Sam Harris pronounces to the crowd – “I’m very concerned in our belief in faith. We have Christians against Muslims against Jews……I know I’m going to offend many of you in the room. But I’m worried, so I need to be worried out loud for the next 40 minutes…”
Sam is author of: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason.
The End of Faith provides a harrowing glimpse of mankind’s willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when these beliefs inspire the worst of human atrocities. He argues that in the presence of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer expect to survive our religious differences indefinitely. Most controversially, he maintains that “moderation” in religion poses considerable dangers of its own: as the accommodation we have made to religious faith in our society now blinds us to the role that faith plays in perpetuating human conflict.
He provides us with some stats:
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90% of people in the world believe in a ‘God.’
83% of us believe that Jesus rose from the dead. 40% of Scientists believe in a personal God. 22% believe that Jesus will return to civilization like Superman and save the day. Another 22% believe that this will likely happen in the next fifty years. 53% of us are creationists. |
He reminds us that these beliefs have geopolitical consequences.
What does it mean to believe? Beliefs are the representation of the world….they are what we perceive to be true. When you believe something to be true, you believe that your thoughts map onto reality at large. It’s why beliefs organize our expectations of the future.
Says Sam, “Imagine if someone came into this room and said ‘This building is about to collapse.’ Believing the statement alone through ‘hearing these words’ change our physiology and our decisions. This in turn can completely change our lives.”
He continues: “Roughly half of us believe that there are no genetic precursors in the natural world. We were created from mud (Eve plucked from Adam’s rib) and of course remember the talking snake. This should be a genuine concern of all of us.”
We have all grown up to respect our neighbor’s and friend’s beliefs. We are raised to respect these beliefs merely because ‘this person’ believes them. Where else in our discourse do we play by these rules? Does this apply to physics or geography for example? With geography or physics, we evaluate their reasons, then we believe in what they believe — if their argument is convincing enough for us.
He uses the example of condoms in Africa. For some, including the Vatican, condom use is morally unacceptable. Map this belief onto sub-Saharan Africa, where ministers are preaching the evils of using condoms. Yet the taboos of criticizing faith often prohibit us from taking action on something important.
“What I’m advocating here,” says Sam, “is a kind of intolerance. Senators can oppose stem cell research and their reference points are referencing their beliefs in God.”
We have this idea that the only way to accommodate religion is to accommodate it. Scientists are terrified of the tax paying mob. They have to say “There is no conflict between religion and science…” On the teaching of evolution, Sam tells us that the National Academy of Science has said on public record that religion and science represent different ways of knowing. And yet, every religion has particular reasons about the way things are.
He continues, “If Jesus comes back out of the clouds, Christianity will be revealed as a Science. Every Christian will say, ‘we were right.’ There is no reason whatsoever to think that this will happen. We have people who believe things strongly without evidence and reasonable discourse.”
Many of us consider ourselves to be religious moderates. Because we cannot criticize religion itself, religious moderates tend to not admit that general acts of violence come from religious ideology. Religious fundamentalists admit that religions are different. “The problem with religious moderation is that it prevents us from coming up with modern alternatives,” says Sam.
He ends by challenging the audience: “We now have an opportunity for conversation – we can have a conversation or we can have violence. The end game for civilization is not tolerance, it’s reason.”
Renee Blodgett is the Founder and Managing Editor of We Blog the World, a global travel, culture and lifestyle publication exploring the world through the lens of meaningful experiences, human connection and cultural depth. Having lived in 10 countries and traveled to 95, Renee has spent much of her life immersed in the people, traditions, landscapes and ideas that shape how we experience the world.
Since launching We Blog the World in 2007, she has written and produced extensive editorial coverage spanning boutique and luxury travel, culinary experiences, arts and culture, wellness, adventure, technology, spiritual traditions and transformative travel. Her work is rooted in the belief that travel is about more than where we go—it is also about what a place, culture or encounter awakens within us.
Renee brings more than three decades of experience across journalism, photography, media, brand strategy, technology, wellness and global storytelling. She has worked with companies and organizations around the world on brand positioning, communications, product launches, media strategy, speaker positioning and storytelling. Through Blue Soul Media, she works with authors, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and purpose-driven brands to clarify their message and expand their impact, which includes speaker coaching/training for high-profile stages such as TED and bringing authors’ work to market while retaining authors rights.
She is also the co-founder of Blue Soul Earth, an educational platform exploring consciousness, ancient wisdom, spirituality, healing and the intersection between science and the nature of reality. Renee is the producer and host of the award-winning Blue Soul CHATS, a conversational series bringing together leading voices in science, technology, consciousness, wellness and spirituality.
Her growing body of work also includes Blue Soul Living, which extends her interest in consciousness and well-being into the spaces we inhabit, exploring how intentional design, energy and environment can support greater harmony and connection.
Renee is the award-winning co-author of the bestselling Magdalene’s Journey and founder of the Magdalene Collection, inspired by women’s voices, stories and wisdom across cultures and generations.
A longtime photographer and storyteller, Renee has documented people, places and cultures around the world and produced photographic collections focused on destinations including the Galápagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome and Ecuador. She also co-founded Traveling Geeks, an international initiative that brought entrepreneurs, journalists, creators and technology leaders together with their counterparts in other countries to exchange ideas and explore innovation across cultures.
Renee’s work has been recognized by Forbes, the United Nations and others for her influence in media and social storytelling. Across her work in travel, media, consciousness and culture, a common thread remains: curiosity about the world, the stories that connect us and the ways meaningful experiences can change how we see ourselves and one another.
