Clipmarks | Sam harris Clips

The Boogey Man is Gonna Get Ya!

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:53:11 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: According to the review of this new book it seems the author is rehashing the same old discounted arguments over what he dubs the "New Atheism". Using fear and misdirection it seems once again to be a weak attempt to defend the indefensible by a christian apologist.

Clip Source: www.towersonline.net

In “Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheism” (Crossway), Mohler engages the central arguments of four contemporary atheists, whom he calls “The Four Horseman of the Atheist Apocalypse:” Oxford University scientist Richard Dawkins, Tufts University philosopher Daniel Dennett, author Sam Harris and pundit Christopher Hitchens.

Mohler, who serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, chose Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens because “they are four figures who have especially come to embody the New Atheist movement.”

The new atheism is marked by:
· An unprecedented new boldness.
· A clear and specific rejection of the Christian God of the Bible.
· An explicit rejection of Jesus Christ.
· Arguments grounded in science.
· A refusal to tolerate even moderate and liberal forms of theism.
· An attack on the toleration of any form of religion.
· A questioning of the right of parents to instill religious beliefs in their children.

Tags: christian, religion, book, atheist

To believe or not to believe?

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:38:29 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: , contrasting disbelief and belief showed increased brain response in the left inferior frontal gyrus, the anterior insula and the dorsal anterior cingulate, all associated with responses to negative stimuli, pain perception and disgust. Finally, contrasting uncertainty with both belief and disbelief revealed elevated neural action in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region associated with conflict resolution.

What do these results tell us? “Several psychological studies appear to support [17th-century Dutch philosopher Benedict] Spinoza’s conjecture that the mere comprehension of a statement entails the tacit acceptance of its being true, whereas disbelief requires a subsequent process of rejection”

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Skepticism is the fine art and technical science of understanding why rejecting everyone else’s reality and substituting your own almost always results in a failed belief system

Where in the brain do such belief processes unfold? To find out, neuroscientists Sam Harris, Sameer A. Sheth and Mark S. Cohen employed functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 14 adults at the University of California, Los Angeles, Brain Mapping Center.

The findings were revealing. First, there were significant reaction time differences in evaluating statements; responses to belief statements were significantly shorter than responses to both disbelief and uncertainty statements

, contrasting belief and disbelief in the brain scans yielded a spike in neural activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, associated with decision making and learning in the context of rewards.

New Sam Harris :)

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:57:27 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Sam writes about the recent "belief" surverys he conducted....

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

According to a recent Pew survey, 21 percent of atheists in the United States believe in “God or a universal spirit,” and 8 percent are “absolutely certain” that such a Being exists. One wonders if they were also “absolutely certain” they understood the meaning of the term “atheist.” Claiming to be an atheist who believes in God is like claiming to be a happily married bachelor. Rarely does one discover nonsense in such a pristine state. Still this hasn’t stopped many people from concluding that there is a schism in the atheist community.

Tags: sam harris, atheism, religion, belief, conclusions

Theodicy and the "Holiday in Hellmouth"

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:37:29 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: good read

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/holiday-in-hellmouth/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

For the lucky few, there is reason to hope that life will be a business of evenly rationed suffering: stern parents perhaps, a few humiliations at school, then a love affair or two gone wrong, maybe a marriage broken. Our parents will die, and farther off, ideally deferred, will come our own steady demise. Plenty of suffering for a life, certainly, but most of us subsist on the plausible expectation that fortune will draw a circle around that personal portion, and that the truly unbearable—murder, rape, dead children, torture, war—will remain outside the cordon. Norman Rush, in his novel “Mortals,” calls this “hellmouth”: “the opening up of the mouth of hell right in front of you, without warning, through no fault of your own.” Without warning, and yet always feared. Job, whom God places into hellmouth to test him, knew that paradox: “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”

Tags: sam harris, the new yorker, atheism, belief, faith, religion, theodicy

Sam Harris responds

Sat, 24 May 2008 19:49:00 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.irshadmanji.com

It appears that my Buddhist Muslim (Bu-Mu) friend, Shahid, has hit a raw nerve.

In my previous post, I featured the Bu-Mu’s advice to “hard core atheists.”

Not so fast, says Sam Harris.

Today, Sam sent me this spirited response.

Irshad:

It is obvious that this person has not actually read my work. The entire last chapter of The End of Faith is devoted to deconstructing the “self” and to the benefits of meditation.

I have frequently spoken and written about these subjects (to the consternation of many atheists). For example, read this. I have even organized several vipassana retreats for scientists.

I would especially turn your friend’s attention to the remarks I made at the largest gathering of atheists in the country. The talk is available on YouTube, entitled “The Problem with Atheism.” The last ten minutes or so are devoted to meditation. Here’s the transcript.

Tags: atheism, islam, buddhism

Heathen Tv

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:47:05 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: heathen.tv

Tags: heathens, infidels, rabblerousers, interesting

WAR ON WAR music video contest

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:32:31 GMT

clipped by: thinkingblue
clipper's remarks: This video was my entry into a contest by Sam Harris. He wrote a powerful song with a strong message against war. The USA government is always declaring war on something i.e. War on drugs, war on terrorism, war on poverty... How about a war on war? Says, Sam Harris... You can view link... http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=waronwar
Contest here: http://www.samharris.com/waronwar/ thinkingblue.blogspot.com
---
A SPECIAL COMMENT FROM THETHINKINGBLUE CHANNEL

Some of the nasty comments on thethinkingblue channel illustrate how sad we Americans are as a people. There is so much ignorant hatred bristling, that a complete coming together as one commonality is almost impossible.

Barack Obama is our only hope. He can soothe the pain of hatred and rage by not embracing it like so many other political bodies have (yes even Hillary Clinton stooped so low) and he will demonstrate to us, through example that we really can come together as one. YES WE CAN!
thinkingblue.blogspot

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

WARONWAR-SAM HARRIS MUSIC VIDEO BY youtube.thethinkingblue

[Video]

Sam Harris, Music Video Contest "War on War"
http://www.youtube.com/user/SamHarrisCOM

This video is thethinkingblue entry into a contest by Sam Harris. He wrote a powerful song with a strong message against war. The USA government is always declaring war on something i.e. War on drugs, war on terrorism, war on poverty... How about a war on war? Says Sam Harris... You can view the many contest entries by following this link... http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?...

Tags: sam, harris, music, video, contest, war

Losing Our Spines to Keep Our Necks

Tue, 06 May 2008 04:15:09 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999
clipper's remarks: Sam Harris strikes again

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

It is time we recognized that those who claim the "right not to be offended" have also announced their hatred of civil society.

Tags: religion, free speech

Sam Harris on the FITNA film.

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:43:55 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: New Sam Harris

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Geert Wilders, conservative Dutch politician and provocateur, has become the latest projectile in the world's most important culture war: the zero-sum conflict between civil society and traditional Islam. Wilders, who lives under perpetual armed guard due to death threats, recently released a 15 minute film entitled Fitna ("strife" in Arabic) over the internet. The film has been deemed offensive because it juxtaposes images of Muslim violence with passages from the Qur'an. Given that the perpetrators of such violence regularly cite these same passages as justification for their actions, merely depicting this connection in a film would seem uncontroversial. Controversial or not, one surely would expect politicians and journalists in every free society to strenuously defend Wilders' right to make such a film. But then one would be living on another planet, a planet where people do not happily repudiate their most basic freedoms in the name of "religious sensitivity."

Tags: religion, islam, fitna film, www.samharris.org

Calling all Christians, Sam Harris needs you :)

Mon, 05 May 2008 08:52:50 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Interesting study and a chance to participate...

Thanks

The surveys are here :http://www.samharris.org/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

Research Volunteers Needed!

We are preparing to run another fMRI study of belief and disbelief, and we need volunteers to help us refine our experimental stimuli. This promises to be the first study of religious faith at the level of the brain. By responding to the four surveys I have posted online, you can make an enormous contribution to this work.

Please answer as many of the surveys as you can. If you only have time to answer one, please choose at random (otherwise, we will have many more responses to the first than to the others).

Feel free to post this message to your blog or to forward the relevant links to your friends. We especially need Christians to respond, as one of the goals of these surveys is to design stimuli that a majority of Christians will find doctrinally sound.

Tags: www.samharris.org

If God is Dead, Who get His house?

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:57:31 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: By Sean McManus via Sam Harris.org

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

It seems unlikely that many of the 850 or so people at the Society for Ethical Culture on a recent Saturday night believed that God was still extant. But evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and possibly the most famous atheist in the world, was not taking any chances. He gave a PowerPoint presentation driving home that religion does not meet any of the standards of basic scientific inquiry, before casually flicking away a few of His last crutches. Doesn’t God provide people some solace? asked an audience member. “Isn’t that a little childish?” Dawkins replied. “Just because something is comforting doesn’t mean it’s true.” Then someone asked about death, and Dawkins quoted Mark Twain: “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born.”

The room erupted in loud applause. God had definitely left the building—if he were ever here at all.

Tags: atheism, richard dawkins, faith, religion, samharris.org

For those touched most by 9/11, a turning point in faith

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:14:39 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: rest of article:

Brian Jordan, a Franciscan priest who ministered to rescue and recovery workers, says there were no atheists at Ground Zero — suddenly everyone had a spiritual life, no matter how tortured or confused.

Jay Rosenbaum, a Long Island rabbi, says he was almost overwhelmed when he arrived at Ground Zero on Sept. 12. But later, he conducted a simple prayer service in vestments that included a hard hat, combat boots and a prayer shawl. “Our mission is to look not only at the devastation there,” he said in his impromptu sermon, pointing to the shell of one tower, “but the devotion here” — the dusty, exhausted, rescue workers around him.

“It was one of the most affirming moments of my life,” he says now. “I felt this was something I was worthy of doing.”

To others, 9/11 seems to belie the notion of an all-loving, all-powerful God. Sam Harris began writing The End of Faith, his best-selling attack on religion, the day after the attacks.

Jonathan Miller, who wrote

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — The pope’s pilgrimage to the site of the World Trade Center revives a question asked by many of those traumatized by the terrorist attacks, including the faithful, the faithless and those in between: Where was God on Sept. 11, 2001?

On Sunday, two dozen 9/11 survivors, victims’ relatives and rescue workers will accompany Benedict XVI to Ground Zero, “the scene of incredible violence and pain” — in the words of the prayer the pope will recite in the pit where the twin towers stood.

PHOTOS: How 9/11 tested their faith

Many whose lives were changed that day are still coming to terms spiritually with 9/11. Some have taken comfort from their faith; others have found it lacking. Some have a stronger faith, a different faith or no faith at all.

Tags: 9/11, faith, sam harris.org

Belief, disbelief and uncertainty

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:02:41 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/adams-maxim-and-spinozas-conjecture/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

Adam’s Maxim and Spinoza’s Conjecture

By Michael Shermer
Belief, disbelief and uncertainty generate different neural pathways in the brain

During an early episode of the über-pyrotechnic television series MythBusters, Adam Savage was busted by the camera crew for misremembering his predictions of the probability of an axle being ripped out of a car, à la American Graffiti. When confronted with the unmistakable video evidence of his error, Adam sardonically rejoined: “I reject your reality and substitute my own.”

Tags: sam harris, belief, certainty, neuroscience

Chris Hedges: (I) Don't Believe (in) Atheists

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:12:50 GMT

clipped by: Johanna_G
clipper's remarks:

The bestselling author of The New Fascists speaks out against religious and secular fundamentalism as he explores the New Atheists: those who attack religion to advance the worst of global capitalism, intolerance and imperial projects.

Hedges claims that those who have placed blind faith in the morally neutral disciplines of reason and science create idols in their own image — a sin for either side of the spectrum. He makes an impassioned, intelligent case against religious and secular fundamentalism, which seeks to divide the world into those worthy of moral and intellectual consideration and those who should be condemned, silenced and eradicated. Hedges shatters the new atheists' assault against religion in America, and in doing so, makes way for new, moderate voices to join the debate. This is a book that must be read to understand the state of the battle about faith.

ISBN: 9781416567950
Author: Hedges, Chris
Publisher: Free Press

Clip Source: www.powells.com

Chris Hedges

observes that there are two radical, polarized and dangerous sides to the debate on faith and religion in America: the fundamentalists who see religious faith as their prerogative, and the new atheists who brand all religious belief as irrational and dangerous. Both sides use faith to promote a radical agenda, while the religious majority, those with a commitment to tolerance and compassion as well as to their faith, are caught in the middle.

The new atheists, led by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, do not make moral arguments about religion. Rather, they have created a new form of fundamentalism that attempts to permeate society with ideas about our own moral superiority and the omnipotence of human reason.

critiques the radical mindset that rages against religion and faith. Hedges identifies the pillars of the new atheist belief system, revealing that the stringent rules and rigid traditions in place are as strict as those of any religious practice.

Tags: chris hedges, atheism, fundamentalism

Amis and Islam

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:44:34 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Good read about the spat involving Amis over comments he made re: islam

Enjoy

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

By RACHEL DONADIO

March 9, 2008

“I’m a passionate multiracialist and a very poor multiculturalist,” Martin Amis said a few weeks ago. He was on the phone from London, praising his hometown’s ethnic variety — “It’s exhilarating and moving to live in a city with so many races and so many colors” — and denouncing its fissures, particularly over radical Islam. “I don’t think that we can accommodate cultures and ideologies that make life very difficult for half the human race: women.” Amis was explaining his stance in a gloves-off row that’s been raging in the British press since last fall, when the literary theorist Terry Eagleton likened some of Amis’s statements on Muslims to “the ramblings of a British National Party thug.”

Tags: amis, uk, politics, sam harris.org