the race found him as the apparent front-runner in a weak field, especially in terms of fundraising prowess and organization.[268][269][270] Perhaps his greatest hurdle in gaining the Republican nomination was party opposition to the Massachusetts health care reform law that he had shepherded five years earlier.[263][265][267] As many potential Republican candidates decided not to run (including Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, and Mitch Daniels), Republican party figures searched for plausible alternatives to Romney.[268][270]
On June 2, 2011, he formally announced the start of his campaign. Speaking on a farm in Stratham, New Hampshire, he focused on the economy and criticized President Obama's handling of it.[271] He said, "In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense, and I intend to make it – because I have lived it."[267]
Romney raised $56 million during 2011, far more than any of his Republican opponents,[272] and refrained from spending any of his own money on his campaign.[273] He initially ran a low-key, low-profile campaign.[274] Michele Bachmann staged a brief surge in polls, then by September 2011, Romney's chief rival in polls was a recent entrant, Texas Governor Rick Perry.[275] Perry and Romney exchanged sharp criticisms of each other during a series of debates among the Republican candidates.[276] The October 2011 decisions of Chris Christie and Sarah Palin not to run finally settled the field.[277][278] Perry faded after poor performances in those debates, while Herman Cain's long-shot bid gained popularity until allegations of sexual misconduct derailed him.[279][280]
Romney continued to seek support from a wary Republican electorate; at this point in the race, his poll numbers were relatively flat and at a historically low level for a Republican frontrunner.[277][281][282] After the charges of flip-flopping that marked his 2008 campaign began to accumulate again, Romney declared in November 2011 that "I've been as consistent as human beings can be."[283][284][285] In the final month before voting began, Newt Gingrich enjoyed a major surge, taking a solid lead in national polls and in most of the early caucus and primary states,[286] before settling back into parity or worse with Romney following a barrage of negative ads from Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney Super PAC.[287]
In the initial 2012 Iowa caucuses of January 3, Romney was announced as the victor on election night with 25 percent of the vote, edging out a late-gaining Rick Santorum by eight votes (with an also-strong Ron Paul finishing third),[288] but sixteen days later, Santorum was certified as the winner by a 34-vote margin.[289] Romney decidedly won the New Hampshire primary the following week with a total of 39 percent; Paul finished second and Jon Huntsman third.[290]
In the run-up to the South Carolina Republican primary, Gingrich launched attack ads criticizing Romney for causing job losses while at Bain Capital, Perry referred to Romney's role there as "vulture capitalism", and Sarah Palin questioned whether Romney could prove his claim that 100,000 jobs were created during that time.[291][292] Many conservatives rallied in defense of Romney, rejecting what they inferred as criticism of free-market capitalism.[291] However, during two debates, Romney fumbled questions about releasing his income tax returns, while Gingrich gained support with audience-rousing attacks on the debate moderators.[293][294] Romney's double-digit lead in state polls evaporated and he lost to Gingrich by 13 points in the January 21 primary.[293] Combined with the delayed loss in Iowa, Romney's admitted bad week represented a lost chance to end the race early, and he decided to release his tax returns quickly.[293][295] The race turned to the Florida Republican primary, where in debates, appearances, and advertisements, Romney unleashed a concerted, unrelenting attack on Gingrich's past record and associations and current electability.[296][297] Romney enjoyed a big spending advantage from both his campaign and his aligned Super PAC, and after a record-breaking rate of negative ads from both sides, Romney won Florida on January 31, gaining 46 percent of the vote to Gingrich's 32 percent.[298]
There were several caucuses and primaries during February, and Santorum won three in a single night early in the month, propelling him into the lead in national and some state polls and positioning him as Romney's main rival.[299] Romney won the other five, including a closely fought contest in his home state of Michigan at the end of the month.[300][301] In the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses of March 6, Romney won six of ten contests, including a narrow victory in Ohio over a greatly outspent Santorum, and although he failed to win decisively enough to end the race, still held a more than two-to-one edge over Santorum in delegates.[302] Romney maintained his delegate margin through subsequent contests,[303] and Santorum stopped his campaign on April 10.[304] Following a sweep of five more contests on April 24, the Republican National Committee put its resources behind Romney as the party's presumptive nominee.[305] Romney clinched a majority of the delegates with a win in the Texas primary on May 29.
Political positions and public perceptions[link]
For more details on specific Romney positions on many issues, see Political positions of Mitt Romney.
For much of his business career, Romney did not take public political positions.[306][307] While he had kept abreast of national politics during college,[33] and the circumstances of his father's presidential campaign loss would irk him for decades,[24] his early philosophical influences were often non-political, as during his missionary days when he read Napoleon Hill's pioneering self-help tome Think and Grow Rich, and encouraged his colleagues to do the same.[13][61] Until his 1994 U.S. Senate campaign, he was registered as an Independent.[46] In the 1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries, he voted for the Democratic former senator from Massachusetts, Paul Tsongas.[306][308]
In the 1994 Senate race, Romney aligned himself with Republican Massachusetts Governor William Weld, saying "I think Bill Weld's fiscal conservatism, his focus on creating jobs and employment and his efforts to fight discrimination and assure civil rights for all is a model that I identify with and aspire to."[309] As a gubernatorial candidate in 2002, and then initially as Governor of Massachusetts, he generally operated in the mold established by Weld and followed by Weld's two other Republican successors, Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift: restrain spending and taxing, be tolerant or permissive on social issues, protect the environment, be tough on crime, try to appear post-partisan.[308][310]
Later during his time as governor, Romney's position on abortion changed in conjunction with a similar change of position on stem cell research.[166][nb 19] Also during that time, his position or choice of emphasis on some aspects of gay rights,[nb 20] and some aspects of abstinence-only sex education,[nb 21] moved in a more conservative direction. The change in 2005 on abortion was the result of what he described as an epiphany experienced while investigating stem cell research issues.[166] He later said, "Changing my position was in line with an ongoing struggle that anyone has that is opposed to abortion personally, vehemently opposed to it, and yet says, 'Well, I'll let other people make that decision.' And you say to yourself, but if you believe that you're taking innocent life, it's hard to justify letting other people make that decision."[166]
This increased alignment with traditional conservatives on social issues coincided with Romney's becoming a candidate for the 2008 Republican nomination for President.[317][318] He joined the National Rifle Association and portrayed himself as a lifelong hunter.[nb 22] He downplayed the Massachusetts health care law,[21][308][318] became a convert on signing an anti-tax pledge,[61][21] and backed away from further closings of corporate tax loopholes.[160] There was a display of aggressiveness on foreign policy matters, such as wanting to double the number of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[318] Skeptics, including some Republicans, charged Romney with opportunism and having a lack of core principles.[166][196][308] The fervor with which Romney adopted his new stances and attitudes contributed to the perception of inauthenticity which hampered that campaign.[61][262]
While there have been many biographical parallels between the lives of George and Mitt Romney,[nb 23] one particular difference is that while George was willing to defy political trends, Mitt has been much more willing to adapt to them.[21][23] Mitt Romney has said that learning from experience and changing views accordingly is a virtue, and that, "If you're looking for someone who's never changed any positions on any policies, then I'm not your guy."[324] Romney responded to criticisms of ideological pandering with the explanation that "The older I get, the smarter Ronald Reagan gets."[200]
Journalist Daniel Gross sees Romney as approaching politics in the same terms as a business competing in markets, in that successful executives do not hold firm to public stances over long periods of time, but rather constantly devise new strategies and plans to deal with new geographical regions and ever-changing market conditions.[308] Political profiler Ryan Lizza notes the same question regarding whether Romney's business skills can be adapted to politics, saying that "while giving customers exactly what they want may be normal in the corporate world, it can be costly in politics".[61] Writer Robert Draper holds a somewhat similar perspective: "The Romney curse was this: His strength lay in his adaptability. In governance, this was a virtue; in a political race, it was an invitation to be called a phony."[65] Writer Benjamin Wallace-Wells sees Romney as a detached problem solver rather than one who approaches political issues from a humanistic or philosophical perspective.[70] Journalist Neil Swidey views Romney as a political and cultural enigma, "the product of two of the most mysterious and least understood subcultures in the country: the Mormon Church and private-equity finance," and believes that has led to the continued interest in a 1983 episode in which Romney kept his family dog on the roof of his car during a long road trip.[nb 24] Political writer Joe Klein views Romney as actually more conservative on social issues than he portrayed himself during his Massachusetts campaigns and less conservative on other issues than his presidential campaigns have represented, and concludes that Romney "has always campaigned as something he probably is not."[328]
Immediately following the March 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Romney attacked the landmark legislation as "an unconscionable abuse of power" and said the act should be repealed.[329] The antipathy Republicans felt for it created a potential problem for the former governor, since the new federal law was in many ways similar to the Massachusetts health care reform passed during Romney's term; as one Associated Press article stated, "Obamacare ... looks a lot like Romneycare."[329] While acknowledging that his plan was an imperfect work in progress, Romney did not back away from it, and has consistently defended its underpinning state-level health insurance mandate.[329][330] He has focused on its bipartisan support in the state legislature, the absence of Congressional Republican support for Obama's plan,[329] and has contended that it was the right answer to Massachusetts' specific problems at the time.[329][331] While Romney has not explicitly argued for a federally imposed mandate, and as of 2010 explicitly opposes one, during his 1994 Senate campaign he indicated he would vote for an overall health insurance proposal that contained one.[332][333] He suggested during his time as governor and during his 2008 presidential campaign that the Massachusetts plan was a model for the nation and that, over time, mandate plans might be adopted by most or all of the nation.[334][335][336]
Romney's foreign policy views are rooted in a firm belief in American exceptionalism and the need to preserve American supremacy in the world.[257] This parallels the Mormon belief that the United States Constitution is divinely inspired and that the U.S. was selected by God to play a special part in human history.[337] Indeed, Romney's political beliefs regarding a limited role for government, a need for self-reliance, and requirements for welfare recipients, often reflect Mormon tenets adapted for the secular world.[337][338]
Throughout his business, Olympics, and political career, Romney's instinct has been to apply the "Bain way" towards problems.[65][318][339] Romney has said, "There were two key things I learned at Bain. One was a series of concepts for approaching tough problems and a problem-solving methodology; the other was an enormous respect for data, analysis, and debate."[339] He has written, "There are answers in numbers – gold in numbers. Pile the budgets on my desk and let me wallow."[61] Romney believes the Bain approach is not only effective in the business realm but also in running for office and, once there, in solving political conundrums such as proper Pentagon spending levels and the future of Social Security.[318][339] Former Bain and Olympics colleague Fraser Bullock has said of Romney, "He's not an ideologue. He makes decisions based on researching data more deeply than anyone I know."[25] Romney's technocratic instincts have thus always been with him; in his public appearances during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign he sometimes gave PowerPoint presentations rather than conventional speeches.[340] Upon taking office he became, in the words of The Boston Globe, "the state's first self-styled CEO governor".[138] During his 2008 presidential campaign, he constantly asked for data, analysis, and opposing arguments,[318] and has been decribed by Slate magazine as a potential "CEO president".[308]
Awards and honors[link]
Romney has received five honorary doctorates, including one in Business from the University of Utah in 1999,[341] in Law from Bentley College in 2002,[342] in Public Administration from Suffolk University Law School in 2004,[343] in Public Service from Hillsdale College in 2007,[344] and in Humanities from Liberty University in 2012.[345]
People magazine included him in its 50 Most Beautiful People list for 2002,[346] and in 2004, he received the inaugural Truce Ideal Award for his role in the 2002 Winter Olympics.[347] The Cranbrook School gave him their Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005.[19] In 2008 he shared with his wife Ann, the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during the presidential campaign.[348] In 2012 Romney was named to the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.[349]
Writings[link]
- With Timothy Robinson (2004). Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games. Washington: Regnery Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89526-084-0.
- No Apology: The Case for American Greatness. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-312-60980-1.
See also[link]
Notes[link]
- ^ He was called "Billy" until kindergarten, when he indicated a preference for "Mitt".[15]
- ^ Mitt's campaigning for his father included working the phone banks and appearing at county fairs where he manned a booth and exclaimed over a loudspeaker, "You should vote for my father for Governor. He's a truly great person. You've got to support him. He's going to make things better."[21]
- ^ Such pranks included sliding down golf courses on large ice cubes, dressing as a police officer and tapping on the car windows of teenage friends who were making out, and staging an elaborate formal dinner on the median of a busy street.[18][20] The golf course escapade apparently got Romney and Ann Davies arrested, or otherwise detained, by the local police.[24][25] Romney was also arrested in 1981 while at a family outing at Lake Cochituate in Massachusetts. According to Romney, a ranger from Cochituate State Park told him his motorboat had an insufficiently visible license number and he would face a $50 fine if he took the boat onto the lake. Disagreeing about the license and wanting to continue the outing, Romney took it out anyway, saying he would pay the fine. The angry officer then arrested him for disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped several days later after Romney threatened to sue the officer and the state for false arrest.[26]
- ^ a b When initially considering colleges after high school, Romney had not wanted to go to BYU.[43] He later recounted that he had planned to attend BYU to convince Ann to marry him, then the couple planned to transfer together back to Stanford, but in the end, they enjoyed BYU and decided to stay.[45]
- ^ Romney's great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and two uncles had been missionaries,[32] as had his older brother.[33] All five of Romney's sons later served as missionaries as well.[34]
- ^ a b On June 16, 1968, Romney was driving fellow missionaries on dangerous roads in southern France.[18][37][40] As they drove through the village of Bernos-Beaulac, a Mercedes that was passing a truck missed a curve and swerved into the opposite lane hitting the Citroën DS Romney was driving in a head-on collision.[18][41] Trapped between the steering wheel and door, the unconscious and seriously injured Romney had to be pried from the car; a French police officer mistakenly wrote Il est mort in his passport.[18][24][40] The wife of the mission president was killed and other passengers were seriously injured as well.[40] George Romney relied on his friend Sargent Shriver, the U.S. Ambassador to France, to go to the local hospital and discover that his son had survived.[24] Romney, who was not at fault in the accident,[33][40] had suffered broken ribs, a fractured arm, a concussion, and facial injuries, but recovered quickly without needing surgery.[37][40] The French police say that they have no records of the incident because such records are routinely destroyed after 10 years.[40]
- ^ Some sources incorrectly report that Romney graduated BYU as valedictorian. Romney himself has corrected this notion, saying that he was not. While he believes he did have the highest grade point average for his BYU years in the College of Humanities, he did not if his Stanford year was factored in, and he did not among the graduating class university-wide.[51][45]
- ^ Romney sat for the bar exam in his home state of Michigan in July 1975, passed it and was admitted to practice law there, but never worked as a lawyer and only considered in case his business career did not work out.[59]
- ^ One study of 68 deals that Bain Capital made during Romney's time there found that the firm lost money or broke even on 33 of them.[67] Another study that looked at the eight-year period following 77 deals during Romney's time found that in 17 cases the company went bankrupt or out of business, and in 6 cases Bain Capital lost all its investment. But 10 deals were very successful and represented 70 percent of the total profits.[72]
- ^ Kennedy spent $10.5 million overall, including a $1.5 million loan to himself.[117] This was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein–Michael Huffington Senate race in California.[118]
- ^ Official state figures for fiscal year 2005 (July 1, 2004 – June 30, 2005) declared a $594.4 million surplus.[138][156] For fiscal 2006, the surplus was $720.9 million.[156] During fiscal 2007, Romney cut $384 million in spending that the legislature wanted; in January 2007, midway through the fiscal year, incoming Governor Deval Patrick restored that amount,[157] and also declared that the state faced a "looming budget shortfall" of $1 billion for fiscal 2008.[158] Patrick consequently proposed a budget for fiscal 2008 that included $515 million in spending cuts and $295 million in new corporate taxes.[159] As it happened, the state ended fiscal 2007 with a $307.1 million deficit and fiscal 2008 with a $495.2 million deficit.[156]
- ^ Within four years, the Massachusetts law had achieved its primary goal of expanding coverage: in 2010, 98% of state residents had coverage, compared to a national average of 83%. Among children and seniors the 2010 coverage rate was even higher, 99.8% and 99.6% respectively. Approximately two-thirds of residents received coverage through employers; one-sixth each received it through Medicare or public plans.[173]
- ^ American political opinion periodically looked towards industry for business managers who it was thought could straighten out what was held to be wrong in the nation's capital. The track record of such efforts was at best mixed, with Lee Iacocca declining to run, Romney's father George and Steve Forbes failing to get far in the primaries, and Ross Perot staging one of the more successful third-party runs in American history.[197][198]
- ^ Regarding the role of Romney's religion in the 2008 campaign, one academic study, based upon research conducted throughout the 2008 primaries, showed that a negative perception of Mormonism was widespread during the election, and that perception was often resistant to factual information that would correct mistaken notions about the religion or Romney's relationship to it.[214] The authors concluded that, "For Romney ... religion is the central story."[214] Another study, analyzing a survey conducted during January 2008 (when an African American, a woman, and a Mormon all had realistic chances of becoming the first president from that group), found that voters had internally accepted the notion of black equality, paving the way for Barack Obama's election; had partially established but not fully internalized the notion of gender equality, making Hillary Rodham Clinton's task somewhat more difficult; but had only selectively internalized the notion of religious equality, and in particular not extended it to Mormons, thus making Romney's run significantly more difficult.[215] Those authors concluded that, "for a Mormon candidate, the road to the presidency remains very rough ... The bias against a Mormon candidate is substantial."[215]
- ^ Romney proposed a $20 billion "workout, not a bailout" of the U.S. auto industry. It was termed unrealistic or "pandering" by several news reports.[221][222][223][224]
- ^ Previously, Romney had proposed a private timetable for gradually reducing U.S. forces. McCain's statements regarding this were termed dishonest or misleading by several news reports.[226][227][228]
- ^ Following the August 2009 death of his past rival and sometime ally Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Romney declared that he had no interest in running in the special January 2010 election to replace him.[249] Romney was an early supporter of Scott Brown, the successful Republican candidate in that race. Some of Romney's former aides were used by Brown's campaign and Romney raised funds for Brown.[250][251]
- ^ After having attended the 2010 Winter Olympics, Romney and wife were on board an Air Canada plane waiting to take off on a flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles when he got into a physical altercation with Sky Blu, sitting in front of him, over Sky Blu's seat not being in the upright position. Romney said that Sky Blu became physically violent and that he did not retaliate, while Sky Blu said that Romney gave him a "Vulcan grip" first and that he responded physically to that. Sky Blu was escorted off the aircraft by Canadian police but Romney did not press charges and Sky Blu was released.[252][253][254]
- ^ During his 2002 campaign, Romney expressed support for embryonic stem cell research, and said he would lobby President Bush (who had banned most federal funding for such research) to support it. In early 2005, Romney announced his position on therapeutic cloning, saying he was against it – and vetoing a funding bill for stem cell research because it allowed it – but still in favor of research on unused embryos from fertility treatments. In early 2007, he said he was now against expanded federal funding for such excess embryo research (but still thought private funding for such research was ethical, to the dismay of some conservative Republicans).[311]
- ^ As described. While Romney has consistently rejected same-sex marriage throughout his political career, there was a rhetorical shift in emphasis during his time as governor. The shift culminated in Romney avoiding discussions about the protection of gays from bias and instead characterizing himself as a conservative stalwart in the battle against same-sex marriage and in support of heterosexual families. The shift is even greater if compared to Romney's pledges from his 1994 senatorial campaign.[312][313]
- ^ During his 2002 campaign, Romney said he backed age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education in public schools. In 2005, he accepted federal funding to a faith-based organization to teach abstinence-only education in public schools. Romney said such programs would supplement rather than replace existing ones, while opponents feared that funding pressure would lead to schools dropping comprehensive programs for the freely available abstinence-only ones.[314][315][316]
- ^ Romney joined the National Rifle Association as a life member in August 2006. In December 2007, he cited a past endorsement from them, which he later said was unofficial support.[21][206][319][320] In April 2007, he said, "I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," but then said he had only gone hunting twice and did not own guns, and "I'm not a big-game hunter. I've made that very clear. I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will. I began when I was 15 or so and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then. More than two times."[321]
- ^ Biographical parallels between George and Mitt Romney include: Both served as Mormon missionaries in Europe and considered the experiences formative. Both pursued high school sweethearts singlemindedly until the women agreed to marry them several years later, then had families with four or five children. Both had very successful careers in business and became known for turning around failing companies or organizations. Both presided over a stake in the LDS Church. Both achieved their first elected position at age 55, as Republican governor of a Democratic-leaning state. The two bear a close physical resemblance at similar ages and both have been said to "look like a president". Both staged their first presidential run in the year they turned 60. Both were considered suspect by ideological conservatives within the Republican Party.[21][322] There are also obvious differences in their paths, including that George had a hardscrabble upbringing while Mitt's was affluent, and that Mitt far exceeded George's accomplishments in formal education. Another is that Mitt's personality is more reserved, private, and controlled than his father's was, traits he got from his mother Lenore.[323]
- ^ In summer 1983, Romney and his family embarked on a 12-hour drive from Boston to his parents' cottage on the Canadian side of Lake Huron. Seamus, the family Irish setter, was put up on the station wagon's roof rack, inside a dog carrier with its own attached windshield, but after some hours the dog suffered gastrointestinal distress, evidence of which was readily seen on the rear window. With his five children loudly expressing revulsion, Romney calmly stopped off at a service station, hosed off the dog, carrier, and car, put the dog back in the carrier and completed the journey.[46][325] Since becoming public in 2007, the story has been the source of complaints from animal lovers, a point of psychological study regarding Romney's emotion-free crisis management, an obsession to New York Times columnist Gail Collins, and the occasional target of news stories, talk show hosts and political rivals.[325][206][326][327]
References[link]
- ^ Hosenball, Mark (May 29, 2012). "Romney's birth certificate evokes his father's controversy". Chicago Tribune. Reuters. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-29/news/sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-romney-birth-certificatebre84s1gf-20120529_1_george-romney-republican-mitt-romney-citizen.
- ^ Page, Susan (February 20, 2012). "Home sweet home? Michigan primary a challenge for Romney". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-02-17/michigan-primary-santorum-romney/53159656/1.
- ^ Kranish; Helman, The Real Romney, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Mahoney, The Story of George Romney, pp. 59–62, 63–65, 94–96, 104, 113, 159.
- ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (December 18, 2007). "For Romney, a Course Set Long Ago". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/us/politics/18romney.html.
- ^ Miroff, Nick (July 21, 2011). "In besieged Mormon colony, Mitt Romney's Mexican roots". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-besieged-mormon-colony-mitt-romneys-mexican-roots/2011/07/21/gIQAFGOXVI_story.html.
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- ^ Green, Joshua (May 5, 2011). "The Do-Nothing Frontrunner". The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/05/the-do-nothing-frontrunner/238376/.
- ^ a b Martin, Jonathan (May 22, 2011). "With Mitch Daniels out, GOP looking for new 2012 option". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55425.html.
- ^ Condon, Stephanie (June 2, 2011). "Romney launches presidential bid with Obama "misery index" attack". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20068348-503544.html?tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.
- ^ Shear, Michael D. (January 13, 2012). "Obama Raised $42 Million in Last Quarter of '11". The New York Times. http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=892875&f=77.
- ^ Viser, Matt (September 27, 2011). "Romney expects to raise much less money this quarter". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2011/09/romney-expects-raise-much-less-money-this-quarter/gOgGPHq6sp8zUl8toWr54L/index.html.
- ^ Smith, Ben (August 1, 2011). "Mitt Romney's low-profile strategy". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60444.html.
- ^ "Accelerating GOP Race Poised to Test Perry’s Staying Power, Romney’s Obama Strategy". Fox News. September 3, 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/03/accelerating-gop-race-poised-to-test-perrys-staying-power-romneys-obama/.
- ^ Kucinich, Jackie (September 25, 2011). "GOP debates signal a race between Romney and Perry". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-09-25/GOP-presidential-race-Romney-Perry-debates/50547872/1.
- ^ a b Babington, Charles (October 5, 2011). "With GOP Field Set, Romney Woos The Unconvinced". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2016416269_apuscampaign2012reset.html.
- ^ Tulumello, Jennifer Skalka (November 11, 2011). "Newt Gingrich: Will his mini-surge in the polls last?". The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/President/2011/1111/Newt-Gingrich-Will-his-mini-surge-in-the-polls-last.
- ^ "Cain and Gingrich Benefit from Perry Swoon". Fox News. September 29, 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/29/cain-and-gingrich-benefit-from-perry-swoon/.
- ^ "Cain Suspends Presidential Campaign, Cites 'Hurt' Caused by 'False' Allegations". Fox News. December 3, 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/03/cain-prepares-to-discuss-campaigns-future-after-damage-assessment/.
- ^ "Cain Surges, Nearly Ties Romney for Lead in GOP Preferences". The Gallup Organization. October 10, 2011. http://www.gallup.com/poll/149990/Cain-Surges-Nearly-Ties-Romney-Lead-GOP-Preferences.aspx.
- ^ Klein, Joe (December 1, 2011). "Why Don't They Like Mitt?". Time. http://swampland.time.com/2011/12/01/mitt-romney-why-dont-they-like-him/.
- ^ Elliot, Philip (October 9, 2011). "Romney rivals may go after him for flip-flops". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2011/10/09/romney_rivals_may_go_after_him_for_flip_flops/.
- ^ Coral Davenport (October 28, 2011). "Mitt Romney's shifting views on climate change". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20127273-503544/mitt-romneys-shifting-views-on-climate-change/.
- ^ Wallsten, Peter (November 3, 2011). "Romney says he's been consistent". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/romney-says-hes-been-consistent/2011/11/03/gIQAbfJejM_blog.html.
- ^ Allen, Mike (December 12, 2011). "Mitt Romney on Newt Gingrich: He's the front-runner". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70298_Page2.html.
- ^ Montopoli, Brian (December 19, 2011). "Poll: Newt Gingrich's lead over Romney is gone". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57345145-503544/poll-newt-gingrichs-lead-over-romney-is-gone/.
- ^ "Romney defeats Santorum by 8 votes in Iowa". CNN. January 4, 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/03/politics/iowa-caucus/index.html.
- ^ Silver, Nate (January 19, 2012). "The Semantics and Statistics of Santorum's Win in Iowa". The New York Times. http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/the-semantics-and-statistics-of-santorums-win-in-iowa/.
- ^ "Romney secures front-runner status with New Hampshire win, looks to take momentum into South Carolina". Fox News. January 11, 2012. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/10/new-hampshire-republican-primary/.
- ^ a b "Romney, Gingrich tangle over ads in South Carolina". Fox News. January 13, 2012. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/13/conservatives-rally-against-criticism-romneys-bain-record/.
- ^ Lee, MJ (January 12, 2012). "Sarah Palin: Mitt Romney needs Bain show & tell". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71364.html.
- ^ a b c "Gingrich wins huge come-from-behind victory in South Carolina". McClatchy Newspapers. January 21, 2012. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/01/21/136532/gingrich-appears-to-be-headed.html.
- ^ Dickerson, John (January 20, 2012). "The Brawl". Slate. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/01/south_carolina_debate_gingrich_nails_open_marriage_question_bests_a_flustered_romney_.html.
- ^ "Mitt Romney will release tax returns Tuesday; rival Newt Gingrich calls himself most electable GOP candidate". Associated Press. MassLive.com. January 22, 2012. http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/mitt_romney_will_release_tax_r.html.
- ^ Burns, Alexander; Bravender, Robin (January 24, 2012). "Florida Republican primary is 'Armageddon'". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71862.html.
- ^ Rutenberg, Jim; Zeleny, Jeff (January 28, 2012). "The Calculations That Led Romney to the Warpath". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/us/politics/the-calculations-that-led-romney-to-the-warpath.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all.
- ^ Cohen, Tom; Steinhauser, Paul (February 1, 2012). "Romney claims victory in Florida, builds new momentum". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/31/politics/florida-primary/index.html.
- ^ "Polls: All tied up between Romney and Santorum". CNN. February 14, 2012. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/14/polls-all-tied-up-between-romney-and-santorum/.
- ^ "Romney wins Michigan and Arizona". CNN. February 28, 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/28/election/2012/primaries/index.html?hpt=hp_t1.
- ^ "Mitt Romney wins Wyoming caucuses". The Washington Post. February 29, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mitt-romney-wins-wyoming-caucuses/2012/02/29/gIQAj2yRjR_blog.html.
- ^ "Romney builds delegate lead with Super Tuesday wins". Fox News. March 7, 2012. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/07/romney-builds-delegate-lead-with-super-tuesday-wins/.
- ^ "Romney sweeps 3 primary contests, eyes general election battle". Fox News. April 4, 2012. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/03/romney-looks-for-big-night-and-beyond-in-wisconsin/.
- ^ Cohen, Tom (April 10, 2012). "Santorum suspends campaign, clearing Romney's path". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/10/politics/campaign-wrap/index.html?hpt=hp_t2.
- ^ "RNC officially names Mitt Romney the party's 'presumptive nominee'". Los Angeles Times. April 25, 2012. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-rnc-officially-names-mitt-romney-the-partys-presumptive-nominee-20120425,0,790798.story.
- ^ a b Hersh, The Shadow President, p. 139.
- ^ Canellos, The Last Lion, p. 295.
- ^ a b c d e f Gross, Daniel (February 26, 2007). "The CEO Candidate". Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2160642/.
- ^ Zeller, Shawn (December 11, 2007). "Romney haunted by liberal past". PolitiFact.com. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2007/dec/11/romney-haunted-liberal-past/.
- ^ Barone and Cohen, Almanac of American Politics 2004, p. 769.
- ^ Helman, Scott (February 11, 2007). "Romney's stem cell view may upset the right". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2007/02/11/romneys_stem_cell_view_may_upset_the_right/.
- ^ Nagourney, Adam; Kirkpatrick David D. (December 9, 2006). "Romney's Gay Rights Stance Draws Ire". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/us/politics/09romney.html.
- ^ "Run touts success, dodges shifts". USA Today. June 15, 2007. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/mitt-romney.htm.
- ^ Martin, Jonathan (July 19, 2007). "Romney also once backed 'age-appropriate' sex ed". Politico. http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0707/Romney_also_once_backed_ageappropriate_sex_ed.html.
- ^ Donald, Brooke (April 21, 2006). "Romney promotes abstinence classes". Bangor Daily News. Associated Press: p. B8. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mAE1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=Mk8KAAAAIBAJ&pg=3578,1309352&dq=romney+abstinence+only+education&hl=en.
- ^ "Romney Announces Abstinence Education Program". WCVB-TV. April 20, 2006. http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/8858946/detail.html.
- ^ "Profile: Mitt Romney". BBC News. February 15, 2007 (updated February 7, 2008). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6362249.stm.
- ^ a b c d e f Luo, Michael (November 24, 2007). "For Romney & Company, Campaign Is All Business". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/24/us/politics/24manage.html.
- ^ McPike, Erin (December 17, 2007). "Romney's tough day on the trail". msnbc.com. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2007/12/17/4436604-romneys-tough-day-on-the-trail.
- ^ Shear, Michael D. (December 16, 2007). "Romney Claims NRA Endorsement He Didn't Receive". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2007/12/romney-claims-nra-endorsement.html.
- ^ Udell, Emily (April 5, 2007). "Romney Aims Again to Explain Hunting". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070405/romney-hunting/.
- ^ Glass, Andrew (January 13, 2008). "Romney plays nostalgia card in Michigan". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7848.html.
- ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (February 23, 2012). "Political Lessons, From a Mother's Losing Run". The New York Times: p. 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/us/politics/political-lessons-from-a-mothers-losing-run.html?pagewanted=all.
- ^ "Romney: I'll keep campaign promises". Associated Press. msnbc.com. December 16, 2007. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22287061/ns/politics-decision_08/.
- ^ a b Swidey, Neil (January 8, 2012). "What our fascination with Mitt Romney's dog Seamus says about our culture". The Boston Globe. http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-08/news/30605151_1_romney-family-mitt-romney-dog.
- ^ "Mitt Romney and the dog on the car roof: one columnist's obsession". PolitiFact.com. September 8, 2011. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/sep/13/gail-collins/mitt-romney-and-dog-car-roof-one-columnists-obsess/.
- ^ Moos, Jeanne (January 13, 2012). "Mitt Romney 'dog-on-the-roof' story appears in Newt Gingrich ad". CNN. KSDK. http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/296683/18/Mitt-Romney-dog-on-the-roof-story-appears-in-Newt-Gingrich-ad.
- ^ Klein, Joe (December 12, 2011). "Where is the Love?". Time: p. 31.
- ^ a b c d e Johnson, Glen (March 26, 2010). "Romneycare may come back to haunt Mitt on health issue". Deseret News. Associated Press (Salt Lake City). http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700019894/Romneycare-may-come-back-to-haunt-Mitt-on-health-issue.html.
- ^ Johnson, Glen (December 15, 2010). "Health Mandate Cases to Loom Over 2012 Romney Run". Associated Press. ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=12405439.
- ^ Issenberg, Sasha (March 30, 2010). "Romney defends Mass. health care law". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/03/30/romney_defends_massachusetts_health_care_law/.
- ^ Smith, Ben (April 19, 2010). "Blogger: Romney wants repeal, but not of mandate". Politico. http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0410/Blogger_Romney_wants_repeal_but_not_of_mandate.html.
- ^ Viser, Matt (May 12, 2011). "Romney support for individual mandate complicates health care politics". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2011/05/romney_support.html.
- ^ Appleby, Julie (July 5, 2005). "Mass. Gov. Romney's health care plan says everyone pays". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2005-07-04-health-insurance-usat_x.htm.
- ^ Romano, Andrew (April 16, 2010). "If the Mitt Fits". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/04/15/if-the-mitt-fits.html.
- ^ Sargent, Greg (May 11, 2011). "Flashback: Mitt Romney hoped for 'a nation that's taken a mandate approach'". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/flashback-mitt-romney-hoped-for-a-nation-with-a-mandate-approach/2011/03/03/AFPqVUqG_blog.html.
- ^ a b Kantor, Jodi (May 19, 2012). "Romney’s Faith, Silent but Deep". The New York Times: p. 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/us/politics/how-the-mormon-church-shaped-mitt-romney.html?_r=1&hp&pagewanted=all.
- ^ Bowman, Matthew (February 8, 2012). "President Romney, Compassionate Conservative? How Mormonism May Shape Mitt's Welfare Policies". The New Republic. http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/100490/mormon-romney-poverty-welfare-poor.
- ^ a b c Hewitt, A Mormon in the White House?, pp. 56–58.
- ^ Barone and Cohen, Almanac of American Politics 2004, p. 772.
- ^ Egan, Dan (April 9, 1999). "SLOC Boss Romney Will Give U. Commencement Address". The Salt Lake Tribune: p. B3.
- ^ "Mitt Romney Calls for Bentley College Graduates to 'Be American Heroes'" (Press release). Bentley College. May 1, 2002. http://newsroom.bentley.edu/press-release/mitt-romney-calls-bentley-college-graduates-be-american-heroes-0.
- ^ "Suffolk University to Award Eight Honorary Degrees" (Press release). Suffolk University. May 24, 2004. http://www.suffolk.edu/16089.html.
- ^ "Commencement 2007". Hillsdale College. http://www.hillsdale.edu/images/userImages/cclawson/Page_4889/PC_News_Summer07.pdf. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
- ^ Bible, Mitzi (May 12, 2012). "Commencement 2012: Paying tribute to Liberty’s heritage, God's blessings". Liberty University. http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=55432.
- ^ "Mitt Romney: Politician". People. May 13, 2002. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20137022,00.html.
- ^ Pane, Lisa Marie (February 13, 2006). "Romney looks ahead, back in Olympics visit". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/olympics/articles/2006/02/13/romney_looks_ahead_back_in_olympics_visit/?page=all.
- ^ Roche, Lisa Riley (May 10, 2008). "Romney honored for 'Defense of Religious Liberty'". Deseret News (Salt Lake City). http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700224763,00.html.
- ^ Mayer, Marissa (April 18, 2012). "The 100 Most Influential People in the World". Time. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2112000,00.html.
Bibliography[link]
- Balz, Dan; Johnson, Haynes (2009). The Battle for America, 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election. New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN 978-0-670-02111-6.
- Barone, Michael; Cohen, Richard E. (2004) (paperback). The Almanac of American Politics 2004. Washington: National Journal Group. ISBN 978-0-89234-106-1.
- Barone, Michael; Cohen, Richard E. (2006). The Almanac of American Politics 2006. Washington: National Journal Group. ISBN 978-0-89234-111-5.
- Barone, Michael; Cohen, Richard E. (2008) (paperback). The Almanac of American Politics 2008. Washington: National Journal Group. ISBN 978-0-89234-116-0.
- Canellos, Peter S. (ed.) and The Team at The Boston Globe (2009). The Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4391-3817-5.
- Clymer, Adam (1999). Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography. New York: Wm. Morrow & Company. ISBN 978-0-688-14285-8.
- Heilemann, John; Halperin, Mark (2010). Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-173363-5.
- Hersh, Burton (1997). The Shadow President: Ted Kennedy in Opposition. South Royalton, Vermont: Steerforth Press. ISBN 978-1-883642-30-3.
- Hewitt, Hugh (2007). A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney. Washington: Regnery Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59698-502-5.
- Kranish, Michael; Helman, Scott (2012). The Real Romney. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-212327-5.
- Mahoney, Tom (1960). The Story of George Romney: Builder, Salesman, Crusader. New York: Harper & Brothers. OCLC 236830.
- Thomas, Evan (2009). "A Long Time Coming": The Inspiring, Combative 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-607-5.
Further reading[link]
- Foster, Craig (2008). A Different God?: Mitt Romney, the Religious Right, and the Mormon Question. Draper, Utah: Greg Kofford Books. ISBN 978-1-58958-117-3.
- Hines, Phillip (2012). Mitt Romney in His Own Words. New York: Threshold Editions. ISBN 978-1-4516-8780-4.
- Scott, Ronald B. (2011). Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press. ISBN 978-0-7627-7927-7.
- Turner, Lisa Ray; Field, Kimberly (2007). Mitt Romney: The Man, His Values, and His Vision. Silverton, Idaho: Mapletree Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60065-109-0.
External links[link]
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- Official
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- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
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- Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Collected news and commentary at The Wall Street Journal
- Collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Works by or about Mitt Romney in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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- Mitt Romney at the Open Directory Project
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Chief Executive Officer of Bain Capital 1984–1999 |
Succeeded by Joshua Bekenstein |
| Preceded by Bill Bain |
Chief Executive Officer of Bain & Company Acting 1991–1992 |
Succeeded by Steve Ellis as Worldwide Managing Director |
| Succeeded by Orit Gadiesh as Chairman of the Board |
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| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by Makoto Kobayashi |
President of Organizing Committee for Winter Olympic Games 2002 |
Succeeded by Valentino Castellani |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Jane Swift Acting |
Governor of Massachusetts 2003–2007 |
Succeeded by Deval Patrick |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Joe Malone |
Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (Class 3) 1994 |
Succeeded by Jack Robinson |
| Preceded by Paul Cellucci |
Republican nominee for Governor of Massachusetts 2002 |
Succeeded by Kerry Healey |
| Preceded by John McCain |
Republican Party presidential candidate Presumptive 2012 |
Most recent |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Romney, Willard Mitt |
| Alternative names | Romney, Mitt |
| Short description | American politician |
| Date of birth | March 12, 1947 |
| Place of birth | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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| Rick Perry | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Rick Perry in February 2012. | |
| 47th Governor of Texas | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office December 21, 2000 |
|
| Lieutenant | Bill Ratliff David Dewhurst |
| Preceded by | George W. Bush |
| 39th Lieutenant Governor of Texas | |
| In office January 19, 1999 – December 21, 2000 |
|
| Governor | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Bob Bullock |
| Succeeded by | Bill Ratliff |
| 9th Commissioner of Agriculture of Texas | |
| In office January 15, 1991 – January 19, 1999 |
|
| Governor | Ann Richards George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Jim Hightower |
| Succeeded by | Susan Combs |
| Member of the House of Representatives of Texas from District 64 |
|
| In office 1985–1991 |
|
| Preceded by | Joe Hanna |
| Succeeded by | John Cook |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Richard Perry (1950-03-04) March 4, 1950 (age 62) Paint Creek, Texas |
| Political party | Republican Party (since 1989) Democratic Party (until 1989) |
| Spouse(s) | Anita Thigpen |
| Children | Griffin Sydney |
| Residence | West Austin, Texas (Temporary residence since 2007, during repairs to the Texas Governor's Mansion)[1] |
| Alma mater | Texas A&M University (B.S.) |
| Profession | Military Officer Farmer Politician |
| Religion | Christianity (evangelical) [2] |
| Signature |  |
| Website | www.governor.state.tx.us |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1972–1977 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | 772nd Tactical Airlift Squadron |
 |
This article is part of a series about Rick Perry |
Mitt Romney
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|---|---|---|
|
2012 Presidential Campaign |
||
James Richard "Rick" Perry (born March 4, 1950) is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. Perry, a Republican, was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full gubernatorial terms in 2002, 2006 and 2010. With a tenure in office to date of &1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000188000000188 days, Perry is the longest continuously serving current U.S. governor, and the second longest serving current U.S. governor—after Terry Branstad of Iowa. Perry served as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2008 (succeeding Sonny Perdue of Georgia) and again in 2011.[3] Perry is the longest serving governor in Texas state history. As a result, he is the only governor in modern Texas history to have appointed at least one person to every eligible state office, board, or commission position (as well as to several elected offices to which the governor can appoint someone to fill an unexpired term, such as six of the nine current members of the Texas Supreme Court).
Perry won the Texas 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary election, defeating U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Wharton County Republican Party Chairwoman and businesswoman Debra Medina.[4] In the 2010 Texas gubernatorial election, Perry won a third term by defeating former Houston mayor Bill White and Kathie Glass.[5]
On August 13, 2011, Perry announced in South Carolina that he was running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. On January 19, 2012, Perry announced he would be suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination, and endorsed Newt Gingrich.
Contents |
Early life, education, and military service[link]
A fifth-generation Texan, Perry was born in Paint Creek, about 60 miles (97 km) north of Abilene in West Texas, to ranchers Joseph Ray Perry and the former Amelia June Holt. Perry's ancestry is almost entirely English, dating as far back as the original thirteen colonies. His family has been in Texas since before the Texan Revolution.[6][7][8]
His father, a Democrat, was a long-time Haskell County commissioner and school board member. Perry has said that his interest in politics probably began in November 1961, when his father took him to the funeral of U.S. Representative Sam Rayburn (D-TX),[9] who during his long public career served as speaker of the Texas House for a short time at the age of 29 and then later for 17 years as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Perry was in the Boy Scouts (BSA) and earned the rank of Eagle Scout; his son, Griffin, would later become an Eagle Scout as well.[10][11] The BSA has honored Perry with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.[12]
Perry graduated from Paint Creek High School in 1968. He then attended Texas A&M University, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets, a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, was elected senior class social secretary, and was also elected as one of A&M's five yell leaders.[13][14] Perry graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science in animal science.[15][16]
Perry said that the Corps of Cadets gave him the discipline to complete his animal sciences degree and earn a commission in the Air Force. In a 1989 interview he said that "I was probably a bit of a free spirit, not particularly structured real well for life outside of a military regime, I would have not lasted at Texas Tech or the University of Texas. I would have hit the fraternity scene and lasted about one semester."[15] Perry was a prankster in college: he once placed live chickens in the closet of an upperclassman during Christmas break and used M-80 firecrackers to prank students using the toilet.[15]
In the early 1970s, Perry interned during several summers with the Southwestern Company, as a door-to-door book salesman. "I count my time working for Dortch Oldham [President of the Southwestern Company] as one of the most important formative experiences of my life," Perry said in 2010. "There is nothing that tests your commitment to a goal like getting a few doors closed in your face." He said that "Mr. Oldham taught legions of young people to communicate quickly, clearly and with passion, a lesson that has served me well in my life since then."[17]
Upon graduation in 1972, Perry was commissioned in the Air Force and completed pilot training in February 1974. He was then assigned as a C-130 pilot to the 772nd Tactical Airlift Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base. Perry's duties included two-month overseas rotations at RAF Mildenhall in England and Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany. His missions included a 1974 U.S. State Department drought relief effort in Mali, Mauritania and Chad, and two years later, earthquake relief in Guatemala.[18] He left the Air Force in 1977 with the rank of captain, returned to Texas, and went into business farming cotton with his father.[19]
Early political career[link]
Texas Legislature[link]
In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from district 64, which included his home county of Haskell. He served on the House Appropriations and Calendars committees during his three two-year terms in office. He befriended fellow freshman state representative Lena Guerrero of Austin, a staunch liberal Democrat who endorsed Perry's reelection bid in 2006 on personal, rather than philosophical, grounds.
Perry was part of the "Pit Bulls", a group of Appropriations members who sat on the lower dais in the committee room (or "pit") who pushed for austere state budgets during the 1980s.[20] At one point, The Dallas Morning News named him one of the ten most effective members of the legislature.[21]
In 1987, Perry voted for a $5.7 billion tax increase proposed by Republican governor Bill Clements.[22] Perry supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries and worked in an unspecified capacity for Gore's campaign in Texas.[23] In 1989, Perry announced that he was switching parties, becoming a Republican.[24]
Agriculture Commissioner[link]
In 1990, as a newly minted Republican, Perry challenged Jim Hightower, the incumbent Democratic Agriculture Commissioner. Hightower had worked on behalf of Jesse Jackson for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, while Perry had supported U.S. Senator Al Gore of Tennessee.
During 1990, Hightower's office was embroiled in a FBI investigation into corruption and bribery. Three aides were convicted in 1993 of using public funds for political fundraising, although Hightower himself was not found to be involved in the wrongdoings.[25] Perry narrowly defeated Hightower in November 1990.
As Agriculture Commissioner, Perry was responsible for promoting the sale of Texas farm produce to other states and foreign nations, and for supervising the calibration of weights and measures, such as gasoline pumps and grocery store scales.[26]
In April 1993, Perry, while serving as Texas agriculture commissioner, expressed support for the effort to reform the nation's health care, describing it as "most commendable".[27] The health care plan, first revealed in September, was ultimately unsuccessful due to Republican congressional opposition.[28][29][30][31][32] In 2005, after being questioned on the issue by a potential opponent in the Republican governor primary, Perry said that he expressed his support only in order to get Clinton to pay more attention to rural health care.[33]
In 1994, Perry was reelected Agriculture Commissioner by a large margin, getting 2,546,287 votes (62 percent) to Democrat Marvin Gregory's 1,479,692 (36 percent). Libertarian Clyde L. Garland received the remaining 85,836 votes (2 percent).[34] Gregory, a chicken farmer from Sulphur Springs, Texas, was on the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority with Perry in the early nineties, as a Republican. He became a Democrat before running against Perry in 1994.[35]
Lieutenant Governor[link]
In 1998, Perry chose not to seek a third term as Agriculture Commissioner, running instead for Lieutenant Governor to succeed the retiring Democrat Bob Bullock. During this election, Rick Perry had a notable falling out with his previous top political strategist Karl Rove, which began the much-reported rivalry between the Bush and Perry camps.[36] Perry polled 1,858,837 votes (50.04 percent) to the 1,790,106 (48.19 percent) cast for Democrat John Sharp of Victoria, who had relinquished the Comptroller's position after two terms to seek the lieutenant governorship. Libertarian Anthony Garcia polled another 65,150 votes (1.75 percent).[34] Perry thus became the state's first Republican lieutenant governor since Reconstruction, taking office on January 19, 1999.
Governor of Texas[link]
Main article: Governorship of Rick Perry
Perry assumed the office of governor on December 21, 2000, following the resignation of George W. Bush—who was preparing to become President of the United States.[10] He won the office in his own right in the 2002 gubernatorial election, where he received 57.80% of votes to businessman Tony Sanchez's 39.96%.[34] He was re-elected in the 2006 gubernatorial election against three major opponents, polling 39% of votes against runner-up Chris Bell with 29.8%. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Perry became the first Texas governor to be elected to three four-year terms, polling 54.97% of votes to Bill White's 42.48%.
In his three gubernatorial campaigns, Perry received hard-money campaign contributions of $102 million, half of which came from 204 donors.[37]
In the 2001 legislative session, Perry set a record for his use of the veto, rejecting 82 acts, more than any other governor in any single legislative session in the history of the state since Reconstruction.[38] [39][40]
Fiscal policies[link]
In his presidential campaign, Perry has highlighted the economic success Texas achieved under his governorship, although the true success of his policies has been questioned.[41][42][43][44][45][46] A proclaimed proponent of fiscal conservatism, Perry has often campaigned on job growth and tax issues, such as his opposition to creating a state income tax. Perry refused in 2002 to promise not to raise taxes as governor, and in the following years did propose or approve various tax and debt[47] increases.[48][49][50][51] In 2009, Perry signed Grover Norquist's pledge to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes".
Texas began borrowing money in 2003 to pay for roads and will owe $17.3 billion by the end of 2012, increasing total state debt, from $13.4 billion in 2001 to $37.8 billion in 2011.[52] The state's public finance authority sold $2 billion in bonds for unemployment benefits, and it's authorized to sell $1.5 billion more if necessary. Texas federal borrowing topped $1.6 billion in October 2010, before the bond sales.[53] Texans voted November 8, 2011 for a Water Works Bill with an additional $6 billion of debt and against new tax breaks for landowners.[54] A Republican on the Natural Resources Committee laments “we couldn’t get the votes” which would break Perry's pledge not to raise taxes.[55]
In 2003, Perry signed legislation that created the Texas Enterprise Fund, which has since given $435 million in grants to businesses. The New York Times reported that many of the companies receiving grants, or their chief executives, have made contributions to Perry's campaigns or to the Republican Governors Association.[56]
Health[link]
As Governor, Perry has been an outspoken opponent of federal health-care reform proposals and of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, describing the latter as "socialism on American soil".[57] Perry's focus in Texas has been on tort reform, signing a bill in 2003 which restricted non-economic damages in medical malpractice judgments.[58] Perry touted this approach in his Presidential campaign, although independent analysts have concluded that it has failed to increase the supply of physicians or limit health-care costs in Texas.[57][59]
During Perry's governorship, Texas rose from second to first among states with the highest proportion of uninsured residents at 26%, and had the lowest level of access to prenatal care in the U.S.[57] Perry and the Republican-led state legislature have cut Medicaid spending and made it more difficult to enroll in the program, which currently covers one-third of Texas children.[57] The cost of caring for uninsured Texans has been borne by those with insurance, leading to substantial rises in insurance premiums and leading Texas to rank next-to-last among states in terms of affordability of health insurance.[60] The Los Angeles Times wrote that under Perry, "working Texans increasingly have been priced out of private healthcare while the state's safety net has withered."[60]
Perry's office has argued that Texas represents a model private-sector approach to health-care. His spokeswoman stated that "Texas does provide an adequate safety net to those truly in need... and many individuals simply choose not to purchase healthcare coverage."[60]
Perry is pro-life and has signed multiple bills creating new rules or restrictions for abortion procedures and funding for such.[61][62] These bills include a May 2010 law requiring that a sonogram be performed prior to every abortion, and that the practitioner discuss the sonogram images with the patient except in limited cases where the patient may waive the explanation.[63][64][65] In December 2011, Perry said he had undergone a "transformation" and now opposed all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest. The next day he clarified that he would allow an exception for abortions that would save a mother's life.[66][67]
In February 2007, Perry issued an executive order mandating that Texas girls receive the HPV vaccine, which protects against some strains of the human papilloma virus, a contributing factor to some forms of cervical cancer.[68] Following the move, news outlets reported various apparent financial connections between Perry and the vaccine's manufacturer, Merck.[68][69] Merck's political action committee has contributed $28,500 since 2001 to Perry's campaigns.[70] The order was criticized by some parents and social conservatives, and a lawsuit was filed later that month.[71] In May 2007, the Texas Legislature passed a bill undoing the order; Perry did not veto the bill, saying the veto would have been overruled, but blamed lawmakers who supported the bill for the deaths of future cancer victims.[72]
In 2011, Governor Perry both had adult stem cell surgery himself, in Houston by Dr. Jones, and started "laying the groundwork" for the commercialization of the adult stem cell industry in Texas.[73][74]
Religion[link]
Perry grew up in the Methodist church, until 2010 when he began attending Lake Hills Church in Austin.[2] In 2006, Perry stated that he believes in the inerrancy of the Bible and that those who do not accept Jesus as their savior will go to hell. He later clarified, "I don't know that there's any human being that has the ability to interpret what God and his final decision-making is going to be."[75] In his 2008 book On My Honor, Perry expressed his views on the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. "Let's be clear: I don't believe government, which taxes people regardless of their faith, should espouse a specific faith. I also don't think we should allow a small minority of atheists to sanitize our civil dialogue on religious references."[76] In June 2011, Perry proclaimed August 6 as a Day of Prayer and Fasting, inviting other governors to join him in a prayer meeting hosted by the American Family Association in Houston.[77][78] The event was criticized as going beyond prayer and fasting to include launching Perry's presidential campaign.[79]
Perry has called himself "a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect", and has expressed support for its teaching alongside evolution in Texas schools, but has also said that "educators and local school officials, not the governor, should determine science curriculum."[80]
Education[link]
Perry has repeatedly attacked the Robin Hood plan to provide court-mandated equitable school financing for all school districts in the state. In 2005, following rejection of Perry's proposal to replace the Robin Hood plan, Perry vetoed all funding for public schools for the 2007–2008 biennium, saying he would not "approve an education budget that shortchanges teacher salary increases, textbooks, education technology, and education reforms. And I cannot let $2 billion sit in some bank account when it can go directly to the classroom."[81] Following a second rejection of Perry's bill, Perry asked John Sharp to head a task force charged with preparing a bipartisan education plan, which was subsequently adopted.[82][83]
In 2001, Perry expressed his pride in the enactment of the statute extending in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants who meet Texas' residency requirements. It also required the undocumented students to pledge to apply for permanent residency or citizenship if this became a possibility for them.[84]
LGBT issues[link]
In 2002, Perry described the Texas same-sex anti-sodomy law as "appropriate".[85] The United States Supreme Court's civil rights decision in Lawrence v. Texas struck down the statute Perry referred to the following year for violating the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Perry supported the 2005 ballot proposition which amended the Texas constitution by defining marriage as "only a union between a man and a woman" and prohibiting the state from creating or recognizing "any legal status identical or similar to marriage".[86] In 2011, after New York legalized same-sex marriage, Perry stated that it was their right to do so under the principle of states' rights delineated in the 10th Amendment.[87] A spokesman later reiterated Perry's support for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, saying that position was not inconsistent since an amendment would require approval by three-fourths of the states.[88]
In his first book, On My Honor, published in 2008, Perry drew a parallel between homosexuality and alcoholism, writing that he is "no expert on the 'nature versus nurture' debate", but that gays should simply choose abstinence.[89] During the 2012 presidential campaign, he criticized the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell".[90]
Crime[link]
Perry's campaigns for lieutenant governor and governor focused on a tough stance on crime. He has supported block grants for crime programs.[91]
Jeff L. Blackburn, chief counsel of the Innocence Project of Texas, said of Perry that "He has done more good than any other governor we've ever had ... unless, of course, it involves the death penalty. On the death penalty, Rick Perry has a profound mental block".[92]
In 2007, Perry signed a law ending automatic arrest for marijuana possession.[93]
Death penalty[link]
 |
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2011) |
For more details on this topic, see Capital punishment in Texas.
Perry supports the death penalty.[94] In June 2002, he vetoed a ban on the execution of mentally retarded inmates.[91] As of August 10, 2011, Texas has carried out 234 executions since Rick Perry became governor.[95] Cases in which Perry has been criticized for his lack of intervention include those of Cameron Todd Willingham, Frances Newton, and Mexican nationals José Medellín and Humberto Leal Garcia.[96][97][98][99]
Perry commuted the death sentence of Kenneth Foster, who was convicted of murder despite evidence that he was only present at the scene of the crime.[100] Perry also pardoned Tyrone Brown, who was sentenced to life in a Texas maximum security prison for smoking marijuana while on probation.[101] Perry's actions in both these cases were following the recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.[100][101]
Infrastructure[link]
In 2001, Perry proposed the Trans-Texas Corridor, a $145+ billion-dollar project that would build multi-lane highways, rail lines and data lines from Oklahoma to Mexico, and from east to west in southern Texas. Instead of paying for the project with taxes, Perry proposed that it be partially financed, partially built and wholly operated by private contractors, who would subsequently receive all toll proceeds.[102] All of Perry's gubernatorial opponents opposed the corridor project, as did the 2006 state party platforms of both the Democratic and Republican parties.[103][104] After much contentious debate between supporters and opponents, an official decision of "no action" was issued by the Federal Highway Administration on July 20, 2010, formally ending the project.
Gun ownership[link]
Perry has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association.[105] He possesses a Concealed Handgun License (CHL)[106] and has signed a number of bills that increased CHL access.[107]
2012 presidential campaign[link]
Main article: Rick Perry presidential campaign, 2012
Until 2011, Perry persistently denied aspirations to higher office; he was originally included on the 2012 Presidential Straw Poll ballot at the Values Voter Summit in September 2009, but his name was removed at his own request.[108] In April 2008 while appearing as a guest on CNBC's Kudlow & Company, he specifically stated that he would not agree to serve as Vice President in a McCain administration, stating that he already had "the best job in the world" as governor of Texas. Further, during a Republican gubernatorial debate in January 2010, when asked if he would commit to serving out his term if re-elected, he replied that "the place hasn't been made yet" where he would rather serve than the governor of Texas. In December 2010, when asked if he was a "definite maybe" to run for President in 2012, he replied, "a definite no, brother".[109]
On May 27, 2011, he said he is "going to think about" running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination after the close of the Texas legislative session.[110] Perry said in a response to a question from a reporter, "but I think about a lot of things," he added with a grin.[111]
On August 11, a Perry spokesman said that he will be running for President in 2012, with plans to announce his formal entry into the race the next day, August 12.[112][113] Perry himself confirmed it on a visit to KVUE, the ABC affiliate in Austin. As the Associated Press bulletin announcing his entry into the race came across the wire, Perry signed and dated a printed copy of the bulletin.[114]
On August 13, Perry officially announced that he will be running for president.[115]
In October 2011, the Washington Post reported that Perry's family leases a hunting camp once called "Niggerhead". According to some local residents interviewed by the Post, the Perrys used the camp for years before painting over a large rock with that name on it, which stands at an entrance to the area, and during this time Perry hosted friends and supporters at the camp.[116] Perry's campaign disputed the claims, stating that the Perrys painted over the rock almost immediately after acquiring a lease on the property in 1983.[117][118]
On December 6, Perry released a Presidential campaign video on YouTube called "Strong" discussing his religious beliefs, as well as criticism of Obama's governance.[119] The video states "there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but your kids can't openly celebrate Christmas." The video has been largely criticised in the on-line community and has received over 750,000 dislikes on YouTube.[120]
Perry announced on January 19, 2012, that he would be dropping out of the 2012 Presidential Race, publicly endorsing Newt Gingrich.[121] However on April 25, 2012, Perry endorsed Mitt Romney after Gingrich announced that he drop out a week later.
Political views[link]
See: Political positions of Rick Perry
Publications[link]
Rick Perry has written two books:
- On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For was published in February 2008.[122] In his book, Perry celebrates the positive impact of the organization on the youth of America and criticizes the ACLU for its legal actions against the Boy Scouts of America.[123]
- His second book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington was published in November 2010.[124] Perry's second book discusses his support for limited central government.
Perry has also written a lecture about the role of the federal government and the military in disaster management titled Federalizing Disaster Response.[125]
Personal life[link]
In 1982, Perry married Anita Thigpen, his childhood sweetheart whom he had known since elementary school. They have two grown children, Griffin and Sydney. Anita Perry attended West Texas State University and earned a degree in nursing. She has spearheaded a number of health-related initiatives such as the Anita Thigpen Perry Endowment at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, which focuses on nutrition, cardiovascular disease, health education, and early childhood development.[126] Anita has also helped develop and host the Texas Conference for Women.[127]
Electoral history[link]
| Texas Gubernatorial Election 2002 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Rick Perry (Incumbent) | 2,617,106 | 58.1 | ||
| Democratic | Tony Sanchez | 1,809,915 | 40.3 | ||
| Texas Gubernatorial Election 2006 [128] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Rick Perry (Incumbent) | 1,716,792 | 39.02 | -19.08 | |
| Democratic | Chris Bell | 1,310,337 | 29.78 | -10.52 | |
| Independent | Carole Keeton Strayhorn | 796,851 | 18.11 | ||
| Independent | Richard “Kinky” Friedman | 547,674 | 12.44 | ||
| Libertarian | James Werner | 26,749 | 0.60 | ||
| Texas Gubernatorial Election 2010[5] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Rick Perry (Incumbent) | 2,733,784 | 54.97 | +15.95 | |
| Democratic | Bill White | 2,102,606 | 42.28 | +12.50 | |
| Libertarian | Kathie Glass | 109,057 | 2.19 | ||
| Green | Deb Shafto | 19,475 | .39 | ||
| Independent | Andy Barron (Write-In) | 7,973 | .16 | ||
References[link]
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- ^ "Rick Perry Gets A Grade on Abortion From Texas Pro-Life Groups". LifeNews.com. 2011-06-10. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/26/rick-perry-gets-a-grade-on-abortion-from-texas-pro-life-groups/. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
- ^ July 21st, 2011 (2011-07-21). "Texas Gov. Rick Perry Signs Bill De-Funding Planned Parenthood". Catholic Tide. http://www.catholictide.com/21/texas-gov-rick-perry-signs-bill-de-funding-planned-parenthood/. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
- ^ "Texas House passes abortion-ultrasound bill without exceptions | AHN". Allheadlinenews.com. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/briefs/articles/90038375. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ "Democrats derail sonogram bill, at least for a day". Statesman.com. 2011-08-24. http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/democrats-derail-sonogram-bill-at-least-for-a-1294019.html. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ "Texas Gov. Rick Perry Signs Ultrasound Before Abortion Bill". Lifenews.com. 2011-05-20. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/20/texas-gov-rick-perry-signs-ultrasound-before-abortion-bill/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifenews%2Fnewsfeed+%28LifeNews.com%29. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
- ^ Saenz, Arlette. "Rick Perry Clarifies Abortion Stand, Mother’s Life Only Exception." ABC News, 28 December 2011.
- ^ Philpott, Ben. "Rick Perry Pivots on Abortion." KUT News, 27 December 2011.
- ^ a b Carney, Timothy (June 21, 2011) "Rick Perry's mixed record on regulatory robbery", The Washington Examiner
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- ^ Mason, Melanie. "Rick Perry understated drug company campaign cash." Los Angeles Times, September 13, 2011.
- ^ "Texas Families Seek to Block Gov's Order". Associated Press. Newsmax Media. February 25, 2007. http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/2/25/111903.shtml. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
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- ^ Ramshaw, Emily (2011-08-04). "Perry, Allies Lay Groundwork for TX Stem Cell Industry". The Texas Tribune. http://www.texastribune.org/texas-people/rick-perry/perry-allies-lay-groundwork-tx-stem-cell-industry/. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
- ^ Maslin Nir, Sarah (2011-08-04). "Rick Perry Has Stem Cell Procedure, Then Works to Bring it to Texas". The New York Times. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/rick-perry-has-stem-cell-procedure-then-works-to-bring-it-to-texas/. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
- ^ Hoppe, Christy (November 6, 2006). "Perry believes non-Christians doomed". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on November 19, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061119030904/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/110606dnTSWperry.351c57c.html. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ^ Perry, Rick (2008). On My Honor. Macon, GA: Stroud & Hall Publishers. p. 88. ISBN 0-9796462-2-7.
- ^ Perry, Rick (June 6, 2011). "Gov. Perry Declares August 6th a Day of Prayer". Office of the Governor. http://governor.state.tx.us/news/proclamation/16247/. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
- ^ Bacon, Perry, Jr.; Henderson, Nia-Malika (August 5, 2011). "Texas Gov. Rick Perry to host major prayer event in Houston". The Washington Post.
- ^ Fikac, Peggy (August 19, 2011). "Email on voting prompts questions about Perry prayer event". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Email-on-voting-prompts-questions-about-Perry-2132729.php. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
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- ^ "Press Release] Gov. Perry Says Legislators Must Come Back, Get School Funding Right". Office of the Governor Rick Perry -Governor.state.tx.us. http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/3589/. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Gov. Perry's Principles For A Stronger Texas". Office of the Governor - Rick Perry - Governor.state.tx.us. http://www.governor.state.tx.us/priorities/tax_reform/TTRC_report/files/TTRC_report.pdf. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
- ^ Perry, Rick (August 22, 2001). "Gov. Rick Perry's Remarks to the Border Summit". Office of the Governor. http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/10688/. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
- ^ "Perry calls sodomy law 'appropriate'". Houston Chronicle. Associated Press. December 4, 2002. http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/2002_3605756/perry-calls-sodomy-law-appropriate.html. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
- ^ Elliott, Janet (November 8, 2005). "Same-sex marriage ban wins OK". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/default/article/Same-sex-marriage-ban-wins-OK-1933429.php. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
- ^ Jacobs, Jennifer (July 23, 2011). "Perry defends gay marriage as states' choice; Santorum takes a swipe". The Des Moines Register. http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/07/23/perry-defends-gay-marriage-as-a-states-choice-santorum-takes-a-swipe/. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
- ^ Barabak, Mark Z. (July 28, 2011). "Rick Perry contorts over same-sex marriage". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/28/news/la-pn-perry-gay-marriage-20110728. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
- ^ Benjamin, Mark (August 24, 2011). "Perry Compared Homosexuality to Alcoholism in 2008 Book". Time. http://swampland.time.com/2011/08/24/perry-compared-homosexuality-to-alcoholism-in-2008-book/. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ Stein, Sam (December 8, 2011). "Rick Perry's Anti-Gay Iowa Ad Divides His Top Staff". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/08/rick-perry-anti-gay-iowa-ad-divides-top-staff_n_1136587.html. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
- ^ a b "Public Notes on 01-NGA10". On The Issues. September 14, 2001. http://www.ontheissues.org/Notebook/Note_01-NGA10.htm. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
- ^ Sontag, Deborah (October 30, 2011). "Perry Displays Varied Stance Toward Crime". The New York Times.
- ^ Yoder, Steve (November 7, 2011). "The GOP, 'tough on crime' no more?" Salon.
- ^ Thomas, Evan; Brant, Martha (November 10, 2007). "Injection of Reflection". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/69546/output/print. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
- ^ "Texas Set Today to Execute 234th person under Governor Rick Perry". Texas Moratorium Network. August 10, 2011. http://stopexecutions.blogspot.com/2011/08/texas-set-today-to-execute-234th-person.html. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
- ^ "From arson to politics: Why has Texas's governor derailed a death-penalty investigation?". The Economist. October 22, 2009. http://www.economist.com/node/14699746. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
- ^ Grann, David (January 7, 2009). "Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
- ^ "Frances Elaine Newton #982". Clarkprosecutor.org. http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/newton982.htm. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
- ^ Graczyk, Michael (July 8, 2011). "Criticism of Texas' execution of Mexican Leal doesn't bother Perry". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/08/3209871/criticism-of-texas-execution-of.html. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
- ^ a b Blumenthal, Ralph (August 31, 2007). "Governor Commutes Sentence in Texas". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/us/31execute.html. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
- ^ a b "Inmate Given Life After Drug Use Is Pardoned in Texas". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 11, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/us/11pot.html. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
- ^ "Trans-Texas Corridor: FAQs". Texas Department of Transportation. 2004. Archived from the original on 2007-11-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20071113223501/http://ttc.keeptexasmoving.com/faqs/?faq_type=3. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ "2006 State Republican Party Platform". Texas Republican Party. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-06-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20080625233304/http://www.texasgop.org/site/DocServer/Platform_Updated.pdf?docID=2001. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ^ "2006 Texas Democratic Party Platform". 2006. http://txdems.bluestatedigital.com/page/-/Party%20Platforms/2006%20TDP%20platform.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ^ "Rick Perry's unwavering support for gun rights could boost his presidential prospects". Nra-Ila. http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=15316. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
- ^ "'Wily' coyote no match for governor's gun". Austin American-Statesman. http://www.statesman.com/news/local/wily-coyote-no-match-for-governors-gun-634362.html. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
- ^ "Gov. Perry Signs Bills to Protect Gun Owners' Rights". Office of the Governor Rick Perry - Governor.state.tx.us. http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/3598/. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
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- ^ Gutierrez, Kris (May 27, 2011). "President Perry? Texas Governor to 'Think About it'". Fox News. http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/05/27/president-perry-texas-gov-think-about-it. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
- ^ "Spokesman says Texas Gov. Rick Perry is running for president, announcement planned Saturday". The Washington Post. August 11, 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/campaigns/texas-gov-rick-perry-running-for-president-spokesman-says/2011/08/11/gIQAscqI9I_story.html. Retrieved August 14, 2011. [dead link]
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- ^ Bergamo, Jim (August 11, 2011). "Spokesman says Perry running for president". Austin, TX: KVUE.
- ^ Promising Better Direction, Perry Enters Race.
- ^ McCrummen, Stephanie (October 1, 2011). "At Rick Perry’s Texas hunting spot, camp’s old racially charged name lingered". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/rick-perry-familys-hunting-camp-still-known-to-many-by-old-racially-charged-name/2011/10/01/gIQAOhY5DL_story.html. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
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- ^ "Republican Rick Perry in hunting lodge race row". BBC News. October 3, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15155042. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
- ^ RPerry2012 (2011-12-06). "Strong Campaign YouTube Video". Youtube.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAJNntoRgA. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ George, Alison (2011-12-09). "Rick Perry Ad Generating Epic Hate on YouTube". Slate.com. http://www.slate.com/blogs/trending/2011/12/09/rick_perry_ad_generating_epic_hate_on_youtube.html. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ Zeleny, Jeff; Shear, Michael D. (January 19, 2012). "Perry to End Bid for Presidency". The Caucus (The New York Times). http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/perry-to-end-bid-for-presidency/. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
- ^ Perry, Rick (February 2008). On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For. Stroud & Hall. ISBN 978-0-9796462-2-5.
- ^ Selby, W. Gardner (2008-02-09). "In first book, Perry criticizes ACLU and defends Boy Scouts". Austin American-Statesman. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/02/09/0209perrybook.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
- ^ Perry, Rick (November 2010). Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-13295-4.
- ^ Perry, Rick (November 2005). Federalizing Disaster Response. Heritage Foundation.
- ^ "Endowment named for First Lady Anita Perry - The News - University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio". Uthscsa.edu. 2001-06-15. http://www.uthscsa.edu/opa/issues/new34-24/perry.html. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
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- ^ http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe Texas Board of Elections as of July 24, 2009
External links[link]
 |
Wikinews has related news: Texas governor Rick Perry to announce his presidential intentions |
- Governor Rick Perry official state site
- Rick Perry for President official presidential campaign site
- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
- Works by or about Rick Perry in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org.......
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- Governor
- Biography at the National Governors Association
- Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org
| Texas House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joe Hanna |
Member of the House of Representatives of Texas from the District 64 1985–1991 |
Succeeded by John Cook |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Jim Hightower |
Commissioner of Agriculture of Texas 1991–1999 |
Succeeded by Susan Combs |
| Preceded by Bob Bullock |
Lieutenant Governor of Texas January 19, 1999 – December 21, 2000 |
Succeeded by Bill Ratliff |
| Preceded by George W. Bush |
Governor of Texas December 21, 2000 – present |
Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by George W. Bush |
Republican nominee for Governor of Texas 2002, 2006, 2010 |
Most recent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Joe Biden as Vice President |
Order of Precedence of the United States Within Texas |
Succeeded by Mayor of city in which event is held |
| Succeeded by Otherwise John Boehner as Speaker of the House of Representatives |
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| Preceded by Rick Scott as Governor of Florida |
Order of Precedence of the United States Outside Texas |
Succeeded by Terry Branstad as Governor of Iowa |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Perry, Rick |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American politician |
| Date of birth | March 4, 1950 |
| Place of birth | Paint Creek, Texas |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
