End of Faith by Sam Harris book review

Review:

The 'End of Faith' isn't a book that promotes atheism. Sam Harris' book is really a relentless and critical attack on religious dogma. The crux Harris' assertions is that religion and its dogmas are more or less inseparable. That it's wrong to "throw the baby out with the bath water" as it pertains to the major religions but it's almost impossible in our world not to do so. In the end of the book, he does make a case of still allowing for spirituality in human dialog but doesn't go into much detail on the subject.

Harris' spends the majority of the book on his main thesis which is an argument about the damaging ideas of religious dogma (really all dogma in general). That is what *the* problem is, in his eyes. It's not the fact that people want to believe. It's that they cannot rationally accept criticism or accept changes to any of their questionable religious dogma. Even in the face of strong counter evidence. Many religionists continue to accept that certain books as divine even though experience and fact has shown much of it to be false or even hurtful to individuals and/or civilization. Yet many still maintain that all of it is still true and wholly good.

Harris maintains that religion is a conversation stopper. Most people cannot critically discuss ideas because of their absolute faith in their religious dogma prevents it. Every argument begins with the idea that the dogma is true. This cannot be found acceptable anymore in modern times. This creates two options: conversation or warfare (violence). If the first fails the second will more than likely result.

Secularism of course isn't free of rigid thinking but in the end there far fewer "sacred cows." No ideas *have to be believed* at all costs in the face of convincing contrary evidence. That is a *key* difference maker here that Harris points to.

He also singles out religion as the primary road block of rational dialog. No one can have respected beliefs about biology, geography, chemistry, etc. without factual basis except when it come to religious beliefs. He asserts that this is fundamentally flawed thinking. Religion should not be held to a different set of standards. He blames religious moderates and many "social liberals" as the real culprits for facilitating this flawed double standard. His insists that this must change and more frank and honest dialog and criticism must begin in this area.

The whole book's theme and sense of urgency is driven by the rising stakes of collections of religious individuals using weapons of mass destruction justified by their dogma. It asserts that it is only a matter of time before this happens. The longer certain religious dogma goes on the more likely it will bring down civilization (ultimately in 50 to hundreds of years.) He really points his finger at Muslims of the middle east. But he doesn't hold back on the flaws of Christianity and Judaism either.

All in all, it was very vindicating read for me. He makes top rate rational arguments to back up his controversial claims. He blows the doors off of what is traditionally taught by secularists and religionist alike that advocate the acceptance and tolerance of bad to false religious ideas. Harris points out that not all religious tenants are equal and we must stop calling them as such.

I recommend to people that want to strengthen their arguments against people that are unwilling to tackle dogmatic thinking.

Why do people believe?

Why do people believe in Christianity? More specifically, what are the psychological incentives of belief that has made this religion so sustainable?

Ever since the election in November, I have been giving this question much thought. I have the fundamental opinion that organized religion does more harm than good to society. Since I am part of this society, I feel compelled to understand it in an attempt to ultimately do something about it.

So this is an attempt to understand why it is so compelling to people. So compelling that they will ignore their own self-interests and overwhelming facts in order for them to continue to believe.

Here are the reasons I have come up with using my own experiences with religion and my limited psychology background. They are loosely ordered in most important to least important from a majority perspective. Feel free to add your own or comment on my list.

Thank you.


1.) Protection from and creation of fear

Religion offers answers to maybe the 3 most important unknowns in life:

Where did we come from? God created everything including man. This is important because it casts God in a paternal role. As children created and reared by our parents, we are taught or forced to follow what our parents say without much reasoning or even agreement. We also value the perceived protection our parents provide us. There is little wonder to me why God is cast in a very similar role in religion.

Why are we here? To follow and believe in Jesus and (most of) the teachings (rules) found in the bible. This is key because it gives people a sense of purpose in life and broad reasoning for their actions.

What happens when we die? If you believed in Jesus and were repentant of your sins, you will go to heaven and attain eternal life. This is most important protection religion has to offer and is the single most driving force behind people's willingness to believe. I belief these ideas pray upon a human beings' self preservation instinct.

The converse of these assurances is that a new fear is created. If one does not follow the rules, one will go to hell and suffer for all eternity. This creates a scenario even worse than eternal death itself and ratchets up the emotional stakes even further.

So for a person to cease believing in this religion, they also cease believing in these same protections over their family and loved ones that are living and already dead. It is this additional emotional trap that makes it even more painful to for one to give up the beliefs. It forces someone to accept that not only are they going to die but so is everyone they love. Powerful stuff...


2.) Power and Control

Christianity at its heart is an attempt at control. Control of sex. Control of thoughts. Control of money. Control of social behaviors. Control of competing ideas. While this power and control isn't available for everyone, it is attainable by the clergy (and leaders (Pres. Bush)) of Christianity. (i.e. the people that generally benefit the most from religion.) These people that benefit the most are usually the loudest voices to encourage people to not waver in their belief (faith) and to follow the rules set forth by the bible. Thus keeping their power intact.

Even for those that are not in a leadership role, the rules of religion gives people a means to tell others what they should and not should be doing.


3.) Community

Church offers a sense of belonging to something beyond the immediacy of the religion. Human beings are very social animals and generally hate to feel alone. The church structure brings people together socially and makes them feel apart of something beyond their beliefs.


4.) Competition and Superiority

The "holier than thou" effect. It gives people a way to feel better about themselves or even unique amongst their peers. They feel they know and operate on a higher level than weaker believers, other religious people, or non-believers. This mental construct can make one feel that they are doing a good job following the rules and thus are closer to God. Therefore they feel more assured about point 1.


5.) Helping and Conversion

While this is a combination of point 2 and 3, I feel it is separate enough for its own category. Christianity encourages helping people in need. Whether it is helping people in need or bringing more people into the "fold" via conversion. These actions have a pleasurable effect because they give a sense of reward. Even people in the church community that were not at all associated with the activities themselves can feel this reward.


6.) Hate

While human beings are social creatures, we do have an inherent distrust of people we do not understand or know. Biblical teachings give people the "moral" grounds to hate people that are different than them. While religion isn't needed to have reasons to hate others, it does create an unwavering conviction that a Christian's hate is justified and cannot be wrong in light of any facts or circumstances.


7.) Imagined Religious Experiences

I just finished a book called "The Vanquished Gods" by Dr. Richard H. Schlagel. In one of the chapters he talks about the various phenomena of religious experience.

He makes a point that religion is not just a result of ignorance or cultural influence. He theorizes many religious people have experienced some type of physical/psychological religious experience. Once such being "temporal lobe epilepsy". While not as severe as grand or petite mal type episodes, a common result is a felling of a pervasive benevolent presence tied with a sense of emotional warmth and safety. These events are somewhat common in situations of profound stress or hardship. But also can effect people out of the blue.

Dr Schlagel goes on to talk about other types of physiological phenomena such as out of body experiences, extremely vivid dreams, astral projections, schizophrenia and other types of dementia.

All of these combined result in a significant percentage of the population feeling they have been in touch with God personally. He also goes into the historical stories and accounts behind the religious prophets in many religions and how many appear to have suffered from the things listed above.