“Spirituality must be distinguished from religion—because people of every faith, and of none, have had the same sorts of spiritual experiences.” — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“Religion raises the stakes of human conflict much higher than tribalism, racism, or politics ever can, as it is the only form… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
While the religious divisions in our world are self-evident, many people still imagine that religious conflict is always caused by a lack… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
It is still fashionable to believe that how you organize yourself religiously in this life may matter for eternity. Unless we can… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Although many things can be said in criticism of religious faith, there is no discounting its power. Millions among us, even now,… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
You are using your own moral intuitions to authenticate the wisdom of the Bible - and then, in the next moment, you… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“Religious moderation springs from the fact that even the least educated person among us simply knows more about certain matters than anyone… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“Religious faith represents so uncompromising a misuse of the power of our minds that it forms a kind of perverse, cultural singularity… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“What one believes happens after death dictates much of what one believes about life, and this is why faith-based religion, in presuming… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Religious ideas about good and evil tend to focus on how to achieve well-being in the next life, and this makes them… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“What could possibly cause billions of human beings to reconsider their religious beliefs? And yet, it is obvious that an utter revolution… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
One of the greatest challenges facing civilization in the twenty-first century is for human beings to learn to speak about their deepest… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
People who harbor strong convictions without evidence belong at the margins of our societies, not in our halls of power. The only… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
When someone like myself points out the rather obvious and compelling evidence that God is cruel and unjust, because he visits suffering… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“This is not (as you have charged) to paint religion with a broad brush. I am very quick to distinguish gradations of… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Mysticism is a rational enterprise. Religion is not. The mystic has recognized something about the nature of consciousness prior to thought, and… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“For anyone with eyes to see, there can be no doubt that religious faith remains a perpetual source of human conflict. Religion… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
All I'm arguing for really is that we should have a conversation where the best ideas really thrive, where there's no taboo… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“The idea that any one of our religions represents the infallible word of the One True God requires an encyclopedic ignorance of… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“This universe is shot through with mystery. The very fact of its being, and of our own, is a mystery absolute, and… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“Are you really surprised by the endurance of religion? What ideology is likely to be more durable than one that conforms, at… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“There is a sense in which all cognition can be said to be motivated. One is motivated to understand the world, to… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“the United States government will not tolerate any disrespect for the holy Koran.” What form our government’s intolerance will take remains unspecified.… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“Religious moderates seem to believe that what we need is not radical insight and innovation in these areas but a mere dilution… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
The most transformative experiences people have - bliss, devotion, self transcendence - are currently anchored to the worst parts of culture and… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“In places where scholars can still be stoned to death for doubting the veracity of the Koran, Gould's notion of a "loving… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Countries with high levels of atheism are . . . the most charitable both in terms of the percentage of their wealth… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
When considering the truth of a proposition, one is either engaged in an honest appraisal of the evidence and logical arguments, or… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
The problem with religion, because it's been sheltered from criticism, is that it allows people to believe en masse what only idiots… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
The second commandment is "Thou shall not construct any graven images." Is this really the pinnacle of what we can achieve morally?… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
The conflict between religion and science is inherent and (very nearly) zero-sum. The success of science often comes at the expense of… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“The problem is that most people, most of the time, are desperate to believe ridiculous and divisive ideas for patently emotional reasons,and… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“In the best case, faith leaves otherwise well-intentioned people incapable of thinking rationally about many of their deepest concerns; at worst, it… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“Religious faith represents so uncompromising a misuse of the power of our minds that it forms a kind of perverse, cultural singularity… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
It's not so much religion per se, it's false certainty that worries me, and religion just has more than its fair share… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Faith enables many of us to endure life's difficulties with an equanimity that would be scarcely conceivable in a world lit only… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Moderates want their faith respected. They don't want faith itself criticized, and yet faith itself is what is bringing us all this… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“...religious moderates are themselves the bearers of a terrible dogma: they imagine that the path to peace will be paved once each… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“Moderates in every faith are obliged to loosely interpret (or simply ignore) much of their canons in the interests of living in the modern… — Sam Harris Copy Share
There is no question but that nominally religious scientists like Francis Collins and Kenneth R. Miller are doing lasting harm to our discourse by… — Sam Harris Copy Share
We have Christians against Muslims against Jews, and no matter how liberal your theology, merely identifying yourself as a Christian or a Jew lends… — Sam Harris Copy Share
“Your principal concern appears to be that the Creator of the universe will take offense at something people do while naked. This prudery of… — Sam Harris Copy Share
“As manuals for contemplative understanding, the Bible and the Koran are worse than useless. Whatever wisdom can be found in their pages is never… — Sam Harris Copy Share
About 120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. If our polls are… — Sam Harris Copy Share
“If your golf instructor were to insist that you shave your head, sleep no more than four hours each night, renounce sex, and subsist… — Sam Harris Copy Share
The fact that one can lose one's sense of self in an ocean of tranquility does not mean that one's consciousness is immaterial or… — Sam Harris Copy Share
The second commandment is "Thou shall not construct any graven images." Is this really the pinnacle of what we can achieve morally? The second… — Sam Harris Copy Share
“But the reality of consciousness appears irreducible. Only consciousness can know itself—and directly, through first-person experience.” — Sam Harris Copy Share
“Whether or not one likes Huntington's formulation, one thing is clear: the evil that has finally reached our shores is not merely the evil… — Sam Harris Copy Share
Muslim moderates, wherever they are, must be given every tool necessary to win a war of ideas with their co-religionists. Otherwise, we will have… — Sam Harris Copy Share
The idea that any one of our religions represents the infallible word of the One True God requires an encyclopedic ignorance of history, mythology,… — Sam Harris Copy Share
“What could possibly cause billions of human beings to reconsider their religious beliefs? And yet, it is obvious that an utter revolution in our… — Sam Harris Copy Share
