No. He gives a terrible review of people's beliefs in God. I believe in God and have been around such people my whole life and Sam Harris has no idea what we believe or why we believe it. It's very important to him and you that a certain template be forced on us, and no matter how hard you try it is a forced template that will never be true.Parodite wrote: I think he gives a very good "reasoned review" of people's various beliefs in God.
I would say Sam Harris knows far less about religious beliefs than a random guy pulled from the street.
Of course not. For some reason it is very important for you to believe this, and not you alone I'm not picking on you, but the truth is anyone who takes first years science will learn that science is completely silent on the existence of God.I suppose depending on the type of belief one upholds, such a reasoned review can be of great added value if you want to believe in a God able to survive a thorough rational, reasoned, scientific audit, to be real and not the figment of my own or anyone else's imagination for starters.
No human has the conclusive test-kit to verify or falsify God, ultimately it is a subjective truth, conviction, or revelation.
The test-kit of science and reason that grills and scrutinizes God looking for verification or falsification is like a freshman's class. If you passed it successfully, you receive your first title: "Honorable and Informed Agnostic".
It is very important to Sam Harris and you to advance the notion that if you get educated enough you can no longer believe in God. I am more educated and learned than Sam Harris and I forcefully believe in God.
The fact that you and Sam Harris are compelled to advance this notion in the face of all contrary evidence speaks to a deep rooted but obvious insecurity that you are blind to. In your case you can't even find out for yourself what people believe and why, you rely on Sam to tell you a comforting story, placing religious faith in him as a higher being who reveals these things unto you.
Now contrast that with someone like Colonel Sun. I like Colonel Sun a great deal, and tbh he is fairly intellectually honest with integrity. Colonel Sun as an atheist is someone I can respect. He is largely indifferent to theism, as opposed to the Sam Harrises of the world. It's no more a curiosity to him than any other subject in the domain. True atheism and agnosticism is ultimately indifference. Pre-occupation with theism speaks to other things
At the end of the day he can agree to disagree, and move on with life. With the Sam Harris types he can't put it away and has to continue to force his falsehoods. Why does he does this? What drives a man to persist in falsehoods.
2 cents indeed. While it is very important to you that this must be true, I think we need to take an honest look at why you need to believe this.It concerns truth in the public domain and relieves God from all kind of public bullsh*t. The next level in the Finding God course moves from the public domain into the private domain where rational, reasoned, scientific questions or answers do not apply anymore. Just my poetic 2 cents
For religious people, public practice is as natural as driving a car. God and the gospel is something that is natural as breathing, we go to church all the time, discuss it with our families and friends, live it all day in our daily lives. Suppression of it is a foreign concept and not something we will go along with.