RejectMoses.com

2008-04-13T11:35:00.001-07:00

Amazon.com Widgets

Why Are Atheists So Angry?

2008-04-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Jewcy.com

Earlier this year, Newsweek religion columnist Marc Gellman confessed that atheists had lately befuddled him: “What I simply do not understand is why they are often so angry,” Gellman lamented. “I just don’t get it.”

Why are atheists so angry? Sam Harris and Dennis Prager inaugurate Jewcy’s “Big Question” series by arguing this very question. In the Big Question, passionate thinkers will debate the weightiest, most contentious issues of the day via e-mail.

Author of the thundering anti-theist polemics The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation, Harris may just be the Thomas Paine of an emerging movement to wrench religion out of American life. Prager is a nationally syndicated talk radio host who trumpets the virtues of the Judeo-Christian tradition. For the next four days, each of them will send us one e-mail per day.

Day 1
From: Sam Harris
To: Dennis Prager
Subject: Yahweh Belongs on the Scrapheap of Mythology
http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/monday_why_are_atheists_so_angry_sam_harris

From: Dennis Prager
To: Sam Harris
Subject: The Faith of Disbelief
http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/11-16/day_1_dennis_prager_why_are_atheists_so_angry

Day 2
From: Sam Harris
To: Dennis Prager
Subject: The Burden of Proof Falls on the Faithful
http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/11-17/day_2_harris_why_are_atheists_so_angry

From: Dennis Prager
To: Sam Harris
Subject: Straw Men, Teapots, and Moral Confusion
http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/11-17/day_2_prager_why_are_atheists_so_angry

Day 3
From: Sam Harris
To: Dennis Prager
Subject: An Irrelevant Argument and Its Imaginary Facts
http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/11-20/day_3_harris_why_are_atheists_so_angry

From: Dennis Prager
To: Sam Harris
Subject: Unhappy Correlations
http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/11-20/day_3_prager_why_are_atheists_so_angry

Day 4
From: Sam Harris
To: Dennis Prager
Subject: Three Ways to Miss the Point
http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/11-21/day_4_harris_why_are_atheists_so_angry

From: Dennis Prager
To: Sam Harris
Subject: Your Task is Far Greater than Mine
http://www.jewcy.com/dialogue/11-21/day_4_prager_why_are_atheists_so_angry

Atheist Evangelist

2008-04-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Washington Post

In His Bully Pulpit, Sam Harris Devoutly Believes That Religion Is the Root of All Evil

NEW YORK

There are really just two possibilities for Sam Harris. Either he is right and millions of Christians, Muslims and Jews are wrong. Or Sam Harris is wrong and he is so going to hell.

This seems obvious whenever Harris opens what he calls "my big mouth," and it is glaringly clear one recent evening at the New York Public Library, where he is debating a former priest before a packed auditorium. In less than an hour, Harris condemns the God of the Old Testament for a host of sins, including support for slavery. He drop-kicks the New Testament, likening the story of Jesus to a fairy tale. He savages the Koran, calling it "a manifesto for religious divisiveness." ...

Full Story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501998.html

Read Comments:http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/comments/display?contentID=AR2006102501998&start=121

Near Death Experience

2008-04-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

The experience and analysis of Dr. Taylor suggests a natural explanation for NDE's which many attribute to supernatural agency.

"Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt..." www.ted.com

How it feels to have a stroke

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

The Atheist Blogroll

2008-04-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

"The Atheist Blogroll is a service provided to the Atheist and Agnostic blogging community. The blogroll currently maintains over 625 blogs."

Please see the icon in the left sidebar.

Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders' film about the Quran

2008-03-31T16:47:00.000-07:00

"Fitna is a film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Dutch parliament. The movie offers his views on Islam and the Qur'an. The film's title comes from the Arabic word fitna which is used to describe "disagreement and division among people", or a "test of faith in times of trial". Fitna was released to the Internet on March 27, 2008"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitna_%28film%29

Dateline NBC Investigates Benny Hinn

2008-03-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Dateline NBC investigates popular televangelist Benny Hinn

"In just over a month in 2003 more than $23,000. in ministry cash was dispensed to Pastor Benny and his wife"

"And we found this record showing $25,000. in cash disbursed 'to accompany Pastor Benny Hinn' and for a crusade in Anaheim California - just 30 miles from his house."

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUyPjeIFKug

Sam Harris: What happens if you really follow the bible

2008-03-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TasoRGeDHCc

Dr. Michael Shermer vs Dr. Douglas Jacoby

2008-03-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

"The debate between international Christian speaker Douglas Jacoby and agnostic and skeptic Michael Shermer took place Saturday June 23, the highlight of the 2007 International Apologetics Conference, sponsored by the Apologetics Research Society. The debate topic: Does God Exist? Dr. Shermer is one of the three or four most famous atheist / agnostic scholars in the world, author of 12 books and President of the Skeptics Society. He has held dozens of debates, appeared on Oprah, 20/20, Dateline, Tom Snyder, Larry King Live and The History Channel. Dr. Jacoby, director of the Athens Institute of Ministry, has spoken in hundreds of cities in some 80 nations. This exciting event was held before a packed house, with an overflow crowd watching close circuit monitors outside the venue. Kedron Jones (Board member of ARS) was moderator and affable host. Shermer and Jacoby both bring their best analytical skills to this debate. The interchange is lively, with both speakers willing to concede points made by their opponent. You will benefit greatly from weighing the arguments put forth. Douglas ... argues from cosmology (both its creation and its complexity). and the unmistakable fact that moral absolutes are part of reality. Shermer makes the case that religions are socially constructed, historically dependent, and that the faith you adhere to and the god you believe in depend largely on when in history and where in the world you were born. The two-hour debate is lively, engaging and instructional. You can watch each speaker's opening, rebuttal, rebuttal summary, and conclusion here at YouTube. For the entire debate in one DVD, however, including the 40+ minute Q&A session, please visit www.douglasjacoby.com. The Skeptics Society website is www.skeptic.com. To post further comments, please visit Jacoby's forum at www.jacobyblogs.com."

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=22F6E9DF970E261E

The Four Horsemen

2008-03-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

www.richarddawkins.net

"On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by RDFRS and filmed by Josh Timonen.

All four authors have recently received a large amount of media attention for their writings against religion - some positive, and some negative. In this conversation the group trades stories of the public's reaction to their recent books, their unexpected successes, criticisms and common misrepresentations. They discuss the tough questions about religion that face to world today, and propose new strategies for going forward".

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88jXRSv0Y4I

Order the full conversation on high quality DVD:
http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,2025,THE-FOUR-HORSEMEN---Available-Now-on-DVD,Discussions-With-Richard-Dawkins-Episode-1-RDFRS

Dinesh D'Souza Debates Christopher Hitchens

2008-03-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Dinesh D'Souza and Christopher Hitchens debate religion.

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F0C8F3CAF42CB3CC

Impeachment of Irreducible Complexity

2008-03-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Does intelligent design deserve a seat at the scientific round table?
A biologist, philosopher and attorney debate.

www.mslaw.edu
"Dr. Kenneth Miller uses Dr. Beatty's very own example of a mouse trap to prove why he thinks the central idea of intelligent design, irreducible complexity, is wrong.

Kurt Olson interviews Dr. Barbara Forrest, David K. DeWolf and Dr. Kenneth R. Miller in this episode of Massachusetts Educational Forum:Educational Forum: Evolution and Intelligent Design: The Science, The Debate and the Legal Landscape.

The full interview is available at http://tinyurl.com/yts5nb. The Massachusetts School of Law also presents information on important current affairs to the general public in television and radio broadcasts, an intellectual journal, conferences, author appearances, blogs and books. For more information visit mslaw.edu."

"The two essential parts of evolution are really straight forward: ...
(1) That there exists variation in nature among individuals in a species ...
(2) The second is the observation that among that variation there is differential reproductive success. ... The combination of those two, also given the input of new variation into a species, which Darwin observed and today we understand right down to the molecular level, means that a species is going to be subject to a type of selection over time". Ken Miller 10:25

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW_2lLG9EZM

For a shock check out 43:45!
http://tinyurl.com/yts5nb

The View From The End Of The World

2008-03-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

Sam Harris on December 9th, 2005

Audio only presentation.

"This talk took place in the Conference Center Golden Gate Room, San Francisco.

Quote:

With gentle demeanor and tight argument, Sam Harris carried an overflow audience into the core of one of the crucial issues of our time: What makes some religions lethal? How do they employ aggressive irrationality to justify threatening and controlling non-believers as well as believers? What should be our response?

Harris began with Christianity. In the US, Christians use irrational arguments about a soul in the 150 cells of a 3-day old human embryo to block stem cell research that might alleviate the suffering of millions. In Africa, Catholic doctrine uses tortured logic to actively discourage the use of condoms in countries ravaged by AIDS.

"This is genocidal stupidity," Harris said. Faith trumps rational argument. Common-sense ethical intuition is blinded by religious metaphysics.

In the US, 22% of the population are CERTAIN that Jesus is coming back in the next 50 years, and another 22% think that it's likely.

The good news of Christ's return, though, can only occur following desperately bad news. Mushroom clouds would be welcomed. "End time thinking," Harris said, "is fundamentally hostile to creating a sustainable future."

Harris was particularly critical of religious moderates who give cover to the fundamentalists by not challenging them. The moderates say that all is justified because religion gives people meaning in their life. "But what would they say to a guy who believes there's a diamond the size of a refrigerator buried in his backyard? The guy digs out there every Sunday with his family, cherishing the meaning
the quest gives them."

"I've read the books," Harris said. "God is not a moderate." The Bible gives strict instructions to kill various kinds of sinners, and their relatives, and on occasion their entire towns. Yet slavery is challenged nowhere in the New or Old Testaments; slave holders in the old south used the Bible to defend their practice. The religious texts have power because they are old, but they are also hopelessly out of date because they are old.

It's taboo among religious moderates to compare religions, said Harris, but we must. "Where are the Tibetan Buddhist suicide bombers? For that matter, where are the Palestinian Christian suicide bombers--- they're as Arab and aggrieved as anyone." The fundamental beliefs of Islam really are a problem. "Martyrdom in jihad is not a fringe doctrine; it is believed by millions of Muslims." It's not a question of ignorance--- two-thirds of al Qaeda operatives are
college educated.

"We have no reason to expect to survive our religious differences indefinitely. Faith is intrinsically divisive. We have a choice between conversation and war." It was conversation that ended slavery, not faith. "Faith is a declaration of immunity to conversation. To make religious war unthinkable, we have to undermine the dogma of faith. The continuance of civilization requires not moderation, but reason."

Harris ended by lauding meditation and mysticism as a form of experiential science, and observed, "The wisdom of contemplative life is not evenly distributed. The East has more than the West.""

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Equfju9kJfA

Jim Carrey and Damon Wayons Parody Evangelists

2008-03-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCCUUi5rx-0

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrpdkRU-rhE

Sam Harris at Idea CIty '05

2008-03-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

For those who have never heard of Sam Harris, I recommend this short clip.
It is an excellent introduction to his work.

"Sam Harris gives a brief speech of the ideas expressed in his book,
"The End of Faith". The video came from samharris.org."

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3YOIImOoYM

Richard Dawkins on Moral Values

2008-03-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

"Richard Dawkins discusses the "shifting moral zeitgeist"
and the idea of inheriting morality from scripture".

www.beyondbelief2006.org

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ9JMUFIVqE

Richard Dawkins - BBC HARDtalk

2008-03-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

"Richard Dawkins is interviewed by the BBC's Stephen Sackur for News24's HARDtalk."

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EA03E7E837224C9D

Daniel Dennett debates Dinesh D'Souza

2008-03-08T14:38:00.001-08:00

"Tufts University Philosophy Professor Daniel Dennett debates best-selling
Conservative Christian author Dinesh D'Souza on the subject of whether
or not 'God' is a man-made invention."

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=509ED161FF4F70E3

The Hour: Interview with Christopher Hitchens

2008-03-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

"The Hour's George Stroumboulopoulos interviews Christopher Hitchens
- author of 'God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything'."

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6173E264E95A6735

Sam Harris: What happens if you really follow the bible

2008-03-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TasoRGeDHCc

Women in Islam - The Stoning of Soraya M.

2008-03-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

"The Stoning of Soraya M. - This resonant book portrays the ugliness of fundamentalist Islamic mob justice in Khomeini-era Iran. Sahebjam, an Iranian journalist based in France who has written critically of the regime, returned to his homeland under cover in 1986. While visiting a small town he calls Kupayeh, he learned how an innocent 35-year-old woman had been stoned to death for supposed infidelity. His thorough reporting, based on a further visit to the village, reconstructs Soraya's life and killing with much dialogue and interior monologue. Soraya gave birth to nine children in 14 years and her husband Ghorban-Ali also turned to prostitutes. He became involved in shady business deals and began to associate with Sheik Hassan, a criminal who was appointed Ayatollah Khomeini's local representative. When Ghorban-Ali, having fallen in love with another woman, accused his wife of infidelity, villagers lied to aid him and Soraya was left with no support in the town. Her two eldest sons sat on the male tribunal that declared her guilty, and she was stoned by a mob that included her father. This book refuses to let such horror go unremembered.

Cyrus Nowrasteh is one of the most versatile and creative writer/directors working in Hollywood today. His credits include the hit Showtime movies The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001) and 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002), both of which won rave reviews and numerous awards - including two PEN USA West Literary Awards for Nowrasteh. But 2005 may be Cyrus Nowrasteh's biggest year yet. He's a writer on Steven Spielberg's epic new miniseries about western migration, "Into The West - and he's a writer/producer on ABC's major miniseries about the cataclysmic events of 9/11.

Nowrasteh has always gravitated towards true stories. A Persian-American whose family had to flee Iran when it was taken over by Islamic fundamentalists, Nowrasteh's work combines an appreciation for the intimate and the human, with a love of history and respect for America's founding traditions."

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PaIWicBz5w

Christopher Hitchens vs Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

2008-03-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

"I don't need any sickly advice from Nazareth - from the man who after all the Old Testament horrors that we know about, none of them included the punishment of hell; there's no hell in the Old Testament. It's a credit to the Jewish people actually, when God and Moses are done with enjoining genocide on you, which by the way they do - according to those books. I don't know where, which books the Rabbi has been reading but he might want to tell you what happened to the Amalekites. Where are the Midianites? What happened to all these people? We know what we were told to do to them. So glad to think that those books are fictional, because if they were true we would all be bespattered with the blood of others to please a hideous authority. But no punishment once he's done with you. Once the earth has closed over you, that's it. There's no torture of the dead. Not until gentle Jesus meek and mild do you get that." Christopher Hitchens (39:17)

"If you want to saw off the end of your penis, you're welcome. You're not to do it to a child who hasn't asked for it. Same with the genitals of a little girl. If she thinks later on she would be better off without them, let her take or have taken to her a sharp instrument. ... It is not right, it is not moral, it is in fact wicked to submit children to mutilation of their genitalia, or to anyone without their consent. Do you understand that this elementary point only needs to be made because of wickedness enjoined by religion? The Rabbi (Shmuley Boteach) here is a fairly humane guy; he wouldn't, if he didn't think God was involved, ever consider mutilating the genitals of a child. But because it's a covenant with God, anything can be done!". Christopher Hitchens (42:18)

"There is every difference between being a Deist and a Theist. Science and reason cannot disprove the existence of a first cause or creator, we cannot do that. We can only say that everything works without that assumption, and there is no evidence on the other side of the case. This seems to us to license unbelief. To the Theistic argument of a God who actually is interested in answering prayers, cares who you marry, who you go to bed with, what you eat, which side wins in a war and so forth - we say this is human propaganda, self-evidently man-made and the so-called miraculous evidence to this point has been repeatedly and conclusively falsified and disproved."
Christopher Hitchens (72:00)

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnMYL8sF7bQ

Inside Edition Investigates Peter Popoff

2008-03-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Televangelist Peter Popoff is still getting
away with it. Americans are so gullible.

Sean Hannity on Demons

2008-03-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

Why does all the other news media
ignore 'important' stories like this?!

Jonathan Morris on Atheism

2008-03-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

Fox News hosts a short but 'fair and balanced' discussion on the subject of Atheism.
It is noteworthy that both sides of the issue were equally represented and the anchors
exhibited complete impartiality with respect to this news item. This should put to
rest the unfair criticism that Fox News is a mouthpiece for the Religious Right.
Jonathan Morris is a Fox News contributor and can be reached by Email.

Al Sharpton and Christopher Hitchens Debate

2008-03-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

"Taking on possibly the greatest issue of our time - the malignant force of religion in the world - Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion through a close and learned reading of the major religious texts, citing numerous historical instances in which sexual repression and outrageous acts of violence have been committed in the name of God. He argues for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix".
The New York Public Library

View the entire debate:
http://fora.tv/2007/05/07/Al_Sharpton_and_Christopher_Hitchens

Rabbi David Wolpe and Sam Harris debate God

2008-02-29T20:24:00.000-08:00

"American Jewish University presents best-selling authors Sam Harris and Rabbi David Wolpe in a debate about the existence of God and the role of religion and faith in society. Sam Harris is a renowned atheist and author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. Rabbi David Wolpe, of Sinai Temple, is the author of Teaching Your Children About God and Why Be Jewish. This debate is moderated by Los Angeles Times religion editor Steve Padilla".
© 2007 ajula.edu. American Jewish University. All Rights Reserved.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1336746820?bctid=1329234778

Bill Maher on religion

2008-02-29T12:05:00.000-08:00

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKvOyyqKaZ0

George Carlin - Religion is bullshit.

2008-02-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

Sam Harris at AAI 07

2008-02-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

At AAI 07, Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith
and Letter to A Christian Nation floats the idea of
Atheists giving up their label. He also makes some interesting comments
about meditation. During the Q & A following his speech at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Sam revealed that he practices silent meditation for periods of time which can stretch into months. His description of the meditative technique is consistent
with Vipassana Meditation which is taught (albeit without charge) by Atheist Buddhist monks.
Christopher Hitchens said of Harris, "He's a bit of a Buddhist."

"How many people have had to identify themselves as 'non-racists'? ... It seems to me that attaching a label to something carries real liabilities - especially when the thing that you are naming isn't a thing at all. I would argue to you that Atheism is not a thing, it is not a philosophy just as non-racism is not one. It is not a world view and yet is regularly construed as one and attacked as such; and we who do not believe in God are collaborating in this misunderstanding by consenting to be named and by naming ourselves. Another problem with accepting a label is that we are consenting to be thought of as a marginal interest group ... As a matter of philosophy we are guilty of confusion and as a matter of strategy I think that we have walked into a trap. ... This whole conversation about the 'new atheists' and 'militant atheism' has been used to keep our criticism of religion at arms length and has allowed people to reject our arguments without meeting the burden of actually answering them. I think this whole discourse around the conflict between faith and reason and religion and science has been and will continue to be successfully marginalized under the banner of Atheism ... We should not call ourselves Atheists. We should not call ourselves Secularists. We should not call ourselves Secular Humanists or Free Thinkers or Rationalists or Anti Theists or Brights. We should not call ourselves anything. We should go under the radar for the rest of our lives and while there we should be decent, honest people who destroy bad ideas wherever we find them. Now it just so happens that religion has more than its fair share of bad ideas, so I think of necessity we will continue to criticize religion ... but we should not name ourselves in opposition to religion". Video 1, 9:32 - 13:04

"Why should we stand obediently in the space provided? Why should we stand in the space carved out by the conceptual scheme of theistic religion? ... Think about what would happen if we simply used words like 'reason' and 'evidence'".
Video 1, 21:45 - 22:20

Sam's position on spirituality and mysticism: Video 1, 23:23

"I wrote The End of Faith ... and I was never tempted to call myself an Atheist." Video 2, 4:53

"I started calling myself an Atheist or at least answering to the name simply because it started to look a little shifty dodging it in interviews. Because the truth is I am an Atheist by most peoples standard of Atheism, certainly. And so, just in the interest of being civil I'm using that word. But I notice that we pay a price every time we do it." Video 2, 12:34

On Meditation

"The interest for me in meditation is in the difference between happiness and suffering. You know, 'Why do we suffer?' 'Is our suffering always necessary?' These are the kinds of questions ..." Video 2, 9:22

"There is nothing that I am aware of believing that requires the supernatural ... it's just there is a range of human experience that can take a tremendous amount of effort and inquiry to get a look at; and this has been historically the unique preoccupation of the mystical traditions within religion. ... they've had experiences that are interesting and worth talking about and don't lend credence to their supernatural doctrines but which nevertheless have a lot to say about the plasticity of the human brain and the possibility of us transforming our moment to moment experience of the world. That's all I'm saying." Video 2, 10:11 - 11:32

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F5F7FF87BDBF5EC9

Islam Debated - Sam Harris vs Scott Atran

2008-02-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Scott Atran and Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith
and Letter to A Christian Nation debate Islam at Beyond Belief 2006.
www.beyondbelief2006.org

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=40C9A817549F2DA2

Sam Harris: Faith vs. Reason in the Modern World

2008-02-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

"... Most controversially, he argues 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 ... Harris draws on insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern mysticism to deliver a call for a truly modern foundation for ethics and spirituality that is both secular and humanistic."
W.W. Norton & Company, Publisher

Excerpt from The End of Faith:
"Thousands of years have passed since any Western philosopher imagined that a person should be made happy, peaceful, or even wise, in the ordinary sense, by his search for truth. Personal transformation, or indeed liberation from the illusion of the self, seems to have been thought too much to ask: or rather, not thought at all ... I suspect the culprit has been the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim emphasis on faith itself. Faith is rather like a rhinoceros, in fact: it won't do much in the way of real work for you, and yet at close quarters it will make spectacular claims upon your attention.
"This is not to say that spiritual realization has been a common attainment east of the Bosporus. Clearly, it has not. It must also be conceded that Asia has always had its fair share of false prophets and charlatan saints, while the West has not been entirely bereft of wisdom. Nevertheless, when the great philosopher mystics of the East are weighed against the patriarchs of the Western philosophical and theological traditions, the difference is unmistakable: Buddha, Shankara, Padmasambhava, Nagarjuna, Longchenpa, and countless others down to the present have no equivalents in the West. In spiritual terms, we appear to have been standing on the shoulders of dwarfs."

Sam Harris, the author of the bestsellers The End of Faith and
Letter to A Christian Nation speaks at the Aspen Ideas Festival:

"I submit to you that there really is no society in human history that has ever suffered because its population became too reasonable, too reluctant to embrace dogma or too demanding of evidence."

" ... there is no question in my mind that it provides a kind of friction in our discourse where we really can't call a spade a spade ... much of the Bible and the Koran is just life-destroying gibberish and we just have to acknowledge this and cease to take these books seriously."

"... there's an all-purpose corrective here which is just intellectual honesty -
if you cease to pretend to be certain about things which you are not certain about, see where that gets you, see where that gets you in conversations with other human beings. I think it will get you a profoundly ethical life, it certainly will get you a profoundly non-deceptive life."

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1E85B3367CEAC716

Reject Moses

2008-02-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher

High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week.

Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy ...

full story: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080304120710.ad7gm7i6&show_article=1

To concerned parents: Please Watch
"Do you really know what your children are being taught?"

watch this video on YouTube.com (full screen capability)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_om2q76PTM