One of my favorite examples of atheist indoctrination comes from Sam Harris (Letter to a Christian Nation, (2006), 51). He begins: “Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious.” Equating your beliefs with “an admission of the obvious” is indoctrinational in nature […]
Sam Harris
NDEs and those determined not to believe in them
In “Sprites and near death experiences” I argued that current study of NDEs is in the early stages of first-person reports analogous to the study of “sprites” (a rare meteorological phenomenon) which was initiated forty years ago with a growing collection of first-person reports. Mike D replied: I thought Sam Harris did a bang up […]
Pot. Kettle. Black. Another response to Chris Hallquist
A couple days ago I posted a critique of Chris Hallquist’s critique of William Lane Craig which you can read here. This morning Chris provided a reply aptly titled “Reply to Randal Rauser on Craig and Harris.” So I just couldn’t resist typing up a quick response. Chris begins: “Randal Rauser has put up a response to my […]
Did William Lane Craig smear Sam Harris? A response to Chris Hallquist
In the discussion thread for my article “Would you want an atheist for a neighbor?” R0c1 took issue with my suggestion that William Lane Craig was worth reading. He pointed to Chris Hallquist as one who had persuaded him that “Craig is not a trustworthy source of information on the subjects he debates.” And he […]
The Existential Argument and Sam Harris’ Big Diamond
In the thread to my article “In defense of existential arguments for belief in God” Matt DeStefano commented that my argument “doesn’t address what Jerry (or Harris) is pushing in this dialogue. Either God exists, or God doesn’t exist. No amount of “wishing” (or positive benefits associated with belief) justify accepting the proposition that “God exists”. With […]
Squeezing David Hume’s big toe (and other ironic ways to honor the naive skeptical tradition)
As you probably know, the idea of “tradition” has not received great press in the modern age. In particular the appeal to a grand tradition as the legitimation (or partial legitimation) for a specific knowledge discourse is categorically rejected as naive and question-begging. Undoubtedly one of the most pivotal quotes expressing this skepticism comes from […]
On the Myth of Religious Violence
Yesterday I attended a lecture by scholar William Cavanaugh from DePaul University speaking on the topic of his recent book The Myth of Religious Violence. Cavanaugh did an outstanding job. He was witty, urbane, and argued forcefully for a thesis of monumental importance. I commend the book to you. While I haven’t read it, I’ve […]
I wanna kill myself … and you too
Conversational Atheist has listed at his website 9 facts that Sam Harris has provided to go from is to ought. Unfortunately, I found myself stumbling on his very first fact: FACT #1: There are behaviors, intentions, cultural practices, etc. which potentially lead to the worst possible misery for everyone. There are also behaviors, intentions, cultural […]
Gingerbread lattes and Gary Ridgeway
You might call it a case of double dipping. I decided to put a response to James in a post. But since it was buried in a few threads back and the issue is so important (and since I’m in a crunch period this week) I felt thrice justified in doing so. James is concerned […]
Why Sam Harris should not go into retail
Imagine a store called “Harris Mart” which advertises great prices while proudly touting the slogan: “All our packages are made in the USA!” Anxious to shop American, support the local economy, and benefit from the quality of fellow American citizens, the locals all flock to Harris Mart. … until they discover that the advertising is, to say the least, […]
Sam Harris’ moral claims refuted, rebutted, and rejected
Let’s recap the case I present against Sam Harris in “The Sam Harris Sinkhole.” He purports to offer a scientific ground for ethics consistent with a naturalistic view of the world, but his whole argument depends on assuming that sentience is a morally norative criterion. Thus, he must assume the fact in order to explain it, a model […]
The Sam Harris Sinkhole
I don’t have time to read Sam Harris’ new book, but I do have time to watch him talk for twenty minutes, summarizing the main thesis in a TED talk. And so, thanks to Tory Ninja forwarding this link, I got a sense of the book’s thesis. But first a disclaimer: this is not a review […]
Rape as objectively evil
In my last post I stated that rape is objectively evil and any worldview that cannot count for this fact suffers accordingly. Alexander responded with a refreshing dose of dramatic bravado: “Not so, Randal Rauser! According to Randy Thornhill, rape is actually an evolution of a ‘genetically advantageous behavioral adaptation’ and, in that context, not inherently evil.” This […]
