| | |  | Keyword Search: O’Reilly Security | Home » The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason | | | | | | | Description: | | Natalie Angier wrote in The New York Times: "The End of Faith articulates the dangers and absurdities of organized religion so fiercely and so fearlessly that I felt relieved as I read it, vindicated....Harris writes what a sizable number of us think, but few are willing to say." This important and timely book delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world. Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behavior and sometimes-heinous crimes. He asserts that in the shadow of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer tolerate views that pit one true god against another. Most controversially, he argues that we cannot afford moderate lip service to religion; an accommodation that only blinds us to the real perils of fundamentalism. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris also draws on new evidence from neuroscience and insights from philosophy to explore spirituality as a biological, brain-based need. He calls on us to invoke that need in taking a secular humanistic approach to solving the problems of this world. | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9780393327656
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| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Sam Harris | | Paperback:
| 256 pages | | Publisher:
| W. W. Norton | | Publication Date:
| October 10, 2005 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0393327655 | | Package Length:
| 8.2 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.5 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.9 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.65 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 880 reviews |
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| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Atheism is just a different kind of faithAug 27, 2010
No matter how you slice it, the answer to the question "does God exist?" can only be answered by faith.
That means that any answer, whether it augurs for a particular religion or even -- as Harris argues in this book -- no religion at all still remains merely a faith affirmation.
While Harris argues mightily against abuses of religion, none of his arguments per se actually operates as an indictment of religion itself.
Here's why:
1) When Harris says that those who abuse religion make his case for its elimination he is perhaps on his weakest ground.
Sure, terrorists, suicide bombers and their ilk -- who purportedly do their evil deeds at the behest of some perception of God -- are definately not religion's poster children. But the same could be said of abusive husbands and crooked politicians. While abusive husbands certainly undermine the currency of marriage, they still nonetheless do not make the case for the elimination of marriage itself. In a similar vien, crooked politicians to be sure threaten the viability of our political institutions but they don't make the case for the elimination of those selfsame institutions.
In other words, if the existence of any institution could be argued for based on the idea that people from time to time abuse it, then I would daresay no human institutions would survive.
2) Where Harris says that people who believe in God are wrong simply because their beliefs are rooted in a faith system not subject to empirical re-evaluation, he makes an interesting but ultimately irrelevant point.
Sure, if one is to be Christian or Moslem or maybe even any other religion that has ever existed, one no doubt does accepting for all time and ever again the unique "truth" of their belief. But the same can be said of many other human attitudes. In this regard, I find it most interesting that the vast majority of people share not only their religious attitudes, but political and class affiliations with those of their parents. Viewed from an outsider's perspective, it's almost as if having been indoctrinated as children, people do their utmost to avoid further serious thought on these issues. (And interestingly enough, where ostensible changes in faith affirmation are made, the changes made are usually mild, viz: Catholicism to Lutheranism and the like.)
My point here isn't that it wouldn't be nice if people were genuinely more willing to seriously reconsider their attitudes on such matters. Rather, I believe that the criticism propounded by Harris again unfairly suggests too draconian a solution to the alleged "problem" at hand, namely: people's unwillingness to respect other religious viewpoints. (Would that this could apply to politcial views as well!)
If Harris is saying that religous adherence should be regarded as criminal where it requires one to do violence to others or otherwise strip others of their rights, he will find me in fast agreement. If, however, he is suggesting that only by throwing out the baby with the bathwater (getting rid of religion itself) then I think he's wrong by over reaching.
3) When Harris fails to give serious credence to the good religion has done, I think he errs.
In this regard, Harris is both dismisive and abusive towards those who would point to the great kindnesses performed in the name of religion or those who did them. Prior to modern times, he would say, religious people did a lot of good stuff but back then everyone was religious anyway. Two problems emerge here:
The first is that religious people are still doing good and important stuff today and the second is that since the emergence of our species we're talking about like two thousand generations of humans. Are we seriously to sweep all their progresses under the same dismissive blanket? For me, the answer is clearly not.
4) When Harris xenophobically picks on Moslems, he's hitting below the belt.
The likes of Robert Spencer aside, Islam is NOT religion of intollerance or hate. Uncited in his book is the constitution of Medina, authored by Muhammed himself requiring Moslems to respect the Jews living in their midst not to mention countless hadith (or sayings or Muhammed) and lines from Qur'an which testify to the value of human life and peace among peoples. (In this regard, the Qur'an specifically preaches respect to what it refers to "as peoples of the book" therein refered to as Jews, Christians and Sabians...the last being perhaps a catch all phrase.)
Also, as conceded by even Harris, it cradled the candle of human inquiry while the rest of the planet was living in the night of the dark ages. Even today, Moslem Americans are eagerly and peacefully taking their place along with the rest of us. In the mid east, Egypt and Jordan have already made peace with Israel to be sure to be followed by others.
Sure, we could say that we'd like to see Moslem countries adopting this policy or having that political system but to say that there's something about Islam itself that makes people particularly intollerant or hateful is just unfair and wrong.
Also, it's xenophobic too. Trying to engender anti Islamic feeling this close to 9 11 is just like similar behavior conducted against the Japanese after 12-7-41 (when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese starting American invovlement in World War II).
5) When Harris picks on Christianity he's being unfair.
As Harris correctly points out, the Bible does have its less than perfect moments (where it seems to preach death to homosexuals and others who don't believe for example). However, what he fails to observe that when the Bible's most incendiary passages were written, they were actually an improvement over other practices then in place. One example of this is the so called Moloch sacrifice where worshippers of Moloch would actually incinerate their children as an offering. (Interestingly enough this activity took place at Gehenna now rendered as Hell, yet another fiery destination, albeit for those more deserving of such a post death punishment.)
The point is that the Bible pointedly disavowed this conduct and in so doing sided with the forces of history that would later abolish slavery and support the expansion of women's rights. To be sure, a lot theologians were dragged kicking and screaming along the way but significantly -- and as conceded by Harris himself -- they were made passengers to other theologians who read their Bibles to support freedom and rights for women.
To be sure, certain passages in the Bible are less than progressive but as a whole the Bible is a unique document telling as admittedly oftentimes more about the people who wrote than how we should or indeed actually do lead our lives. And to be fair, in its early history and even among the visionary today it still serves as an inspiration for change.
6) And finally Harris doesn't explain how -- if religion is so bad -- how the 20th centuries two greatest killers were both atheists.
Yep. It's sad but true. More than Hitler, either Joseph Stalin or Mao Tse Tung alone caused more death individually. That's not to exonerate Hitler (who did remain a Catholic in good standing until his suicide in 1945) but rather to underscore an important point.
When it comes to being either a homicidal murderer or just a doer of evil deeds, religion is no impediment. To be sure, it can and oftentimes has been the espoused basis of the wrongdoing but to suggest that one's propensity to violence correlates only with their religious beliefs is...well...just ridiculous.
All these points being made, I do think this in an important book for the issues that it raises. From Neitczhe forward, it's been intellectually cool to press the whole God question, intoning on the one hand the various inconsistencies in religion while using the other hand to point dismissively at those who would beleive.
But those good, decent law abiding people who choose to believe are within their rights...their right to follow the faith of their forebears, to have a relationship with God consistent with their faith systems and finally to be let alone as long as they're not bothering anyone...least of all, those among us who would claim to know "the right answer" or more repugnantly deign to impose it on someone else.
2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
The beginning of the end of religionAug 07, 2010
I can't recommend this book enough. It's the perfect compliment to Dawkins' The God Delusion and Hitchens' God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
My only criticism is Harris' argument in defense of torture. He equates the harm done by torture with the collateral damage done by aerial bombing and suggests they are morally equivalent. This contradicts his earlier argument against Chomsky equating the Bush administration's killing of innocents and Saddam Hussein's crimes against humanity. Harris says the difference between Bush and Saddam Hussein is intent; Bush does not intend to harm innocents, Saddam Hussein does. This same logic should be applied to the United States' use of torture; there is clear intent to do harm and it is not morally equivalent to the inadvertent killing of innocents by bombing.
From Religous Fascism to Antireligious FascismJul 25, 2010
If you could prove or disprove faith-based knowledge (religious beliefs), faith would not be necessary. Nevertheless, rabid theists engage in attempts to prove, and rabid atheists engage in attempts to disprove. And predictably, they come up as empty handed as the person referred to in the old adage, "You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip." It's impossible, but since hope springs eternal in matters of faith, and too, there is a market for controversy that yields big bucks in book royalties, rabid theists and atheists remain engaged.
Unlike others in the current crop of rabid atheists, Harris does not play the game of attempting to disprove faith-based knowledge--at least not in his book, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. In the philosophical tradition of logical positivism, he asserts instead that without the objective criteria of evidence to support a body of knowledge, it is nothing more than fairy tale. He goes on to argue that without that objective criteria, there is no way to access the truth of any one body of faith-based knowledge over the others. The result is perpetual conflict and religious fascism. Incidences of Christian and Muslim fascism are cited.
Harris argues that tolerance of diversity merely perpetuates the problem. His solution is to end the use of faith as a legitimate basis for knowledge and to insist that all legitimate knowledge be evidence-based. He does not explain how he would implement his solution, but it reeks of trading religious fascism for antireligious fascism.
Given my foregoing review of Harris's book, my five-star recommendation may raise a few eyebrows. Let me explain: I enjoyed reading the book. I find the writings of rabid theists and atheist alike not only interesting and provocative but fun to read. I marvel at their attempts to out-assert each other with their faith-based views and pass them off as rational thought. More importantly, their writings challenge me to think differently so that I can reevaluate my own views of faith-based issues periodically.
1 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Great purchaseJun 28, 2010
Im very pleasd with the book, the shipping was fast and the second hand book is like a new one.
thanksm
Asaf
2 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 The end of Tolerance?Jun 04, 2010
I was thoroughly enjoying this book, but feeling apprehensive about what seems to be a preoccupation with Islamic fundamentalism. Indeed half way through the book Harris embarks on a tirade that is an excellent exposition of the religious assumptions he has attempted to expose. Perhaps there is some truth to his theories concerning the influence of fundamentalist ideas on Islamic 'terrorism', but Harris leaves little room for doubt that his is the only correct view. The fact is that fundamentalism and blind adherence to untested, or untestable assumptions is not particular to religion, and it is here that Harris' seems to have missed the point entirely: he claims that Nazi persecution was religious in nature, i.e. that it had its historic roots in Christian anti-semitism. Most experts tend to view racial theory as a hollow justification for other more insidious processes at work in the Nazi plans, including industrialisation. Keep in mind that Jews were not the only victims of the Nazi's.
Another issue I have with this book is the juxtaposing of religion and rationalism, as if rational thought could not spawn equally disastrous consequences. Harris fails to question his own assumptions about the nature of ethics. Just where do these come from if we forgo intuition? My feeling is that this writer is too young to have deeply contemplated religious questions and the meaning of life. Certainly all 'holy books' are full of abominations that are difficult to interpret other than literally. Perhaps the Q'uran more so. But the fact is that one needs to go beyond the superficial meaning of religious texts. The fact is that a great many people are capable of ignoring those parts of a religious text that either mean nothing to them, or would otherwise force them to commit violence. It is only under particular social and economic conditions that fundamentalism thrives. This book should be approached with caution lest it inspire exactly the type of extremist views it claims to expose in religion!
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