Dr. Mathew Lu to Speak at First Fall Philosophy Colloquium

Dr. Mathew Lu, assistant professor in the Philosophy Department, will speak this Thursday, Sept. 23, at this semester's first Philosophy Colloquium. His topic is “The Immorality of Religion? The New Atheism and Christianity.”

The talk will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in Room 126, John R. Roach Center for the Liberal Arts. Everyone is welcome.

According to Lu, the past few years have seen a wave of “new atheist” polemics enter the popular imagination from the likes of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and others. One of their rehashed argumentative strategies has included an attempt to convict religion in general, and Christianity in particular, of being somehow immoral.

In this talk, drawing especially on the work of David Hart, Lu will examine this charge and consider how it reflects a deep confusion about the nature of moral critique and the structure of society’s moral grammar.