On the End of Faith
Religion allows people to believe on mass what only idiots or lunatics could believe in isolation.
Sam Harris
Been working my way through the work of Sam Harris. It’s really a delight. I must say however that I’m kinda sad that he and his words need to exist. For many years I’d worked out a mental framework which saw Christianity, Islam and other religions as neccesary life affirming belief structures. That they provided individuals with stories that gave depth and meaning to their life. That in much that same way as a reader of a novel has his world painted in the hues of the book he is reading, the reigious person had their world painted in the hues of their religion. However as things have turned sour in the last few years I simply can not jive that world view with reality. Between Muslims killing people to prove that they are not a violent and hateful religion and Christians attempting to impead peace and progress in our society I am forced to stand avidly opposed to tolorence of the hardcore adherents of these religions.
Perhaps when Christians begin teaching the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes instead of encourageing war and murder and perhaps when Muslims lay off the bombing in the name of their god I will gladly go back to encouraging the positive aspects of their beliefs. But so long as they choose to value the words of Deuteronomy 13 above the words of Matthew 5. They have no place in society.