Grey Thoughts
16.1.07
 
Sam Harris - Atheist or New Ager?
Sam Harris, the outspoken 'atheist' who wrote such anti-religious best sellers such as "The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation", has been busted by secular humanist writer John Gorenfeld. It seems our 'rational' friend Mr Harris believes in psychic phenomena and reincarnation.

This meme started when John wrote a piece on AlterNet on Sam Harris's faith and support for torture. Sam Harris and others have responded saying that it has all been taken out of context.

John however, links to a youtube video for evidence. Check out 4.38 on this youtube video from the Beyond Belief debate. (Plus a bonus link to a netradio appearance by Sam (clink on the sam_harris.mp3 link) which is also quite enlightening.

As John says
The problem is that the man on TV proposing new intolerance for “preposterous” beliefs is himself gullible when it comes to “spooky stories,” the evidence for which is shockingly corny (i.e., eerie birthmarks).

Yep. Everybody has faith. There is no other choice. You have to wonder how Sam Harris knows Christianity is false if he thinks there is evidence for reincarnation.
Comments:
You write as though you've achieved some kind of "slam dunk" against Sam Harris when in fact you haven't. If you listen to the TSN exchange you link to he clearly states "you're on solid ground if you a skeptical of reincarnation".

So, your credibility is at risk, if not already shot. You can fix that by correcting your error.

Will you?
 
I write as if I make the point that Sam Harris thinks there is some evidence that supports reincarnation and telepathy. That is not contradictory with the claim that you can be on solid ground being skeptical.

If you want to get really picky, Sam Harris states flat out untruth's and equivocates later in the debate when he talks about souls, zygotes and whether Bush vetoed Federal Funding Embryonic Stem Cell Research.

Why don't you check out the Skeptic's dictionary newsletter, which essentially makes my point, and also has the bonus that Sam Harris also is quoted as saying
"I found these books interesting, and I cannot categorically dismiss their contents in the way that I can dismiss the claims of religious dogmatists"
 
Perhaps you should also listen to the radio show as well.
 
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