Friday, July 18, 2008

The “Post-Modern Dogma of the Certainty of Uncertainty” and John Chane

I’m preparing to head to a national chess tournament. Those who think chess tournaments are important enough to pray for, please pray for me!

But I wanted to bring your attention to this excellent piece by Leander Harding . Many of you are aware that “Bishop” John Chane had a hissy fit about the “demonic” orthodox. Harding dissects Chane’s rant quite well:

This protest against certainty claims the moral high ground and sounds on the surface as though it is based on a generous tolerance. This supposed moral protest in the name of tolerance needs to be unmasked as exactly the opposite, the dismissive and marginalizing rhetoric of the powerful who seek to protect their own agenda from critique on the grounds of any transcendent authority. It is precisely an attempt to force your beliefs on others before any argument is engaged by virtue of the way in which the rules of discussion are established. It is saying, in effect, ” before we talk you must agree that your beliefs and values are the sort of thing that I say they are and I say they can never be more than one opinion among others. If we are to talk, you must give up all your truth claims before you come to the table. With regard to the rules of the table, I will be the final referee.”

Do read it all.

2 comments:

Truth Unites... and Divides said...

Thanks for the link to Dr. Harding's excellent analysis!

BTW, what's your USCF chess rating?

Mark said...

1551. I'm taking a bye tonight, and will play tomorrow morning. Pray! ;^)

wannabe