Sam Harris släpper ännu ett läsvärt verk om religion och tro

Islam
All of which, he argues, is obscuring what he sees as the greatest present threat to civilisation, namely that from the Muslim world. The general response in the West to terrorist atrocities such as 9/11, has been to pronounce Islam a "religion of peace," while simultaneously declaring a "war on terror." Harris sees the first sentiment as completely false, and the second as quite meaningless.

Instead, he says, we should plainly acknowledge that Western civilisation is at war with Islam which, he maintains, preaches a doctrine of religious and political subjugation, not a message of peace. The Koran and the hadith, he notes, are packed full with unambiguous incitements to kill infidels – which acts, according to the texts, are duly rewarded with an eternity of celestial delights. It is specifically this metaphysics of martyrdom, or jihad, which, in taking the sting out of death, Harris sees as the source of greatest peril.

That such notions might be merely the product of a more extreme form of Islam, is an argument Harris considers to be especially untenable in the light of the worldwide violence which erupted in 2006, as a consequence of the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The belief that certain books were written by God (who, for reasons difficult to fathom, made Shakespeare a far better writer than himself) leaves us powerless to adress the most potent source of human conflict, past and present.