I wonder if Douthat explores the indoctrination aspect of religion; or perhaps the twisting of Christian ideologies to neatly fit into the purpose of destroying democracy. Anyway, that’s where I’m at with religion. Its soul purpose is to control lives. My parents had 10 kids because of they are religious rule followers. They also believed in “spare the rod spoil the child” which may or may not be religious based. A spirited child is to be broken…all that gobbledegoop that truly alters children’s lives. I may or may not read Douthat’s book, and I admit I sometimes miss the ritualistic aspect of religion during holidays, (another aspect of indoctrination) but I turned the page 18 years ago when unable to reconcile child sex abuse and subsequent church cover ups with my conscience or counseling profession. Kindness should be a religion.
If you're looking for more books that have something interesting to say about sex, I highly recommend Tony Tulathimutte's "Rejection"—by far the most (sexually) depraved and insane and engaging collection of short stories I've ever read.
I'm a big Rooney fan and loved Intermezzo -- I think one of the unifying themes across her work is how the sheer pleasure of physicality (and physical intimacy) can overwhelm and bring happiness to her characters (who are usually intellectually gifted, emotionally stunted millennials). In a way, her view of intimacy (and physical intimacy) is the opposite of Douthat's view -- it's a way to engage with and understand emotions and become connected to the physical world, as opposed to some kind of divine connection/obligation. I suspect her view is the superior one when you look at book sales and critical acclaim. And also the more intellectually sophisticated one.
My initial reaction when I started Intermezzo was similar. I had it on loan as an audio book from the library and only had 14 days to get through and after the first few minutes wanted to stop it altogether. But since all of Rooney's previous writing has been inspiring and moving, even her political opinions in The Irish Times, I decided to stick to it. Also because the actor who reads the audio version, Éanna Hardwicke, went to the same school my daughter did.
Anyway, in short, for me, this book is about love. I actually had to say it out loud a couple of times. It's more than love stories, it's the love between siblings, parents and their children, obviously between sexual partners, and between a man and his dog, but also the love that you experience in loss and grief and in growing older. And like you, I was in tears a few times.
Always wondered why there wasn't a religion based on sex as the principal form of worship. Miracle (almost) guaranteed! (How would it die out?)
But I guess that was the first religion, and every new religion has to demonise its predecessors.
PS: I'm an atheist too but I've just started a list that I call "reasons to be grateful", a list of things that cosmology can't explain.
1. That anything exists.
2. That I exist, and hence that self-aware entities (my reference class) are not taken from an infinite pool of potential such entities (most religions fail here).
3. That self-aware entities are predominantly intelligent beings with the illusion of free will and not other much more numerous entities like rats, shrimp or sperm cells.
4. That evolution has not made significant use of pain to control my behaviour.
I wonder if Douthat explores the indoctrination aspect of religion; or perhaps the twisting of Christian ideologies to neatly fit into the purpose of destroying democracy. Anyway, that’s where I’m at with religion. Its soul purpose is to control lives. My parents had 10 kids because of they are religious rule followers. They also believed in “spare the rod spoil the child” which may or may not be religious based. A spirited child is to be broken…all that gobbledegoop that truly alters children’s lives. I may or may not read Douthat’s book, and I admit I sometimes miss the ritualistic aspect of religion during holidays, (another aspect of indoctrination) but I turned the page 18 years ago when unable to reconcile child sex abuse and subsequent church cover ups with my conscience or counseling profession. Kindness should be a religion.
If you're looking for more books that have something interesting to say about sex, I highly recommend Tony Tulathimutte's "Rejection"—by far the most (sexually) depraved and insane and engaging collection of short stories I've ever read.
I'm a big Rooney fan and loved Intermezzo -- I think one of the unifying themes across her work is how the sheer pleasure of physicality (and physical intimacy) can overwhelm and bring happiness to her characters (who are usually intellectually gifted, emotionally stunted millennials). In a way, her view of intimacy (and physical intimacy) is the opposite of Douthat's view -- it's a way to engage with and understand emotions and become connected to the physical world, as opposed to some kind of divine connection/obligation. I suspect her view is the superior one when you look at book sales and critical acclaim. And also the more intellectually sophisticated one.
My initial reaction when I started Intermezzo was similar. I had it on loan as an audio book from the library and only had 14 days to get through and after the first few minutes wanted to stop it altogether. But since all of Rooney's previous writing has been inspiring and moving, even her political opinions in The Irish Times, I decided to stick to it. Also because the actor who reads the audio version, Éanna Hardwicke, went to the same school my daughter did.
Anyway, in short, for me, this book is about love. I actually had to say it out loud a couple of times. It's more than love stories, it's the love between siblings, parents and their children, obviously between sexual partners, and between a man and his dog, but also the love that you experience in loss and grief and in growing older. And like you, I was in tears a few times.
Don't forget that for many religions sex is the human version of creation, and parenting is the human version of divine intercession.
I meant intervention.
Always wondered why there wasn't a religion based on sex as the principal form of worship. Miracle (almost) guaranteed! (How would it die out?)
But I guess that was the first religion, and every new religion has to demonise its predecessors.
PS: I'm an atheist too but I've just started a list that I call "reasons to be grateful", a list of things that cosmology can't explain.
1. That anything exists.
2. That I exist, and hence that self-aware entities (my reference class) are not taken from an infinite pool of potential such entities (most religions fail here).
3. That self-aware entities are predominantly intelligent beings with the illusion of free will and not other much more numerous entities like rats, shrimp or sperm cells.
4. That evolution has not made significant use of pain to control my behaviour.
LOL your list (especially #4) made me smile.
Yes, I wondered at the time whether that was just a male perspective.