Reply #34: He wrote a book called "The End of Faith"

[wickerwoman]

in which he studies the problems that rejection of reason in favor of belief (whether Christian, Muslim or Stalinist) can cause. He doesn't call Muslims "the enemy"- he simply points out that in as much as someone believes what's in the Quran to the exclusion of real life experience, that person will be a danger to peace-loving non-Muslims. In his book, he lists five pages of quotes calling for war with the infidels against one solitary quote about peace.

The Islamic people aren't my enemy but their ideas are f'cked up- especially when it comes to women and I applaud anyone with the guts to say so in this day and age.

So while I think Sam Harris is dead wrong about torture and a few other things, I think he has some profoundly insightful things to say about where faith leaves us.

He cites one example of a father who slit his own daughter's throat after she was raped and asked "Does this mean a Muslim father (to the extent that he believes his holy book) loves his child less than a secular father? Of course it does." Sorry- I'm paraphrasing, I don't have the book with me. He goes on to argue that there are different levels of moral development and that a culture that condones the killing of rape victims clearly is not quite ready for prime time.

While I hate the idea of cultural priviledge- how else do we address a system of beliefs where schoolgirls are sent back into a burning building because their hair wasn't covered?

Where I think Harris falls apart is what to do about it? You can't change someone's mind by bombing the shit out of them. It's the age old problem of how to get through to someone with their fingers stuck in their ears and both eyes closed. I agree with you that war isn't the answer. I think we need to get the hell out of the Middle East, stop buying oil from corrupt dictators and let them sort out their own problems. And although it breaks my heart to see women oppressed, it's not something that's in our power to change with conventional weaponry. I think we need to have a little more courage in our convictions. Rationalism won out over the Inquisition, over the witch hunts, over the Nazis, over Stalin and Mao... All it takes is enough people and the right people to say "enough already". And this is where I think you're right that we need to see Islamic people as our friends. Sam Harris isn't suggesting that we see them as enemies. He simply says we need to acknowledge that the ideas in the Quran include a lot of "soul-destroying rubbish" was I believe his phrase.