Sam Harris cranks out blunt, hard-hitting chapters to make his case for why faith itself is the most dangerous element of modern life. And if the devil's in the details, then you'll find Satan waiting at the back of the book in the very substantial notes section where Harris saves his more esoteric discussions to avoid sidetracking the urgency of his message.
Interestingly, Harris is not just focused on debunking religious faith, though he makes his compelling arguments with verve and intellectual clarity. The End of Faith is also a bit of a philosophical Swiss Army knife. Once he has presented his arguments on why, in an age of Weapons of Mass Destruction, belief is now a hazard of great proportions, he focuses on proposing alternate approaches to the mysteries of life. Harris recognizes the truth of the human condition, that we fear death, and we often crave "something more" we cannot easily define, and which is not met by accumulating more material possessions. But by attempting to provide the cure for the ills it defines, the book bites off a bit more than it can comfortably chew in its modest page count (however the rich Bibliography provides more than enough background for an intrigued reader to follow up for months on any particular strand of the author' musings.)
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Dear NMBG,
Even though I talked way more than I like to last month at Peter's about The End of Faith, I'd like to add a last word. Pulling off my sticky notes before I returned my copy to the Library, I got to one where I'd written, "what a muddle." Re-reading the passage it didn't strike me as muddled at all, just deeply wrong. I hope anyone who is tempted to casually refer to Harris' book will take a minute with this and then look for some other way to express their views.
"Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them. This may seem an extraordinary claim, but it merely enunciates an ordinary fact about the world in which we live. Certain beliefs place their adherents beyond the reach of every peaceful means of persuassion, while inspiring them to commit acts of extraordinary violence against others. there is, in fact, no talking to some people. If they cannot be captured, and they often cannot, otherwise tolerant people may be justified in killing them in self defense." --The End of Faith, Sam Harris p.52,53
It is certainly an "ordinary fact" that "otherwise tolerant" people have often wrapped their fears in certainty (that "they" can't be talked to) and tried to kill 'em all. It's not that he doesn't clearly layout the essential formula: fear + certitude = permission to murder, the problem is that he adopts it, easily plugging in his own fear and his own certitude. My last word: Good Faith eases our fears and strenghtens our willingness and ability to face uncertainty (that's why we need at least a little just ot get out of bed.) Bad Faith, whether it's a Muslim exptremist's our Sam Harris', confirms our fears, sanctifies our seperatness, and leads to violence.
Ok, that's all.
John
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