The End of Faith

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The Clash of Faith and Reason

 

This important and timely book delivers a startling

analysis of the clash of faith and reason in the

modern world. The End of Faith provides a harrowing

glimpse of mankind’s 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 can no longer expect to survive our religious

differences indefinitely. Most controversially, he

maintains 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 in an attempt to

provide a truly modern foundation for our ethics and

our search for spiritual experience.

Winner of the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction

 

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of

Reason by Sam Harris is a genuinely frightening book

about terrorism, and the central role played by

religion in justifying and rewarding it. Others blame

“extremists” who “distort” the “true” message of

religion. Harris goes to the root of the problem:

religion itself. Even moderate religion is a menace,

because it leads us to respect and “cherish the idea

that certain fantastic propositions can be believed

without evidence”. Why do men like Bin Laden commit

their hideous cruelties? The answer is that they

“actually believe what they say they believe”. Read

Sam Harris and wake up.

 

—Richard Dawkins, The Guardian

 

" 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… Harris

writes what a sizable number of us think, but few are

willing to say in contemporary America… This in 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, The New York Times Book Review (read

the full review)

 

" Sam Harris launches a sustained nuclear assault… A

bold and exhilarating thesis… The End of Faith is a

brave, pugilistic attempt to demolish the walls that

currently insulate religious people from criticism…

The End of Faith is badly needed...”

 

—The Independent (U.K.) (read the full review)

 

" This book will strike a chord with anyone who has

ever pondered the irrationality of religious faith…

Even Mr. Harris’s critics will have to concede the

force of an analysis which roams so far and wide, from

the persecution of the Cathars to the composition of

George Bush’s cabinet.”

 

—The Economist (read the full review)

 

" [Harris] writes with such verve and frequent insight

that even skeptical readers will find it hard to put

down.”

 

—The San Francisco Chronicle (read the full review)

 

" A radical attack on the most sacred of liberal

precepts—the notion of tolerance… [The End of Faith]

is an eminently sensible rallying cry for a more

ruthless secularisation of society.”

 

—The Observer (U.K.) (read the full review)

 

“Harris’ tour de force demonstrates how faith—blind,

deaf, dumb, and unreasoned—threatens our very

existence. His exposé of faith-based unreason—from the

religious fanaticism of Islamic suicide bombers to the

secular fanaticism of Noam Chomsky—is a clarion call

for reasoned debate in this age of terrorism. THE END

OF FAITH shows how the perfect tyranny of religious

and secular totalitarianism demonizes imperfect

democracies such as the United States and Israel. A

must read for all rational people.”

 

—Alan Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard and

author of America on Trial.

 

" Here is a ringing challenge to all Americans who

recognize the danger to American democracy posed by

the political alliance of right wing religion and

politics and the failure of the tepid and tentative

responses by liberal persons of faith. While one might

dispute some of the claims and arguments presented by

the author, the need for a wake up call to religious

liberals is right on the mark.”

 

—Joseph C. Hough, Jr., President of Union Theological

Seminary, New York

 

“At last we have a book that focuses on the common

thread that links Islamic terrorism with the

irrationality of all religious faith. THE END OF

FAITH will challenge not only Muslims but Hindus, Jews

and Christians as well.”

 

—Peter Singer, professor of philosophy at Princeton

and author of The President of Good and Evil: The

Ethics of George W. Bush.

 

" Do we need another book on the conflict between

reason and faith?

Yes, if it is as well-written as Sam Harris’s The End

of Faith.”

 

—New Scientist

 

—The Los Angeles Times (read the full review)

 

—The Chicago Tribune (read the full review)

 

—The Globe and Mail (read the full review)

 

—The New York Sun (read the full review)

 

Press Materials

 

* Press Release | (HTML version)

* Q & A with Sam Harris | (HTML version)

* A selection of pointed comments by Sam Harris |

(HTML version)

* Interview with Sam Harris: The Mortal Dangers of

Religious Faith

 

(PDF files require Acrobat Reader, version 5.0 or

later. Acrobat Reader)

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