Clipmarks | Antara's 'sam harris' clips

Richard Dawkins: Why There Almost Certainly Is No God

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:54:09 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Opinion
Richard Dawkins: Why There Almost Certainly Is No God

America, founded in secularism as a beacon of eighteenth century enlightenment, is becoming the victim of religious politics, a circumstance that would have horrified the Founding Fathers. The political ascendancy today values embryonic cells over adult people. It obsesses about gay marriage, ahead of genuinely important issues that actually make a difference to the world. It gains crucial electoral support from a religious constituency whose grip on reality is so tenuous that they expect to be 'raptured' up to heaven, leaving their clothes as empty as their minds. More extreme specimens actually long for a world war, which they identify as the 'Armageddon' that is to presage the Second Coming. Sam Harris, in his new short book, Letter to a Christian Nation, hits the bull's-eye as usual:

placed by a ball of fire, some significant percentage of the American population would see a silver-lining in the subsequent mushroom cloud, as it would suggest to them that the best thing that is ever going to happen was about to happen: the return of Christ . . .Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government actually believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this, purely on the basis of religious dogma, should be considered a moral and ¬intellectual emergency. Does Bush check the Rapture Index daily, as Reagan did his stars? We don't know, but would anyone be surprised?

Tags: science, religion, dogma, god

Killing the Buddha

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:52:09 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: a fascinating and interesting read:from the article: "It is as yet undetermined what it means to be human, because every facet of our culture—and even our biology itself—remains open to innovation and insight."

Clip Source: mambo.shambhalasun.com

Killing the Buddha

Sam Harris

“Kill the Buddha,” says the old koan. “Kill Buddhism,” says Sam Harris, author ot The End of Faith, who argues that Buddhism’s philosophy, insight, and practices would benefit more people if they were not presented as a religion.

For the fact is that a person can embrace the Buddha’s teaching, and even become a genuine Buddhist contemplative (and, one must presume, a buddha) without believing anything on insufficient evidence. The same cannot be said of the teachings for faith-based religion. In many respects, Buddhism is very much like science. One starts with the hypothesis that using attention in the prescribed way (meditation), and engaging in or avoiding certain behaviors (ethics), will bear the promised result (wisdom and psychological well-being). This spirit of empiricism animates Buddhism to a unique degree. For this reason, the methodology of Buddhism, if shorn of its religious encumbrances, could be one of our greatest resources as we struggle to develop our scientific understanding of human subjectivity.

The Problem of Religion

A Contemplative Science

There is much more to be discovered about the nature of the human mind. In particular, there is much more for us to understand about how the mind can transform itself from a mere reservoir of greed, hatred, and delusion into an instrument of wisdom and compassion. Students of the Buddha are very well placed to further our understanding on this front, but the religion of Buddhism currently stands in their way.

Tags: buddhism, religion, faith, philosophy, zen, mind

Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:22:48 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: by Sam Harris

Clip Source: richarddawkins.net

Like many people, I once trusted in the wisdom of Nature. I imagined that there were real boundaries between the natural and the artificial, between one species and another, and thought that, with the advent of genetic engineering, we would be tinkering with life at our peril. I now believe that this romantic view of Nature is a stultifying and dangerous mythology.

Every 100 million years or so, an asteroid or comet the size of a mountain smashes into the earth, killing nearly everything that lives. If ever we needed proof of Nature's indifference to the welfare of complex organisms such as ourselves, there it is. The history of life on this planet has been one of merciless destruction and blind, lurching renewal.

Nothing in the natural order demands that our descendants resemble us in any particular way. Very likely, they will not resemble us. We will almost certainly transform ourselves, likely beyond recognition, in the generations to come.

Tags: sam harris, evolution, nature

Your Nose, Your Brain, Your Faith

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:02:56 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Sam Harris article....very interesting!

Rest of article:

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/my-nose-my-brain-my-faith/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

By DAVID VAN BIEMA
Jan. 10, 2008

Your nose is one of the less complicated parts of your body, and yet we credit it with considerable intelligence in the area of truth vs. falsehood. We “sniff out a lie.” We say “something smells fishy.” Now studies suggest that something more than metaphor may be at work here--specifically, brain science. The same research may also shed unexpected light on religious faith.

Believing or disbelieving something is always as much about feeling as fact. Sam Harris, a doctoral candidate at UCLA, wanted to see what that means in physiological terms. To many readers, Harris is best known for his antireligious book The End of Faith. But he is also a neuroscientist. In a study reported in the Annals of Neurology, Harris presented 14 people with 360 statements designed to elicit belief, disbelief or uncertainty. He tracked their brain response with a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI) and got some very revealing results.

Tags: sam harris, neuroscience, faith, religion

Tribal Religion, Transcendent Religion

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:02:53 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

All religions have both types of people – the tribal and the transcendent. The tribal type see in the particular narratives of their tradition a narrowing of concern, and therefore care only about the people who look like them, talk like them and pray like them.

The transcendent see in the same particularity a universalizing of care, and therefore focus their energies on all people, especially groups most in need, regardless of creed.

If tribal religion wins, it necessarily pits groups against one another based on identity, and it means that people like Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris are right – religion will destroy everything.

If transcendent faith wins, it opens the possibility for different identity groups to use their particular narratives to articulate a collective vision that includes everybody.

If that isn’t the future, there will be no future.

The Blasphemy challenge

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 16:01:08 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.10zenmonkeys.com

Atheist Filmmaker Issues ‘Blasphemy Challenge’

“The War on Christmas” is an absurd fantasy concocted by the Religious Right. But it doesn’t have to be. If Brian Flemming has his way, we’ll get a real War on Christmas, complete with atheistic shock troops (called “Rational Responders”) confronting believers with the non-logic of their dearest religious beliefs. His “Rational Response Squad” is encouraging young people to take The Blasphemy Challenge — to commit blasphemy and post the results on YouTube.

It’s all part of the continuing promotion for Flemming’s worthy documentary film, The God Who Wasn’t There. The film, in the words of Newsweek, “irreverently lays out the case that Jesus Christ never existed.” Uber-athiests Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins appear, helping Flemming make his sacreligious point.

Besides interviewing Flemming on this year’s RU Sirius Show Christmas Special, we had him on in April of this year, when he was gunning for Easter. We’ve combined the two conversations to create this interview. Flemming fielded questions from an extended RU Sirius Show family that included Blag Dhalia from The Dwarves, Steve Robles, Jeff Diehl and Diana Brown.

RU SIRIUS: Tell us what the Blasphemy Challenge is and how we might participate.

BRIAN FLEMMING: It’s a challenge to you to commit the Christian unforgivable sin, on video, and upload it to YouTube for all the world to see. And if you do that, you can get a free DVD of The God Who Wasn’t There.

STEVE ROBLES: Did you just say the sin? Are you speaking of a particular sin?

BRIAN: Yeah, there’s one unforgivable sin. Mark 3:29 says, “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.” So that is the one sin that, if you commit it, you can never ever be saved. So one benefit of taking the Blasphemy Challenge is that if any Christians come up to you and try to convert you in the future, you can just say, “Oh, no, I’m done. You can’t help me any more.”

Tags: atheism, religion, blasphemy, philosophy, christmas

God-Drunk vs. Godless

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:56:55 GMT

clipped by: apple white
clipper's remarks: From the Atlantic Monthly's article "The American Idea" - Scholars, novelists, politicians, artists, and others look ahead to the future of the American idea. I thought the juxtaposition of these two pieces in particular was interesting. Sam Harris is the author of The End of Faith (2004) and Letter to a Christian Nation (2006). Tim LaHaye is a minister and the author of more than 50 books, including the best-selling Left Behind series.

I have clipped both pieces below because Atlantic Monthly won't let you view the entire article.

Clip Source: www.theatlantic.com

God-Drunk Society

by Sam Harris

America is now a nation of 300 million souls, wielding more influence than any people in human history—and yet 240 million of these souls apparently believe that Jesus will return someday and orchestrate the end of the world with his magic powers. This hankering for a denominational, spiritual oblivion is not a good bet, much less a useful idea.

Clip Source: www.theatlantic.com

Godless Society

by Tim LaHaye

America’s uniqueness is based in the Christian consensus of the Founding Fathers, who penned documents guaranteeing religious and personal freedom for all. This nation was not founded by atheists, secularizers, or monarchists who thought the elite educated class should rule over the common people. America’s founding was based more on biblical principles than any other nation’s on Earth—and that’s the main reason this country has been more blessed by God than any other nation in history.

Tags: religion, america, christianity, atheism

When Atheists Have Their Say (5 Letters)

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:00:12 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: read all of them, its worth it

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

When Atheists Have Their Say (5 Letters)

Re “A Modest Proposal for a Truce on Religion,” by Nicholas D. Kristof (column, Dec. 3):

Contrary to Mr. Kristof’s opinion, it isn’t “intolerant” or “fundamentalist” to point out that there is no good reason to believe that one of our books was dictated by an omniscient deity.

Half of the American population believes that the universe is 6,000 years old. They are wrong about this. Declaring them so is not “irreligious intolerance.” It is intellectual honesty.

Given the astounding number of galaxies and potential worlds arrayed overhead, the complexities of life on earth and the advances in our ethical discourse over the last 2,000 years, the world’s religions offer a view of reality that is now so utterly impoverished as to scarcely constitute a view of reality at all.

This is a fact that can be argued for from a dozen sides, as Richard Dawkins and I have recently done in our books. Calling our efforts “mean” overlooks our genuine concern for the future of civilization.

And it’s not much of a counterargument either.

Nicholas D. Kristof is one of many commentators to find the tone of the newly resurgent atheism “obnoxious” or “mean.”

Ubiquitous as they are, such epithets are not borne out by an objective reading of the works he cites: Sam Harris’s “Letter to a Christian Nation,” my own “God Delusion” and www.whydoesgodhateamputees.com (I had not been aware of this splendid Web site; thank you, Mr. Kristof).

I have scanned all three atheist sources carefully for polemic, and my honest judgment is that they are gentle by the standards of normal political commentary, say, or the standards of theater and arts critics.

Tags: religion, philosophy, atheism, criticism

The Atheist Avalanche

Mon, 07 May 2007 02:16:00 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.washingtonmonthly.com

Last September Richard Dawkins published The God Delusion and Sam Harris published Letter to a Christian Nation. In January Victor Stenger published God: The Failed Hypothesis. This month Christopher Hitchens is out with God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

I'm curious: have I just not noticed books like this before? Or is it really true that there's a sudden avalanche of popular books extolling the virtues of atheism? (Or, in any case, denigrating organized religion.) Is there any particular reason for this?

Tags: materialists, atheism, christianity, faith, religion

The Church of the Non-Believers

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 04:18:15 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: worth read all the article interviewing: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. they cross all the way from ancient beliefs thru today`s demand of `getting out of the closet` 4 the new intellectual atheist and till speculating questions like: "Would intelligent robots be religious?" .... ??

Clip Source: www.wired.com

A band of intellectual brothers is mounting a crusade against belief in God. Are they winning converts, or merely preaching to the choir?

MY FRIENDS, I MUST ASK YOU AN IMPORTANT QUESTION TODAY: Where do you stand on God?

It's a question you may prefer not to be asked. But I'm afraid I have no choice. We find ourselves, this very autumn, three and a half centuries after the intellectual martyrdom of Galileo, caught up in a struggle of ultimate importance, when each one of us must make a commitment. It is time to declare our position.

Dawkins looks forward to the day when the first US politician is honest about being an atheist. "Highly intelligent people are mostly atheists," he says. "Not a single member of either house of Congress admits to being an atheist. It just doesn't add up. Either they're stupid, or they're lying. And have they got a motive for lying? Of course they've got a motive! Everybody knows that an atheist can't get elected."

Tags: new atheists, intellectual martyrdom, commitment, faith

Sam Harris blasts Nature Magazine

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:02:25 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Sam is pissed at nature magazine for their positive review of Dr. Francis Collins book " The Language of God: A Scientist presents evidence for belief", amongst other things......

Clip Source: www.nature.com

At a time when Muslim doctors and engineers stand accused of attempting atrocities in the expectation of supernatural reward, when the Catholic Church still preaches the sinfulness of condom use in villages devastated by AIDS, when the president of the United States repeatedly vetoes the most promising medical research for religious reasons, much depends on the scientific community presenting a united front against the forces of unreason.

There are bridges and there are gangplanks, and it is the business of journals such as Nature to know the difference.

Tags: sam harris, nature magazine, religion and science, sanity

Sam Harris: Yahweh Belongs on the Scrapheap of Mythology

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:26:12 GMT

clipped by: laceym
clipper's remarks:

Sam Harris said:

I’d like to begin this exchange by making the observation that “atheist” is a term that should not even exist. We do not, after all, have a name for a person who does not believe in Zeus or Thor. In fact, we are all “atheists” with respect to Zeus and Thor and the thousands of other dead gods that now lie upon the scrapheap of mythology.
... Did someone around the time of Constantine discover that the pagan gods do not actually exist, while the biblical God does? Of course not. There are thousands of gods that were once worshipped with absolute conviction by men and women like ourselves, and yet we all now agree that they are rightly dead. An “atheist” is simply someone who thinks that the God of Abraham should be buried with the rest of these imaginary friends. I am quite sure that we need only use words like “reason,” “common sense,” “evidence,” and “intellectual honesty” to do the job.

Clip Source: www.jewcy.com

The United States now stands alone in the developed world as a country that conducts its national discourse under the shadow of religious literalism. Eighty-three percent of the U.S. population believes that Jesus literally rose from the dead; 53% believe that the universe is 6,000 years old. This is embarrassing. Add to this comedy of false certainties the fact that 44% of Americans are confident that Jesus will return to Earth sometime in the next 50 years and you will glimpse the terrible liability of this sort of thinking.

Nearly half of the American population is eagerly anticipating the end of the world. This dewy-eyed nihilism provides absolutely no incentive to build a sustainable civilization. Many of these people are lunatics, but they are not the lunatic fringe. Some of them can actually get Karl Rove on the phone whenever they want.

Tags: atheism, religion

Newsweek Debate "Is God real?" : Rick Warren v. Sam Harris

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:17:39 GMT

clipped by: gzyra

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

The God Debate

At The Summit: On a cloudy California day, the atheist Sam Harris sat down with the Christian pastor Rick Warren to hash out Life's Biggest Question: is God real? A NEWSWEEK exclusive.

At NEWSWEEK's invitation, they met in Warren's office recently and chatted, mostly amiably, for four hours. Jon Meacham moderated. Excerpts follow.

JON MEACHAM: Rick, since you're the home team, we'll start with Sam. Sam, is there a God in the sense that most Americans think of him?
SAM HARRIS: There's no evidence for such a God, and it's instructive to notice that we're all atheists with respect to Zeus and the thousands of other dead gods whom now nobody worships.

Rick, what is the evidence of the existence of the God of Abraham?
RICK WARREN: I see the fingerprints of God everywhere. I see them in culture. I see them in law. I see them in literature. I see them in nature. I see them in my own life. Trying to understand where God came from is like an ant trying to understand the Internet.

Tags: atheism, god, religion

The Atheists wrong turn

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:03:04 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/atheisms-wrong-turn/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

In the penultimate chapter of his best-selling book The God Delusion, biologist and world-renowned atheist Richard Dawkins presents his view of religious education, which he explains by way of an anecdote. Following a lecture in Dublin, he recalls, “I was asked what I thought about the widely publicized cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland. I replied that, horrible as sexual abuse no doubt was, the damage was arguably less than the long-term psychological damage inflicted by bringing the child up Catholic in the first place.” Lest his readers misunderstand him, or dismiss this rather shocking statement as mere off-the-cuff hyperbole, Dawkins goes on to clarify his position. “I am persuaded,” he explains, “that the phrase ‘child abuse’ is no exaggeration when used to describe what teachers and priests are doing to children whom they encourage to believe in something like the punishment of unshriven mortal sins in an eternal hell.”

Tags: sam harris, richard dawkins, damon linker, atheism, religion

The real challenge for 2008 is that of secularism

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 02:00:42 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/adam_rutherford/2007/12/something_to_believe_in.html

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

The real challenge for 2008 is that of secularism. The secular achievement of 2007 has to be the government finally getting their act together and banishing the nonsense of intelligent design from UK science classrooms. The US did the same in 2005, but don’t think that this Christian fundamentalist smokescreen has gone away as a result of this legislative neutering. In Texas last month, statewide curriculum supervisor Chris Comer resigned, after forwarding an email about an upcoming talk from a scholar who traced the history of the ID movement and its creationist roots. And on Sunday the Observer reported the setting up of a UK creationist theme park somewhere in the Midlands. I love this line from Peter Jones, a trustee of the proposed park: “Today, all [youngsters] do is binge drink. We will be able to offer them an alternative.”

Tags: sam harris.com, adam rutherford

Clipmarks | Antara's 'sam harris' clips

Richard Dawkins: Why There Almost Certainly Is No God

Opinion Richard Dawkins: Why There Almost Certainly Is No God

Killing the Buddha

Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Your Nose, Your Brain, Your Faith

Tribal Religion, Transcendent Religion

The Blasphemy challenge

Atheist Filmmaker Issues ‘Blasphemy Challenge’

God-Drunk vs. Godless

God-Drunk Society

Godless Society

When Atheists Have Their Say (5 Letters)

The Atheist Avalanche

The Church of the Non-Believers

Sam Harris blasts Nature Magazine

Sam Harris: Yahweh Belongs on the Scrapheap of Mythology

Newsweek Debate "Is God real?" : Rick Warren v. Sam Harris

The God Debate

At The Summit: On a cloudy California day, the atheist Sam Harris sat down with the Christian pastor Rick Warren to hash out Life's Biggest Question: is God real? A NEWSWEEK exclusive.

The Atheists wrong turn

The real challenge for 2008 is that of secularism

Opinion
Richard Dawkins: Why There Almost Certainly Is No God