Sam Harris: Islam Is Not a Religion of Peace

Author Sam Harris argues that Islam -- like most religions -- is not simply a peaceful faith misrepresented by extremists. "The only problem with Islamic fundamentalism are the fundamentals of Islam," says Harris. "To call Islam a religion of peace ... is completely delusional."

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In this highly anticipated, explosive new book, the author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation calls for an end to religion's monopoly on morality and human values. In The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values, Sam Harris tears down the wall between scientific facts and human values to dismantle the most common justification for religious faith -- that a moral system cannot be based on science.

The End of Faith ignited a worldwide debate about the validity of religion. In its aftermath, Harris discovered that most people, from secular scientists to religious fundamentalists, agree on one point: Science has nothing to say on the subject of human values. Even among religious fundamentalists, the defense one most often hears for belief in God is not that there is compelling evidence that God exists, but that faith in Him provides the only guidance for living a good life. Controversies about human values are controversies about which science has officially had no opinion. Until now.

Morality, Harris argues, is actually an undeveloped branch of neuroscience, and answers to questions of human value can be visualized on a "moral landscape" -- a space of real and potential outcomes whose peaks and valleys correspond to human states of greater or lesser wellbeing. Different ways of thinking and behaving -- different cultural practices, ethical codes, modes of government, etc. -- translate into movements across this landscape. Such changes can be analyzed objectively on many levels, ranging from biochemistry to economics, but they have their crucial realization as experiences in the human brain.

Bringing a fresh, secular perspective to age-old questions of right and wrong, and good and evil, Harris shows that we know enough about the human brain and its relationship to events in the world to say that there are right and wrong answers to the most pressing questions of human life. Because such answers exist, cultural relativism is simply false -- and comes at increasing cost to humanity. And just as there is no such thing as Christian physics or Muslim algebra, there can be no Christian or Muslim morality. Using his expertise in philosophy and neuroscience, along with his experience on the front lines of our "culture wars," Sam Harris delivers a game-changing argument about the future of science and about the real basis of human cooperation. - Berkeley Arts and Letters

Sam Harris is an American non-fiction author, and CEO of Project Reason. He received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA, and is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University. He has studied both Eastern and Western religious traditions, along with a variety of contemplative disciplines, for twenty years. He is a proponent of scientific skepticism and is the author of The End of Faith (2004), which won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), a rejoinder to criticism of his first book, and The Moral Landscape (2010).

[arkdark]

"Extremism is not a problem; if your core belief is non-violent."

How very true.
Yet; this is the first time I heard someone is saying it.

[nullw]

"Extremism is not a problem if your core beliefs are truly non-violent."

[ARationalObserver]

If Islam is so peaceful, they should let Sam give this speech in Saudi Arabia. Then we'll find out how peaceful this religion of peace is.

[jagotiberan]

“The only problem with Islamic fundamentalism are the fundamentals of Islam” 😭😭😭

[idc]

Calling islam the religion of peace is just like saying lion is a herbivore

[Tugba.aydinn]

I'm an ex Muslim, and it's definitely not a religion of peace it's the opposite like the complete opposite.

[davidm]

Jains are so peaceful that I never even heard of them before this video

[ainarsavotins]

As a practicing Hindu, I really get it. Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc. are conscious based religions, but islam is opposite of that.

[depotcat]

Why do communities that cannot tolerate others expect to be tolerated themselves..??

[JasonBourne-ww]

Exactly lslam is definitely not peace ful religion.

[tempest]

The more religious extreme a Jain becomes, the more harmless they become 😂

[tamerlan]

I’m ex Muslim, and became so called
Atheist, now enjoying my life and feeling more moral values of everything in life that make me humility

[blackmamba]

I know many muslims in real life, most of them are nice people but for most, religion comes first even if it means violence. If a mullah or religious preacher asks to"unalive" someone for any disrespect or belonging to other religion, you'd be surprised to see how quickly they can turn against you even if you were friends with them.

This is exactly I can't get behind a lot of crisis in islamic nations. I feel bad for many of those civilians but under the right circumstances, they wouldn't hesitate to harm or harass me for not belonging to their religion, the funny thing is that in some places it's even religiously permitted to do so. At the end of the day, islam is everything for them, so it's best that others keep that in mind when engaging with muslims

[grahamstrouse]

“The crazier you get as a Jain, the less we have to worry about you.” 😂😂😂

[bearnurse]

the problem of Islamic fundamentalism is the fundamentals of Islam. An absolute genius statement

[xyz]

i am a hindu and i can guarantee that jains are the most peaceful religion in the world...by the way we hindus don't consider Jainism a different religion it is a part of our ancient hindu culture and i am proud of lots of friends are jain and we are similar in every way.

[kalpeshshah]

I am a jain and i can confirm that jainism is branch of Hinduism .Our lord mahavira was kshatriya....but we believe in peace that's ahimsa means non-violence

[srrk]

I'm a Buddhist, and I admire jainism so much. Jainism is the most peaceful religion I've ever known.

[DrAnimeshjain]

“The crazier you get as a jain, the less we have to worry about you...”😂

[geraldbrienza]

“The crazier you get as a Jain, the less we have to worry about you.” Love that.