A Stanford philosophy graduate, Sam Harris has studied Eastern and Western religions for 20 years. This, his first book, received the 2005 PEN Award for non-fiction. His second book, Letter to a Christian Nation, was written in response to the many negative reactions of the current book.

His website www.samharris.org says this: “The End of Faith provides a harrowing glimpse of mankind’s willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when these beliefs inspire the worst of human atrocities. Harris argues that in the presence of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer expect to survive our religious differences indefinitely. Most controversially, he maintains that “moderation” in religion poses significant dangers on its own: as the accommodation we have made to religious faith in our society has blinded us to the role that faith has played in perpetuating human conflict. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion in world politics, Harris draws on insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern religions in an attempt to provide a fully modern foundation for our ethics and for our search for spiritual experience.”

My “take” is very different. The first parts seems to try to convince the reader that Islam is inherently violent (he believes Muslims take its statements as literal commandments), as was Catholicism during the Inquisition or colonial days when Christians committed great atrocities to “heathens.” Harris seems unaware that Christianity has come a long way from such dark days. He believes religions that take their scriptures as literally the word of God will always seek out the worst in their scriptures to justify extreme violence against other faiths. Perhaps he never outgrew a childlike belief in a Christian God as an old man (a tyrant) up in the sky, but I don’t know his past – most of us put childish ways behind us when we become adults.

Buried in his copious (63 pp) of Notes is his conviction that reason can coexist only with Buddhism. But he should know that progressive Christianity can coexist with both science and reason. An example is the Methodist quadrilateral of reason, experience, scripture, and tradition – all four are necessary for a person of true faith. So I am convinced by Harris’ own words that his “end of faith” argument fails due to his gross oversimplification of current religions for People of the Book. His attack of their faith is an attack on the worst that one can imagine that radical fundamentalists could do.

Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins could be bedfellows in regard to an inadequate of reason and an immature understanding of religion. Dawkins recommends this book – obviously I surely don’t. However, if one wants to learn how a writer can misinterpret current God-revering religions, Harris is an example. There is a clear distinction between Garry Wills’ (see books 208 and 209) anti-religious hierarchy but strong pro-faith and Harris’ anti-faith diatribe. I give his book a strong “thumbs down.” (My rating of one star rather than no stars is just to let my readers know that I didn't forget to rate it.)