Sam Harris at Beyond Belief 2006

Noticed this clip was missing from Beyond Belief youtube record. This is taken from session 3. Sam Harris talks about the mechanisms of change in religious dogma as relates to buddhism and also compared to the mechanisms of self correction in science and also why religion is not needed for morality. skip the middle if you don't want to see a response then harris' response to the response.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Sam
• Harris
• Atheism
• Atheist
• Agnosticism
• Buddhism
• Dogma
• Beyond
• Belief
• Morality
• God
• Pope

[Jacnas]

I'm not an atheist anymore because Sam Harris is GOD.

[johnclavis]

If Sam Harris fucks half as well as he talks, he'd be the greatest lover in human history!

[Slik00Silk]

@lewisner Strangely enough, quantum theory does suggest that they could exist. If Sam fudged his reply, it is because he realizes that Buddhism is not so much a religion as it is a philosophy, and that there is much merit in the teachings. Do not ever forget the fact that Buddha taught that there were no miracles, and that there was no God .

[lewisner]

@Slik00Silk So Pink Unicorns and Leprechauns are not nonsense because they could technically exist ?

I'll find the Beyond Belief video where Lawrence Krauss questions Harris on Buddhism and I believe he uses the word "nonsense". Harris fudges his reply.

[Slik00Silk]

@lewisner No, you did not claim that there was no proof for reincarnation.....you claimed that the idea was nonsense. which is an assertion that does require some justification. As a long time scholar of religion (first as a seeker, then as an atheist), I will agree that I have seen no satisfactory proof of reincarnation, although the work of Ian Stevenson is suggestive. The work being done in quantum theory has also opened up many new doors of possibilities, reincarnation being one.

[lewisner]

@Slik00Silk I don't have to show why reincarnation is nonsense. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" and the burden of proof is on those making the claim. Until they do that it is nonsense.

[Slik00Silk]

Notice that Sam treats this lady with respect for her thoughts, just as I do. Like her, I am not convinced that the human race could follow a code of behavior that rests simply on ethical considerations. Too many people are ill-equipped to understand the concepts of ethics, and are only held in line by the threat of personal punishment as posed by the idea of Hell and/or the possiblity of heaven.

[Slik00Silk]

@lewisner How do you know that reincarnation is nonsense? You don't....just as I don't know that is a fact. So, I have to ask what information do you posess to bolster your assertion?

[lewisner]

It worries me that Sam Harris' respect for Buddhism blinds him to the fact that they believe in reincarnation which is nonsense.

[Oryiun]

@LambdaQuarks

I thought that was hilarious.

[TuNuCedeMalis]

“The Buddha promoted a methodology that inspires thought and contemplation so that we may reach peace much like the methodology of science inspires observation and experimentation so that we may reach facts. He never claimed divinity nor was he dogmatic. He was simply a man of deep thought and a great teacher much like Carl Sagan was a man of deep thought and a great teacher."

[LambdaQuarks]

Dawkins at 4:03 "double face palm*"