The population of the United States is becoming less and less affiliated with any religion, at the same time that national, state, and local governments are considering policies that elevate religious freedom over other civil rights and liberties. Meanwhile, religious extremism and religiously motivated violence are steadily rising. In these vigorous debates, the loud voices of extremists drowned out religious and irreligious moderates. How should this “silent majority” approach such a pressing national conversation? Dr. Adam Kunz, author of To Hell With Heaven, offers one theory: apatheism. This part-philosophical, part-autobiographical account explains what apatheism is and how it differs from its opposite, religious zealotry. When it comes to religious extremism, rather than “fight fire with fire,” this book empowers believers and non-believers to look extremists in the eye and declare, “I don’t care.”
Copies of To Hell With Heaven will be available for purchase.
Dr. Adam Kunz is a member of the Political Science and Criminal Justice Department at UW-Eau Claire. His scholarly interests are in contemporary political theory, existential threats to human flourishing, the limits of freedom of religion, and jurisprudence. Holding a Ph.D. in political science, Kunz teaches courses on constitutional law, contemporary political theory, and the history of liberalism.
Sponsored by Chippewa Valley Humanists & Menard Center for Constitutional Studies