Zendog wrote in the Servetus Forum on Oct 31:
“Sam Harris has written an intelligent, incisive, honest
book, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the future of reason,
published by Norton, that is in the tradition of Michael Servetus.
He calls for open inquiry, critical thinking and discussion of
religion, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism. He has the
guts to say publically that the problem with Islam is Islam, and
that the terrorists are not on the fringe, they are living out
the basic teachings of Muhammed. In the US, we have a fundamentalist
Christian for president. Harris is not poliltically correct. He
is trained as a scientist and philosopher. He does not discuss
Servetus in his book, but I think Servetus would like him and
see a kindred spirit.”
We thank Zendog for his contribution and here we give some more
details on this publication given by Amazon.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In
this sometimes simplistic and misguided book, Harris calls for
the end of religious faith in the modern world. Not only does
such faith lack a rational base, he argues, but even the urge
for religious toleration allows a too-easy acceptance of the motives
of religious fundamentalists. Religious faith, according to Harris,
requires its adherents to cling irrationally to mythic stories
of ideal paradisiacal worlds (heaven and hell) that provide alternatives
to their own everyday worlds. Moreover, innumerable acts of violence,
he argues, can be attributed to a religious faith that clings
uncritically to one set of dogmas or another. Very simply, religion
is a form of terrorism for Harris. Predictably, he argues that
a rational and scientific view—one that relies on the power
of empirical evidence to support knowledge and understanding—should
replace religious faith. We no longer need gods to make laws for
us when we can sensibly make them for ourselves. But Harris overstates
his case by misunderstanding religious faith, as when he makes
the audaciously naïve statement that "mysticism is a
rational enterprise; religion is not." As William James ably
demonstrated, mysticism is far from a rational enterprise, while
religion might often require rationality in order to function
properly. On balance, Harris's book generalizes so much about
both religion and reason that it is ineffectual.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Natalie Angier, The New York Times Book Review
An important book, on a topic that...should not be shielded from
the crucible of human reason.
The Economist
Will strike a chord with anyone who has ever pondered the irrationality
of religious faith and its cruel, murderous consequences.
The San Francisco Chronicle
[Harris] writes with such verve and frequent insight that even
skeptical readers will find it hard to put down.
Joseph C. Hough, Jr., President, Union Theological Seminary,
New York
Here is a ringing challenge to all Americans.
Peter Singer, author of The President of Good and Evil
At last we have a book that...links Islamic terrorism with the
irrationality of all religious faith.
Alan Dershowitz, author of America on Trial
Harris's tour de force demonstrates how faith...threatens our
very existence... A must read for all rational people.
Product Description: An impassioned plea for reason in
a world divided by faith.
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.