SemiConscious Dot Org

Recently, I began a Quixotic attempt to hack through the pile of books I received for Christmas. Most of the new titles are nonfiction, many befitting the generally pessimistic light in which I hold most of the human race. For instance, I just finished The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, by Sam Harris. This book posits that the primary problem facing our survival as a species today is not just religion, but faith itself. Harris defines “Faith” roughly as belief in concepts which have no supporting evidence to back them up, and asserts that once people sever that link between what they believe and what the available evidence will support, they are capable of believing anything, and capable of committing the most heinous acts in furtherance of that faith.

Harris further avers that, once you are convinced that there is an Afterlife, that it is presided over an omnipotent being, and that your particular interpretation of the wants and commands of this being is the correct one, you are far less likely to care about the suffering of others in this life, and especially not if they are of a different faith. After all, this life is only temporary, and the Afterlife is forever, right? And if those whom you oppose believe in the wrong faith, they are probably damned anyway, so why should any mercy be accorded them? As an example of the horrors that this kind of thinking can unleash, Harris points to the example of the 9/11 hijackers. These men were not crazy, in the clinical sense; they merely believed, absolutely and unequivocally, in the correctness of their faith. They were utterly convinced that they were going to Paradise as a result of their actions, that this heinous act of barbarity was exactly what God wanted, and that no sympathy should be wasted on the thousands of civilians whom they were slaughtering, since they were not of the One True Faith and were thus damned to Hell by definition. Harris then points out passages in the Koran that, quite unambiguously, allow and even command this type of treatment of unbelievers, and concludes that the 9/11 hijacker’s behavior is nothing less than what one should expect of a Muslim who believes in the literal truth of his holy book. Mohammed Atta, in other words, was a man of perfect faith.

Harris points out that, lest anyone think this kind of ruthless treatment of nonbelievers is the exclusive province of Islam, the holy books of practically all organized religion feature passages commanding such behavior, and generally quite plainly. The Old Testament, for instance, contains an entire litany of offenses for which the penalty, without fail, is death: serving gods other than Yahweh (Deuteronomy 13:7-11); taking the Lord’s name in vain (Leviticus 24:16); working on the Sabbath (Exodus 31:15), cursing one’s father or mother (Exodus 21:17), and adultery (Leviticus 20:10). That Christians are rarely killed or even punished for such offenses anymore is less a tribute to Christanity’s “mercy” than to the ability of Christians to selectively ignore the more violent passages of the Bible, as well as two centuries of post-Enlightenment government in Western countries which forcefully separated religion and government. Since church-state separation has never occurred in the Islamic world (with the exception of oppressive secular dictatorships such as Saddam’s Iraq) this selective interpretation is not allowed of practicing Muslims.

While I agree with Harris’ primary thesis (that religious faith is a major cause of human barbarity, and that faith is increasingly dangerous in a world where technology will allow one to kill millions on the basis of one’s beliefs) I have a problem with some of his proposed solutions to this dilemna. Since Harris believes that Muslims are prevented from ignoring the more violent passages of their holy book, he concludes that we are at war with all of Islam, and openly endorses several of the Bush administration’s current policies, including further preemptive wars against Muslim states and the use of torture to obtain information in the furtherance of this conflict. While he longs for a future in which humanity can move past the irrationalities of religious faith, his proposed methods of doing so (a confusing mishmash of Eastern “no ego” philosophy and meditation) are unsatisfying. So, in conclusion, The End of Faith is a great read if one wishes to diagnose the disease, but not so great about prescribing the medicine.

Next up: The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler, an extended treatise on the disasters that await humanity as we move past Peak Oil and begin our long, inevitable decline towards total world fossil fuel depletion.

Yep, I’m in a cheerful mood these days.