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I suggest that anyone interested in the ideas of Sam Harris visit the writers webpage at http:www.SamHarris.org Sam has posted some good video, audio and articles that give a great overview of the ideas presented in his books. I just finished his new “Letter to a Christian Nation” and I'm ordering copies each of my friends and family. I highly recommend these books and give both 5 stars.
Sam Harris is a philosopher par exellance: clear logical thinking shot through with a deep concern for humanity. he is the only public voice right now pointing out that at the center of the world's difficulty right now is human kind's desperate clinging to irrational (i would say pre-rational) religious beliefs. In his book The End of Faith, Haris makes a lucid case for humanistic non-religious spirituality.
i recommend The End of Faith in tandem with Jennifer Hecht's masterful Doubt: A History. It's time for trans-rational spirituality to awaken us from our dangerous trance!
here is an amazing short lecture from Sam Harris at Idea City!
of all the books i have read, this is the most clear and precise in its deconstruction of religious faith. it is essential to draw a distinction between general faith - that humans are basically loving and that, in the end, everything turns out ok - and religious faith - that eating a cracker will give you eternal salvation.
Sam Harris points to the distinctions between faith-based religions and self-realisation; and indicates that the greatest single threat to the perpetuation of the human species is uninvestigated and irrational beliefs about the nature of reality.
in many ways, this is no different to many enlightenment 'teachings' - except that Sam makes it clear that religious tolerance - and not fundamentalism - is the key problem.
His extensive referencing of source texts - such as the Old and New Testaments and the Holy Quaran - make it clear that fundamentalists are simply following the letter of the teachings.
This book is a massive wake up call - that it is as important for us to question the belief systems of those who pollute the atmosphere and overfish the seas, as it is to question the belief systems of those who adhere to religious teachings that at their very core promote intolerance and genocide.
I urge everyone with an interest in the 'betterment of humanity' to read this book - and that includes everyone here at zaadz
Regardless of the controversy and the non-compromising position of Harris when it comes to religion, The End of Faith is an important contemporary book. This book is not about Atheism. It's a book about exercising one's faculty of critical thinking on religion, science and ethics. It's a rude and crude initial attempt at integrating science and authentic spirituality. Read it. Critique it. Discuss it with your friends. Discuss it your school and universities. Discuss it in your congregation. Discuss it with your priests and pastors. Use it as a tool to separate the wheat of reason from the chaff of mythic hubris and the flatland of postmodernism. Godspeed ;)
(see also rest of my review of The End of Faith)