Book Thoughts: "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris

This really was a scary book.

Harris takes the case against religion to frightening levels. Where Dawkins and Hitchens may argue that being religious is foolish and imprudent, Harris argues that religion is downright dangerous. He makes a pretty compelling case. After all, religion tends to be our favorite reason to kill each other.

Harris chronicles the crimes of Christianity, and even points out that the Jewish faith isn't all that tolerant, but he perceives the main threat as coming from Islam, and that's a bit of a controversial idea for some liberal minded folks who think that Islam really is a religion of peace that's been hijacked by a few weirdos. He spends several pages just listing passages from the Koran that dictate either violence against, hatred, or at least dismissal of non-muslims. While it's true enough that the Bible is full of these passages as well, Harris draws a line here by saying Christianity has for the most part moved on from even paying attention to those passages, while a sizable proportion of the Muslim world fully believes in that theology. The real bad news is that these medieval minded folk are acquiring weapons that medieval Christians and the folks from the Inquisition couldn't have even dreamed of.

I marked this one down a star because of the last couple of chapters though. Harris begins to talk about Eastern Mysticism and meditation as perhaps a legitimate path to higher experiences, and he asserts that they can be viewed more empirically than organized religion. I might give him that, but the book itself seemed to just kind of diverge on a tangent. Perhaps I just needed to read it closer.

All in all, a very thought provoking read.