“It is time we recognized that belief is not a private matter; it has never been merely private. In fact, beliefs are… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Religious faith is the only area of discourse where immunity through conversation is considered noble . It's the only area of our… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
The only thing that permits human beings to collaborate with one another in a truly open-ended way is their willingness to have… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
[I]t is difficult to imagine a set of beliefs more suggestive of mental illness than those that lie at the heart of… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.” — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
I know of no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too desirous of evidence in support of… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
It is time we realize that belief is not a private matter. As a man believes, so he will act. Believe that… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Faith does not offer a strong link between our beliefs and actual states of the world. — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
On the subject of religious belief, we relax standards of reasonableness and evidence that we rely on in every other area of… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
If faith is what you have to go on, if faith is the link between your beliefs and the world at large,… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
The problem I want to talk to you about tonight is the problem of belief. What does it mean to believe? We… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
What we do in every other area of our lives (other than religion), is, rather than respect somebody's beliefs, we evaluate their… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
It is safe to say that almost every person living in New Orleans at the moment Hurricane Katrina struck shared your belief… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
We do not respect people's beliefs, we evaluate their reasons. If my reasons are good enough for believing what I believe, you… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
The only thing that guarantees an open-ended collaboration among human beings, the only thing that guarantees that this project is truly open-ended,… — 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
In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Science has long been in the value business. Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, scientific validity is not the result of… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“To point out nonepistemic motives in another’s view of the world, therefore, is always a criticism, as it serves to cast doubt… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
When the stakes are this high- when calling God by the right name can make the difference between eternal happiness and eternal… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Rather than bring the full force of our creativity and rationality to bear on the problems of ethics, social cohesion, and even… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Our moral reasoning is plagued by two illusions. The first illusion can be called the wag-the-dog illusion: We believe that our own… — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
Our world is fast succumbing to the activities of men and women who would stake the future of our species on beliefs… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“But the reality of consciousness appears irreducible. Only consciousness can know itself—and directly, through first-person experience.” — Sam Harris Copy Share Image
“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 Image
The problem is that religion tends to give people bad reasons to be good. — Sam Harris Copy Share Image