tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post116163927997648988..comments2024-03-14T02:51:06.342-07:00Comments on DETAILED TWANG: SAM HARRIS : “THE END OF FAITH” bookJay H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06153081608332918241noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post-1162059773340660372006-10-28T11:22:00.000-07:002006-10-28T11:22:00.000-07:00The US is currently under the influence of insane ...The US is currently under the influence of insane Christian fundamentalists to a degree almost no one would have believed possible 30 years ago. I'm not talking about Jimmy Carter-type believers, I'm talking about total nutjobs who think Armageddon and the Rapture are upon us. Thirty years ago these people would have been laughed at openly - now they're mainstream Repiglicans. That's the context Harris's book has been written in, and good for him.<BR/><BR/>He has a follow-up called "Letter to a Christian Nation" - a short book prompted by the intense reaction to "The End of Faith."MoeLarryAndJesushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06448850293565754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post-1162018132938810342006-10-27T23:48:00.000-07:002006-10-27T23:48:00.000-07:00um, sorry that was me...um, sorry that was me...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post-1162018064294127292006-10-27T23:47:00.000-07:002006-10-27T23:47:00.000-07:00I think most religious texts have something of wor...I think most religious texts have something of worth (or at least interest) in them, be it the bible, talmud, koran, gita or whatever. The koran covers a lot of ground, it's not just a manual on how to kill infidels. The best way to read it, in my opinion, is alongside a book of commentary that can explain how the philosophical advice it gives is used today. It is not an easy book to read on it's own, the same is true for the bible. Telling me to read the koran was good advice, since I was already interested in spiritual matters/philosophy, history etc etc. If those things bores you or offends you, maybe you shouldn't read any religious text at all. <BR/>PS. I'm not a muslim or active participant in any relion, just interested in it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post-1161981299158183252006-10-27T13:34:00.000-07:002006-10-27T13:34:00.000-07:00Henrik, you'll have to help me understand why that...Henrik, you'll have to help me understand why that's good advice. You could read thousands and thousands of books - why is this one work of fiction the mullah recommends more worthy of intense study than others?Jay H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06153081608332918241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post-1161977952999404182006-10-27T12:39:00.000-07:002006-10-27T12:39:00.000-07:00Bah, most pious muslims don't hate america or cons...Bah, most pious muslims don't hate america or consider it a godless society. An iranian mulla I talked to very much prefered americans over the chinese, because at least the americans believe in god unlike the chinese who hate all things religious and spiritual. His advice for me was "...study the Koran. Even if you don't believe in god it has a lot of good stuff in it". Sounds like good advice to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post-1161973877919743462006-10-27T11:31:00.000-07:002006-10-27T11:31:00.000-07:00By the way, your sentence "First, he carefully tak...By the way, your sentence "First, he carefully takes apart the tenants of religious belief" should read "TENETS of religious belief".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post-1161973782250520182006-10-27T11:29:00.000-07:002006-10-27T11:29:00.000-07:00Jay, as a fellow atheist I agree with a lot of wha...Jay, as a fellow atheist I agree with a lot of what you wrote. I haven't read the Harris book, but I suspect that he is being naive in hoping that our country will consciously reject christianity. First, I think that the USA is slowly becoming a godless society, or at least a less christian-centric one, but I think it's happening at an almost subconscious level, and that it will happen over the next several generations as more people grow up in households like yours (and mine). I think it would be a mistake to encourage or even draw attention to it. <BR/><BR/>Second, I think that intolerant religious zealots (be they christian or muslim) already consider the USA a godless country, and it would be even more dangerous for the US to throw out the remaining signs and signifiers of "one nation under god".<BR/><BR/>You wrote of your christian acquaintances, "I do not believe that their moderate religiosity is keeping them from opposing immoderate religiosity." Nor will moderation protect us as a country from religious zealots who terrorize us from within (anti-abortionists) or without, because even in opposition to outright tyranny we Americans are apathetic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36274466.post-1161895607055663662006-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:002006-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:00“Why do they hate us?” Of course a ridiculous ques...“Why do they hate us?” Of course a ridiculous question deserves an equally ridiculous answer, but using “verbatim” quotes from religious writings of questionable origin, written over 1,000 years ago in foreign, antiquated languages, to help make a point on contemporary issues that in the end are more about geopolitics (or whatever you choose to call it) than God stuff, well, that’s beyond ridiculous, and only one indication that this book is more than just a bit suspect. You could say the author’s doing exactly the same as the close-reading fundamentalists he’s rallying against. Does he also depict Islam as one monolithic religion with as its sole pillar the koran, the very root of all evil, some sort of demented middle-eastern predecessor of the Anarchist Cookbook? Well, probably not, that would be too much fun, but still I can smell the generalizations and cliches on Islam from here. Do people read non-fiction to be objectively informed on things they’re not or only vaguely familiar with or, conciously or not, to seek confirmation of their prejudices and fears?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com