Islam & Suicide Bombers: Part 1 of 4

Talk by Scott Atran at the Be yond Belief 2.0 conference.

Bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Atran
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/atran.html

Google video link to same talk:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5701806759199654816

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• science
• religion
• suicide
• bombers
• islam
• atheism

[lambofpaul]

If its nuts to try and argue away religion then I must be a fucking loon because ill never stop trying :) bad suit atran

[RandomCastaa]

@lambofpaul Pay attention. He said a person that has received religious teachings.

[RandomCastaa]

@RandomCastaa I think once someone is indoctrinated into something, especially at a young age, it is argumentation largely useless. Hence the endless religious debates yielding very few converts to either side.

[thejungleface]

this is very interesting.. what a job as a scientist. thinking about the darker side of human nature must have that guy depressed all the time.

[RandomCastaa]

It's like the study of any malady, it's serves a purpose for understanding the problem to devise a solution.

What troubles me is that this type of information in no way resembles the mainstream discussion. That's depressing.

[alliteration1247]

finally a video :D

[RandomCastaa]

et toi? :D

[Miken9000]

"It's the denial of the meaning of religion to human psychology and to human history....that's nuts. To believe its just gonna go away and you're going to argue it away, through reason...that's nuts" Finally! Thank You.

:-) And nice shot at Dawkins at 8:12. I think his buddy Dennett is the only one who still believes his theory has value.

[PrincessDesert]

He seems like he's full of shit, but he's not at all! It's simply sad that he seems like it

[RitaRajaa]

Thanks for uploading.........There's hardly any of his talks on youtube............He is scientific, goes by statistic and he is not biased...........unlike Sam Harris

[lambofpaul]

@RandomCastaa Listen at 5:35. He clearly says that beleiving religion can be argued away is nuts. No?

[44warjunkie]

and people still think Al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups hate us because of Western foreign policy and because of Israel. In fact, their grievances are theological ones that date back thousands of years.

[revo1974]

The low rating of this video is evidence that many atheists aren't into science as much as they claim to be. As soon as some of their reasons to hate religion are challenged science and logic goes right out the window.

[MrDanArgent]

Everything about terrorism is counter intuitive - hardly surprising that this vid has so many negative review. He is right when he tells people that they have no idea. But that's the good news. If religion was the problem we'd be screwed, but it's a red herring, it's effect actually works to our advantage - I'm in no doubt that terrorists would be far more effective without it.

[brightsuperstition]

@ManchuDan22

I don't know, uhhh, scientific research? Years and years and years of it? He's part of the French National Center for Scientific Research, one of the biggest research centers in the world? His stuff has been getting into highly respected peer-review journals for years. So yeah, of course he's making all of this up.

[jackdav34]

"You people have really no idea what it's about," I love that arrogant attitude. I think his analysis of religion in general is very persuasive, but he understates the role of religion in Islamic violence.