Sam Harris: lecture on religious faith - Part 04

Part 4 of Sam Harris' lecture to the New York Society of Ethical Culture

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• samharris
• bible
• christianity
• atheism

[ReasonForFree]

Harris is ruthlessly intelligent.

[sam51092]

While wars can be fought for many reasons, religion is the only thing that can elevate war into a 'cosmic battle between good and evil', and render both sides impervious to reason.

[BER2ERKER]

@BER2ERKER Chapter 2**

[BER2ERKER]

@richardaberdeen I would also suggest reading chapter of "God is not Great - How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchens. He gives many examples of pure religion vs religion, which you can research for yourself.

[BER2ERKER]

@richardaberdeen We are well aware of behavioral psychology and neurology. Sam is a neuroscientist; you don't think he knows these things, and that he's had plenty of colleagues bring it up? It doesn't change the issues he's speaking on, it doesn't.

[BER2ERKER]

@richardaberdeen That has no bearing on religion and it's intrinsically problematic and divisive nature. The inquisitions were squared with religion, period. You don't burn heretics because of your greed. You also do not fly planes into buildings unless you believe you're going to paradise and getting 72 virgins. Once again, we have people covering for the insanity of religious dogma.

[richardaberdeen]

For example, the Crusades were fought because earlier Muslim invaders had taken land once belonging to popes and wealthy nobles; popes literally bribed both leaders like Richard Lion Heart and common foot soldiers to participate, promising much rape, pillage and spoils if they were victorious; Constantinople was considered the ultimate prize, which at the time was the most important seaport in the world, representing a significant amount of wealth. Wars are about defending and/or taking wealth.

[richardaberdeen]

Violence arises from within people and, like most modern intellectuals, you are addressing the symptons, rather than the root cause. Wars throughout history are about either taking or protecting wealth, almost always about both and, can easily be traced to human greed as their root surface level cause; human greed is caused by deeper problems tracing down into our subconscious motivations. BOTH Jesus and behavioral science agree (source; Britannica "Human Sexuality" and related articles).

[bcgonynor]

@richardaberdeen Violence is about access to resources at its root. But an ideology which dehumanizes the other "tribe" can go a long way toward making violence palatable. Sometimes this can be religion, other times race or politics. The practice is dangerous regardless of the flavor, and you're doing it yourself with your sweeping generalization of atheists. Many of the wars you mentioned had a religious dimension, for example Napoleon was presented as an infidel 'anti-Christ.'

[richardaberdeen]

@Photosidekick2 Everything humanity believes is based on "because it makes sense", when it is based on evidence. It makes sense that Somebody created the universe; it is utter nonsense to pretend that the universe magically appeared all by itself, which is the bottom-line claim of all atheism and agnosticism. Atheism is such an obvious lie, it doesn't belong in a legitimate conversation, as if a microbe living inside of us could pretend there is no human being, only infinitely more ignorant.

[richardaberdeen]

@sam51092 Wars are ALWAYS fought to either defend wealth, take wealth or both. The Crusades in particular, for example, were very clearly fought over wealth, the popes and wealthy nobles stirring up the people to take back land that Muslim invaders had taken from them. Atheists try to pull out the religion card against violence, completely igoring the American, French, Russian, Chinese revolutions WWI, WWII, Manhattan Project, etc. This is an obvious lie, something atheists are good at.

[Photosidekick2]

@richardaberdeen To believe in something purely because it "makes sense" philosophically (despite the fact that there is no empirical evidence for it) is silly in my opinion. God of the old testament would have to be described as blood thirsty and vengeful. Like Hitchens said, it's funny how creationist say the stuff in the old testament doesn't count. So the bible is the word of God, except everything in the Old testament. LOL