| Product Summary | | Format: Paperback | | ISBN: 9780393327656 | | Publisher: Holiday House | | Publish Date: 10/1/2005 | | Buy.com Sku: 31205316 | | Item#: R3WD6F | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 10318 | | Dimensions (in Inches) 8.25H x 5.75L x 1T | | Pages: 224 |
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| | | From the Publisher:
In the End of Faith, Sam Harris delivers a startling analysis of the clash between reason and religion in the modern world. He offers a vivid, historical tour of our willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs -- even when these beliefs inspire the worst of human atrocities. Harris argues that in the presence of weapons of mass destruction we cannot expect to survive our religious differences indefinitely. Most controversially, he argues 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. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris draws on insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern mysticism to deliver a call for a truly modern foundation for ethics and spirituality that is both secular and humanistic.
Annotation:
In a post-9/11 polemic, Sam Harris takes an absolutist stand against religion and the link between blind faith, fundamentalism, and theocracy. Harris cites what he sees as the violence-drenched holy texts of major religions to underscore the connections between religion and terror. Criticizing both Islam and Christianity throughout, Harris would relegate religion to the same status as we now view, for example, the Roman gods. He would replace religion with reason, and he would turn to Eastern thought for a more fully developed spirituality. Addressing objections from those who favor a "moderate religion" or religion when separated from state, he says this is mere accommodation. Acknowledging that acts of charity currently done in the name of religion have a positive end, he says that in a world of reason and ethics these would still take place. Outrageous at first, Harris gradually builds a strong case for, as he says, the end of faith and the future of reason.
| Praise| "THE END OF FAITH articulates the dangers and absurdities of organized religion so fiercely and so fearlessly that I felt relieved as I read it, vindicated, almost personally understood....This is an important book, on a topic that, for all its inherent difficulty and divisiveness, should not be shielded from the crucible of human reason." - Natalie Angier 09/05/04 |
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| Customer Reviews | ![]() | | Writing |  4 | | Content | 4 | | Readability | 4 | | Overall Satisfaction | 4 |
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4 of 4 customers found this review helpful.
4 of 5 An unrelenting attack on what might be an obsolete Monday, October 16, 2006
A Reader from cuyahoga falls, OH
This book carpet-bombs faith, dismantling not only religions but also the very idea of faith. To the rationalist author, belief in things unseen, be it an invisible creator or the Easter Bunny, makes no sense and is at the root of humankind's inability to get along. Attacking such sacrosanct ideas as that of tolerance, the author spares no one, from religious zealots of all stripes to secular totalitarians. Page after page, the author renews his attacks, buttressing his arguments with countless examples taken from history. From history he advances to the present day, drawing unexpected parallels that are much too close for comfort.
He connects irrationality and unreason to terrorism while cautioning us of the dangers of the encroachment of religion into the political sphere, and calls for a rethinking of ethics and spirituality based on secular and humanist concepts.
Whatever your view, from believer to agnostic to atheist, you will find this book clearly written, logical, challenging and forceful. Was this review helpful?  
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