Bill Maher interviews Sam Harris 21.08.09

[SuuT]

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[Psychonaut]

From 08:15...


There's this fact that there is a core of truth to religion and we should be interested. There's the fact that people do have transformative experiences...we should want to actualize that and understand it scientifically.

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[lei.talk]

While Harris criticizes all religions, he argues that the doctrines of Islam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam) are uniquely dangerous to civilization. Harris criticizes the general response in the West to terrorist atrocities such as the 9/11 attacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks), i.e. the response of pronouncing Islam a "religion of peace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_of_Peace)" while simultaneously declaring a "war on 'terrorism' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terrorism)." Harris sees the first sentiment as demonstrably false, and the second as meaningless.

Instead, he demands the acknowledgment that Western civilization is at war with Islam, which, he maintains, preaches a doctrine of religious and political subjugation, not a message of peace. He observes that the Koran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27an) and the hadith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith) contain incitements to kill infidels and reward such actions with Paradise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jannah) (including 72 virgins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/72_virgins)). Harris considers jihad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad), which he calls "metaphysics of martyrdom", as taking the "sting out of death" and a source of peril. He rejects arguments that suggest such behavior is a result of extremist Muslims, not mainstream ones. He argues that the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy) erupted not because the cartoons were derogatory but because "most Muslims believe that it is a sacrilege to depict Muhammad at all." Harris maintains that the West is at war with "precisely the vision of life that is prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran, and further elaborated in the literature of the hadith."

Harris acknowledges that religions other than Islam can inspire, and have inspired, atrocities. He discusses examples such as the Inquisition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition) and witch hunts, in The End of Faith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Faith). However, Harris believes that Islam is better suited to this purpose than most other religions. He summed up this argument in a 2005 blog post:

Anyone who imagines that terrestrial concerns account for Muslim terrorism must answer questions of the following sort: Why are there no Tibetan Buddhist suicide bombers? The Tibetans have suffered an occupation far more brutal, and far more cynical, than any that Britain, the United States, or Israel have ever imposed upon the Muslim world. Where are the throngs of Tibetans ready to perpetrate suicidal atrocities against Chinese noncombatants? They do not exist. What is the difference that makes the difference? The difference lies in the specific tenets of Islam. This is not to say that Buddhism could not help inspire suicidal violence. It can, and it has (Japan, World War II). But this concedes absolutely nothing to the apologists for Islam. As a Buddhist, one has to work extremely hard to justify such barbarism. One need not work nearly so hard as a Muslim. The truth that we must finally confront is that Islam contains specific notions of martyrdom and jihad that fully explain the character of Muslim violence.

Harris has called upon Muslim communities to practice open criticism of their faith and to offer assistance to Western governments in locating the religious extremists among them. He has argued that Muslims must be prepared to accept ethnic profiling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_profiling) as a tool in the fight against terrorism, if it can be shown that adherence to Islam is a statistical predictor of terrorist behavior.


- source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_(author))
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