Is this an effective attack on moderate religion?

What do you think? Did Sam Harris make a convincing case against moderate religion?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• atheism
• sam
• harris
• moderate
• religion

[CapnOrdinary]

Why the hell not? Moderate religion forms the power base for the nutters. Without moderate religion, there could be no fundamentalists.

Moderates enable fundamentalism, moderates have no working argument against fundamentalism, moderates haven't a leg to stand on, theologically OR rationally. In a sense, the wishy-washy moderates are WORSE than the fundies, because the moderates try to make it seem like it's okay to base one's world view on invisible friends. Sorry, it just isn't!

[Heathenfidel]

Sam Harris kicks ass.

[stoodOnAnArk]

They need their little red books because they have not the true connection with God. Did not God give man free thought, is it God killing people, or people (Authors) implicating the perfect being in their own imaginations.

Can a perfect being kill his own creations, make Commandments, and not stand by them?

dunno my God might be a different one to their fake one.

HallEluYah.

[DandAinTac]

Yes, it is convincing. I believe that the only thing that has moderated religion in the west was the enlightenment and the spread of democracy, and the effective secularization of government. All we have to do is take a look at things before those events. The widespread application of secular education, the separation of church and state, the rise of the science, these things moderated religion. Religion did not moderate itself.

[oldguyfromcalifornia]

Sam Harris doesn't go far enough if you ask me. The pope protects child molesters. The Mormons believe in magic underwear and only caved in on allowing blacks into the fold in very recent years. Oh..then there's the crusades, witch burning etc etc etc. Atheists down want you to leave us behind. We want you to leave us alone.

[TheNorthernExodus]

In answer to the title of the vid, no this is not a good attack.

Any theologian on a word by word basis can destroy Sam's comments here as easy as an average evolutionary scientist can destroy the theories of Kent Hovind.

As far as the Bible is concerned Sam seems to have as little an understanding of it as Kent has of the theory of evolution is all I am saying.I can break it down point by point myself and I am thick, if I ever get my vindictive webcam working again I will do a responce.

[TithonusSyndrome]

"Slaughtered nuns and leveled churches?" LOL! Are we talking about the same Stalin? The one who, in 1944, issued statements to the NKVD telling them to let the Church do whatever the hell it wanted to, and received the highest burial honors from the Church on his death with Patriarch Alexiy presiding over the ceremony and calling him the best friend they ever had, despite the fact that anti-Stalin sentiment was prevalent in the Kremlin almost immediately after his death?

[atheist4ever2]

Nuns and Priests? Russian Orthodox is not considered Catholic.

[biggregg5]

Loving thy neighbor like yourself-can you say bigotry, sexism, murder, crusades, inquisition.

men being created equal- see above

honoring thy mother and father- one of the few good commandments. I think us secularist can figure that one out though.

taking care of your body?

Oh, yeah, if you lack belief in something bacause there is no evidence it exists i am sure that leads directly to being a mass murderer. I guess since I don't think Elvis is still alive, I am ready to kill.

[itry2brational]

"What were nazis shouting as they gassed disabled people?"

Heil Hitler?

"What was Stalin praising as he slaughtered nuns and priests and leveled churches?"

Himself?

As far as Pol Pot goes, no idea, but he wasn't screaming praise no god. Likely it was something similar to Stalin. What's you're point?

[VeggieTrunks]

It is idiot. Loving your neighbor like yourself, men being created equal, honoring your mother and father, taking care of your body---what a load of garbage!

I say we clone Stalin, Pot, and Hitler and get this thing started!