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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard

USA
3834 Posts

Posted - 01/08/2006 :  13:56:16  Show Profile Send beskeptigal a Private Message
http://www.samharris.org/

I haven't read this yet but I saw the guy talk about it for an hour on CSPAN. I can't wait to read it. It is a well done and very in depth looking at religion vs science. His focus is on the history and the implications for the future.

It really looked well stated if his interview is any indication.

marfknox
SFN Die Hard

USA
3739 Posts

Posted - 02/25/2006 :  18:55:40   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit marfknox's Homepage  Send marfknox an AOL message Send marfknox a Private Message
Please let us know about your thoughts on this book! I for one am very interested for two reasons.

1.) My humanist/freethought book club is reading it in a few months.

2.) At the last book club meeting, this guy brought up the book and started calling Muhammad a mass murderer. I suggested that what he was saying was taking parts of Muslim history out of context in order to demonize monotheism as a whole, akin to what some fanatic Christians do when they say "Mao, Pol Pot and Stalin were all atheists; is this a coincidence?" He got really mad. His dad told him to shut up, and he said "Fuck you" to his dad. Then he started calling me a Muslim apologetic, and started asking me specific questions about Muslim history. When I couldn't answer, he called me an ignorant illiterate. I said "Just because I haven't read the same books that you've read, hardly means I'm ignorant and illiterate." The book club moderators told him to stop with the personal attacks and urged us to get back to the book we were supposed to discuss. The guy started swearing a lot and gathered his stuff to leave, calling me an "illiterate" about ten more times.

It was, hmmm, awkward to say the least, and I'm hoping this guy's outburst was due to his being a raving asshole rather than the book being motivated by hatred for monotheism.

"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong

Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com

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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard

USA
5310 Posts

Posted - 02/26/2006 :  05:02:49   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Gorgo a Private Message
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060207_reality_islam

I haven't read the book yet, either. I stumbled across this article today while looking for something else. I don't want to hijack the thread anymore, so I'll leave it at that.

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter



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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard

USA
3834 Posts

Posted - 02/26/2006 :  11:04:55   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send beskeptigal a Private Message
Why would that be a thread hijack, Gorgo. It's very relevant to the book. Thanks for the link. I'm almost done with Angel's and Demons (thumbs down) so will get to the Harris book next. I think the Islamic violence is greater in current times. That doesn't mean other religions weren't as bad or worse in past times, nor in future potential. To see Iranians mobbing the British embassy today claiming the US and Britain are responsible for the Sunni's bombing of the mosque certainly doesn't leave much doubt there is a problem.

The book link is dead for some reason, maybe he got hacked. Use the cached page on Google if needed until the site is back up. I tried to link to the cache but it doesn't work from here.
Edited by - beskeptigal on 02/26/2006 11:09:39
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