Back in December of 2010 I wrote this article about Scott Atran. Atran has many basic misunderstandings about what it like to live in a conservative religion.
On February 23, 2011 Atran wrote this article criticizing Harris's new book the Moral Landscape. On page 6 of Atran's article he claims that Sam Harris has proposed a ban on Islam, but he fails to provide any references.
Harris has talked about the dangers of Islamic ideas that lead to suicide bombing.
One strange thing I heard today though was that Harris is supposedly a racist for wanting to ban Islam.
There's two really big problems with such a claim:
Problem 1: Islam is not a race. It's a religion.
Problem 2: Sam Harris has never proposed that there be a ban on Islam.
Maybe children should not be abused with having lies shoved down their throats by ignorant abusive parents. That's my view. Whether Harris was expressed concerns about this or not is irrelevant, because as far as I can tell he's never proposed a legal ban on Islam. And even if he had, such a view would not be racist, because Islam is not a race.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali has stated that everyone is a little bit racist. Avenue Q has stated this as well. And even with this being the case, Islam is not a race. It never was. It never will be. Religion is not a race. And, Sam Harris never said that Islam should be banned. You think he did? Prove it. And Scott Atran is an idiot, and a defato purposeful apologist for Islam and abusive religion.
In America we have freedom of religion, and thankfully increasingly freedom from religion.
Children should be educated about all human religions, their history, and so on.
Children should be educated about science, and about how in the past religions were very fearful about what science showed - for example about the Earth, the sun, the stars, and our geographic place in the Universe. Religion is still fearful about what science shows, about their supposed gods. Children should not be lied to. They should be taught the truth. And religions are full of lies, lies supported by fear & control, arguments from authority, and arguments based on abusive psycological manipulation.
People like Atran have no concept of this because they haven't lived it. Here's links to some people who have:
Me: http://corvus.freeshell.org/corvus_corax/two/life_path/life_path.htm
Others: http://exmormonfoundation.org
http://ex-muslim.org.uk
A guy who lived in hard core sexually repressive Islam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxfo11A7XuA&feature=plcp
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More info:
letter to Scott Atran - regarding his debates with Sam Harris and his views on religious belief
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2010/12/letter-to-scott-atran-regarding-his.html
Scott Atran's research is openly praised and respected by one of George W. Bush's former top anti-terrorism advisers, not to mention countless other politicians, diplomats, and military strategists (Harris' is not, btw). He has PhD from Columbia and has published dozens of scholarly articles in scientific journals. His family is Jewish, and he has spent decades interviewing terrorists about their beliefs and motivations (very dangerous job). You call him an idiot and says he knows nothing about conservative religions?
ReplyDeletePS: He would undoubtedly agree that children should learn about science, and he undoubtedly has a better understanding of what we can do to change religious societies for the better than Sam Harris does. Guess what, it has something to do with respect for cultures who have different beliefs and not imposing your own values and way of life on them, something Harris very much sucks at doing.
DeleteNone of this genocidal nonsense about ending religion.
DeleteAnd yet, Atran's 'research' is flawed and just flat wrong.
DeleteMore detailed examples:
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2010/12/letter-to-scott-atran-regarding-his.html
George W. Bush's moronic statements after 9/11 are moronic and stupid.
All the rest, Jew this, not Jew that, who likes the guy & who does not, don't matter. Atran's ideas are just plain wrong.
I lived in a real religion for 25 years. I've seen how others live within religion, how and why they exit, what happens to them after they exit, what they say after they exit, and so on. Atran's research accounts for none of these clear on the ground facts.