"Cowboying
Up"
By A.R. Hudson
Gazette Columnist
(We welcome a diversity of opinion. To express yours, post a comment below, click BY THE PEOPLE on the right, or send a rant to peoplesgazette@gmail.com)
We are pleased to announce the very first non-cowboy of the month: Author Sam Harris. Harris was educated at Stanford and UCLA and holds a PhD in neuroscience. He is a co-founder of The Reason Project, “a non-profit devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society.” You can check it out at http://www.reasonproject.org/ God recently guided us to Sam’s last book: "Letter to a Christian Nation."
Just as the title indicates, this short book is written in the form of a letter to the segment of the American population (over half) that believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and that only those who accept the divinity of Jesus Christ will experience salvation after death. Since we think that these notions are ludicrous (and also don’t mind saying so), the book was of immediate interest.
Evolutionary Biologist and bestselling author Richard Dawkins says of "Letter to a Christian Nation," “I dare you to read this book…it will not leave you unchanged. Read it if it is the last thing you do.”
We think it is safe to say that even readers who are “on the fence” about religion may be offended by Harris’ direct assault on religion in general and Christianity, in particular. But what many like Harris point out is that religion has somehow evolved to a point where it is undeservedly immune from criticism—nearly anything said against it is considered rude. No other area of thought gets such lack of scrutiny. It does indeed seem fair to ask, “Why is religion exempt?” No one seems to know.
The notion of “Intelligent Design” is a favorite of the religious right—so much so that many advocate that it be taught alongside human evolution within the public science classroom curriculum. Harris simply points out that, since there are plenty of examples of “unintelligent design,” either the designer wasn’t intelligent or there is no intelligent designer.
The most obvious example of this “unintelligent design” that Harris cites is the scientific fact that “Over 99 percent of the species that walked, flew or slithered upon this earth are now extinct.” He adds the case of a woman’s pelvis, which apparently has been rather unintelligently designed. Each year, during the “miracle” of birth, women suffer from an injury known as an obstetric fistula. “Women in the developing world who suffer this condition become incontinent and are often abandoned by their husbands and exiled from their communities.” Harris cites United Nations Population Fund data which indicates that two million women live with fistula today. A simple surgical procedure will correct the condition—not prayer.
All his acerbic criticism aside, Harris’ most important point is this: One of the biggest challenges for humanity in the 21st century is to learn to speak about our deepest concerns: Ethics, spiritual experience and human suffering, in ways that are not flagrantly irrational. It’s time for critical thinking to come to the fore.
Harris’ stated purpose for this short book is this: “To arm secularists in our society, who believe that religion should be kept out of public policy, against their opponents on the Christian right.” Sam authored one other book: "The End of Faith."
Congratulations to Sam Harris for his courage and intellectual honesty. "Letter to a Christian Nation" is short, inexpensive and very well written. We love it; however, we won’t show up with it at your door on Saturday morning.
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