The End of Faith?

What justifies people flying planes into buildings or seeing the destruction of Jerusalem as a step towards salvation . . . ?

“Our world is fast succumbing to the activities of men and women who would stake the future of our species on beliefs that should not survive an elementary school education. That so many of us are still dying on account of ancient myths is as bewildering as it is horrible, and our own attachment to these myths, whether moderate or extreme, has kept us silent in the face of developments that could ultimately destroy us. Indeed, religion is as much a living spring of violence today as it was at any time in the past.”

"Criticizing a person's faith is currently taboo in every corner of our culture. On this subject, liberals and conservatives have reached a rare consensus: religious beliefs are simply beyond the scope of rational discourse. Criticizing a person's ideas about God and the afterlife is thought to be impolitic in a way that criticizing his ideas about physics or history is not."

- Sam Harris, The End of Faith

According to Sam Harris, our reluctance to speak up about lack of reason, to the point where it determines major decisions, is "politely" allowing decisions to be made with no good reason, decisions which can be extremely destructive.

When their beliefs are extremely common, we call them 'religious'; otherwise, they are likely to be called 'mad,' 'psychotic' or 'delusional.' - Natalie Angier in the New York Times

In Sweden only 10% of people believe in God, yet it is a pretty moral society and on virtually every measure of quality of life (poverty, child care,  prison population, wealth gap etc.)  it is superior to the USA, where up to 90% of people consider themselves "believers".

- Sam Harris: The End of Faith - Religion, Terror and The Future of Reason
- Audio interview
- Sam Harris web site