“Minorities are always better off in a culture which protects dissent than in a culture which protects us from dissent.”
― Jonathan Rauch
Jonathan Rauch is an atheist. He is also Gay and a long-time gay activist. And he is a brilliant thinker and bridge-builder who understands how dangerous it is to our personal and societal welfare to intimidate, shut down and cancel those who we find disagreeable. He also has an appreciation and respect for some who believe in God and religion despite his atheism. His book, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth should be required reading for those on the right and the left and everyone in between. It marks the only path forward through these politically troubled times. When a conservative intellectual like George Will and the New York Times Book Review Editors both sing the praises of a book, then you know you are likely getting to the truth.
The Brookings Institution has a brief but valuable write-up on this book as well as links to reviews of the book and interviews with the author. You can find that here.
I sincerely hope you’ll explore The Constitution of Knowledge. If we don’t wonder more often about our own assumptions it will be difficult to come to agree on communal and institutional wisdom.
