The Stupidity Watch

For the past two decades, S. T. Joshi has emerged as one of the sharpest commentators on the follies of religion and politics. Combining keen analytical skills with pungent satire, Joshi is a modern-day Ambrose Bierce or H. L. Mencken in skewering religious fanatics, right-wing politicians, and others who have exhibited their stupidity and ineptitude for all to see. In this book, Joshi assembles the essays and reviews he has written for The American Rationalist, a journal he has edited since 2011. He lambastes the work of Alister E. McGrath, Robert P. George, Todd Burpo, David Skeel, Rice Broocks, and others who blunderingly seek to defend Christian doctrine, and he also dissects the hollow and superficial work of Joe Scarborough and other conservative commentators. Other reviews address such issues as the Bible's attitude toward gays and lesbians, the Second Amendment, and other key issues. Joshi's column, "The Stupidity Watch," is a wide-ranging lampoon of the myriad forms of stupidity exhibited by politicians, clerics, and the general public. Here we see the buffooneries of Republican politicians, fundamentalist preachers, and average citizens held up to impolite ridicule. The former president Donald J. Trump is not spared. In this third revised edition, several substantial essays on the history of atheism have been added, lending a valuable historical perspective on the contemporary battle between freethinkers and the devout.