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19 Quotation from the homepage of the Council for Secular Humanism at http://www.secularhumanism.org. The full statement is: “Secular Humanism is a way of thinking and living that aims to bring out the best in people so that all people can have the best in life. Secular humanists reject supernatural and authoritar-ian beliefs. They affi rm that we must take responsibility for our own lives and
20 Sam Harris, the communities and world in which we live. Secular humanism emphasizes reason and scientifivalues and compassion, and the need for tolerance and cooperation.”cites confl icts in Palestine ( Jews v. Muslims), the Balkans (Orthodox Serbians v. The End of Faith c inquiry, individual freedom and responsibility, human (New York: W. W. Norton, 2004), p. 26. Harris
Catholic Croatians; Orthodox Serbians v. Bosnian and Albanian Muslims), Northern Ireland (Protestants v. Catholics), Kashmir (Muslims v. Hindus), Sudan (Muslims v. Christians and animists), Nigeria (Muslims v. Christians), Ethiopia and Eritrea (Muslims v. Christians), Sri Lanka (Sinhalese Buddhists v. Tamil Hindus), Indonesia (Muslims v. Timorese Christians), and the Caucasus
21 Ibid, p. 12. See also Dennett’s more indirect claim in (Orthodox Russians v. Chechen Muslims; Muslim Azerbaijanis v. Catholic and Orthodox Armenians).that religions perpetrate “moral certainties” and “absolutes” on which zealotry depends. See also Dawkins, The God Delusion, pp. 286–8.Breaking the Spell, p. 285,22 Dennett, 25 Rue, 24 Ibid, p. 45.23 Harris, matters of ultimate concern.” (^) Religion Is Not About GodThe End of FaithBreaking the Spell, p. 23. Religion, for Harris, is “unjustifi, p. 9., pp. 21–164. Rue stands outside the new atheists ed belief in
26 Rue, because he remains neutral on the question of God and claims not to be hostile to religion. For an assessment of Rue’s book, see Klemm, “Religious Naturalism or Theological Humanism?”them will die when the global environmental crisis produces a cataclysm. Religion Is Not About God, p. 9. According to Rue, religions as we know
27 He maintains a more complete list on his website: http://www.richarddawkins.net.28 Rousseau, 29 “Revealed religion” means religion received from a cumulative historical tradi-Following this apocalyptic event, a new religion will emerge – an earth- “religious naturalism.”Émile, 220–78. centered
30 One very good example is Sam Harris, who has deeply spiritual inclinations. 31 Leon Wieseltier, “The God Genome,” tion.See 2006, 12.The End of Faith, pp. 204–21. New York Times Book Review, February 19,
32 Rousseau, Émile, p. 261.
Notes to Pages 157–64
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