Friday, August 10, 2007

Sam Harris on Liberal's Reaction to Radical Islam

I think he's right.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I must disagree. Liberals are not endorsing murder or even excusing it - what liberals do (at least those I'm aware of) is analyze world events and politics. WE don't just take the Fox network's word on what's happening abroad.
Check out the videos on my latest blog to begin a historical understanding for our current problem. Then continue the investigation - minus this assholes opinion (Harris)- and use your sense of reason and justice to evaluate for yourself.
http://www.tshofner.net/drupal/?q=blog

Don't get me wrong - fundamentalism is fundamentally dangerous for all of us. Islam, Chritianity and Judiasm all stem from the same "God", one that not only endorses retributive violence (to the extreme of genocide) but degradation of women, slavery, etc. So truth be told fundamentalists are not misinterpreting their sacred texts - "God" is just that terrible for human existence. The God of the Bible and Quaran would have no problem with what's happening in the world today. The next extermination won't be a simple flood, it'll be two nuclear warheads aimed by fundamentalists.

I hope for something better. Speaking of faith - I have to have faith that human reasoning and compassion will be able to move us past this terrible time in history. That these vengeful god's will dissolve into a kinder gentler meme that encourages cooperation between people.

Mikayla Starstuff said...

Faith is a confusing word--I've read 'The End of Faith' and what that is about is not the faith that you or me have. More like the faith that will believe whatever the holy books say and refuse to question it...Like the faith in the Richard Dawkins quote at the bottom of my blog page.

I'm coming to see faith in a new light, but I think Harris's and Dawkin's critisisms of blind, unquestioning faith still have the ring of truth to them.

Also, I have never took Harris, in the video, as saying that all liberals are trying to excuse the horrible behavior of some Muslims over Danish cartoons. It has seemed to me that this is a weakness in liberalism--one to be avoided. I'm glad Harris is bringing this up so that we can at least check and make sure we are not falling into that trap.

Mikayla Starstuff said...

Now that I think of it, what you wrote in that second paragraph actually sums up _The End of Faith_ nicely.