We will be discussing Sam Harris’ The End of Faith – Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason on Thursday May 18th, the day before the Gallery Stroll. As a preface to the discussion, I think that we will watch a short clip from an Ingmar Bergman film.

From the book jacket: “In The End of Faith, Sam Harris delivers a startling analysis of the clash between reason and religion in the modern world. He offers a vivid, historical tour of our willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs – even when these beliefs inspire the worst in human atrocities. Harris argues that in the presence of weapons of mass destruction we cannot expect to survive our religious differences indefinitely. Most controversially, he argues that “moderation” in religion poses considerable dangers of its own, as the accommodation we have made to religious faith in our society now blinds us to the role that faith plays in perpetuating human conflict.
While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris draws on insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern mysticism to deliver a call for a truly modern foundation for ethics and spirituality that is both secular and humanistic.”

You can still come out and discuss the topics, even if you haven’t read the book. For more information, contact Jed at jedelison [at]hotmail.com .