It is time that scientists and other public intellectuals observed that the contest between faith and reason is zero-sum.
SAM HARRISThe point is that most of what we currently hold sacred is not sacred for any reason other than that it was thought sacred yesterday.
More Sam Harris Quotes
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It is as though a portal in time has opened, and the Christians of the 14th century are pouring into our world.
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An average Christian, in an average church, listen to an average Sunday sermon has achieved a level of arrogance simply unimaginable in scientific discourse — and there have been some extraordinary arrogant scientists.
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Religious moderation is the product of secular knowledge and scriptural ignorance.
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I know of no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too desirous of evidence in support of their core beliefs.
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Theology is ignorance with wings.
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Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which the obvious is overlooked as a matter of principle.
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The atheist, by merely being in touch with reality, appears shamefully out of touch with the fantasy life of his neighbors.
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The freedom to think out loud on certain topics, without fear of being hounded into hiding or killed, has already been lost.
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What I’m asking you to entertain is that there is nothing we need to believe on insufficient evidence in order to have deeply ethical and spiritual lives.
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George Bush says he speaks to god every day, & Christians love him for it. If George Bush said he spoke to god through his hair dryer, they would think he was mad. I fail to see how the addition of a hair dryer makes it any more absurd.
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A puppet is free as long as he loves his strings.
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Religious moderation is the direct result of taking scripture less and less seriously. So why not take it less seriously still? Why not admit the the Bible is merely a collection of imperfect books written by highly fallible human beings.
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People who harbor strong convictions without evidence belong at the margins of our societies, not in our halls of power.
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One could surely argue that the Buddhist tradition, taken as a whole, represents the richest source of contemplative wisdom that any civilization has produced.
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The power of psychedelics is that they often reveal, in the span of a few hours, depths of awe and understanding that can otherwise elude us for a lifetime.
SAM HARRIS