Defintion of a religion of peace: the most radical believers do the least harm.

Ari Siletz
by Ari Siletz
04-Jul-2011
 

Author Sam Harris' arguments against religion also make good entertainment. In the above video he takes on Islam.

Harris on Christianity:

"The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive."

Harris on Judaism:

"The gravity of Jewish suffering over the ages, culminating in the Holocaust, makes it almost impossible to entertain any suggestion that Jews might have brought their troubles upon themselves. This is, however, in a rather narrow sense, the truth. [...] the ideology of Judaism remains a lightning rod for intolerance to this day. [...] Jews, insofar as they are religious, believe that they are bearers of a unique covenant with God. As a consequence, they have spent the last two thousand years collaborating with those who see them as different by seeing themselves as irretrievably so. Judaism is as intrinsically divisive, as ridiculous in its literalism, and as at odds with the civilizing insights of modernity as any other religion. Jewish settlers, by exercising their "freedom of belief" on contested land, are now one of the principal obstacles to peace in the Middle East."

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Monda

The End of Faith

by Monda on

... arrived at my door, just yesterday! Thanks Ari for the clip and highlights of Harris' tenets.


ramintork

Excellent lecture

by ramintork on

I would like to see the rest of the lecture. Thanks for sharing.


پندارنیک

No responses, s.v.p.

by پندارنیک on

There is no such thing as "contested land"; the only legal definition that fits that piece of land is "occupied," nothing more, nothing less.