Monday, October 18, 2004
“The Moral Case for Supporting Israel”
by Dr. Yaron Brook, president and Executive Director of Ayn Rand Institute
Since its founding in 1948 Israel has been under siege–courageously fending off hostile neighbors while defending itself against Arab terrorists. In a Mideast dominated by Arab monarchies, theocracies and dictatorships–Israel is a free country standing as the lone bastion of Western civilization in that region. Yet for decades Israel has faced growing international pressure–often led by the United States–to compromise with its enemies, and act against its self-interest. In this talk, Dr. Brook argues that the United States should unequivocally support Israel’s effort at self-defense; that allowing Israel to rid itself of terrorist and foreign military threats is in America’s best interests. Israel is our only true ally in the Mideast, and supporting it is the only moral thing for the United States to do.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 5:00pm, 150 Animal Sciences Lab. Free of charge and open to the public.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
“Religion vs. Morality”
by Dr. Andrew Bernstein, professor of philosphy at SUNY Purchase and Concordia College
Conventionally, most people believe that morality can only be based in religious faith – that in a world without God no principles of right and wrong could exist. Related to this, philosophers have long held that no objective, fact-based, rational code of values is possible. Regarding both points, Dr. Andrew Bernstein argues that the exact opposite is true. The purpose of morality is to guide human life on earth – and religion is utterly incapable of it. Flourishing life requires a code of secularism, rationality, egoism and freedom. Religious faith clashes with every principle of a proper moral code, and, as such, has led, and can only lead to, hell on earth.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 7:30pm, 314 Altgeld Hall. Free of charge and open to the public.