The End of Faith completed!

Last night, I finished reading The End of Faith, by Sam Harris, and my overall reaction is a positive one.

The books is divided into seven chapters, that discuss the problems with religion in general, the specific problem that Islam poses to the civilized world, and then the last couple of chapters turn toward science and a discussion of human consciousness and man's need to be united. It reminded me of the God Delusion in the way that the beginning was all hard rhetoric and the end was more more deep and scientific.

I have the soft cover version of the book, which was published the most recently. This version has an afterword in which Harris defends himself against a few of the negative reviews he received when his book forst came out in hard cover. Critics have argued that Sam Harris betrays atheism by arguing that we should be Buddhist. Though I didn't get the same idea when I read the section on meditation (Harris mentions there a reluctance to use the word "spirituality" but that he must use it anyway), the afterword clarifies what he meant and reinforces that he does not support irrational faith, even if it's Buddhism.

The End of Faith provides a solid argument for why faith is a taint on today's society and points out that, contrary to most liberal views, Islam is fundamentally worse than Christianity, whether you believe in any religions or not, and that Islam should not be tolerated in the way moderate Christianity is. It sounds like a very Fox News thing to say, but Sam Harris explains himself clearly and is certainly not to be compared to a raving conservative.

Sam Harris isn't trying to make any friends through The End of Faith, but he is right that if we don't slap ourselves awake soon, we risk the most dangerous weapons falling into the hands of the most irrational people.

Next, I'll be reading Breaking The Spell, by Daniel Dennett. Stay tuned!