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34 von 35 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
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Every Religious Person Should Read this Book, 8. Oktober 2006
Sam Harris says what a lot of us have been thinking, but have been afraid to say in public. In this concise book, Harris directly attacks the very foundation of religious faith.
One might expect such a book to be either mean-spirited or intentionally provacative. Christian Nation is neither, although some will experience it that way. Harris sticks to the facts. He does not believe that religious faith, including but certainly not limited to Christianity, is good for people.
Harris is concerned with reducing human suffering and increasing human happiness. He agrees that many of the things that Jesus about love and kindness are indeed valuable and wise. He points out, however, that the bible contains much, much more than love and kindness. It contains cruelty, such as slavery, and pointless rules, such as the ban on graven images.
In the end, Harris argues, religious faith, or any belief that is not based on evidence and reason, does not make sense and will ultimately lead to unnecessary suffering.
No doubt, many good and loving people would be offended or hurt if they read this book. But that simply proves Harris' point. These people have been so blinded by faith that they cannot even consider the possibility they have been led astray. Hopefully, a good number of religious people will muster the courage to read the book anyway.
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54 von 57 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
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Nur wenn man schreit,..., 29. November 2006
Vor zwei Jahren brachte Sam Harris sein Buch "The End of Faith" auf den Markt. Das Ergebnis ist, dass er heute nur noch von einem Leibwächter begleitet sein Haus verlassen kann. Harris kompromisslose Abrechnung mit der Irrationalität und den Gefahren der drei monotheistischen Religionen hat in den USA vielen Menschen vor den Kopf gestoßen. Und auch sein neues Buch "Letter to a Christian Nation" wird nicht gerade die Herzen der Evangelikalen im Sturm erobern. In einem imaginären Brief an einen (amerikanischen) Christen bringt Harris seine vernichtende Kritik präzise auf den Punkt.
"Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible" (23). Auf nur knapp 90 Seiten zeigt Harris zuerst anhand einiger Passagen aus dem Alten und Neuen Testament, dass sich die Bibel mitnichten dazu eignet, als Grundlage von moralischen und ethischen Handlungsmaximen anerkannt zu werden.
Noch heftiger geht Harris mit den schwachsinnigen Dogmen des Islam ins Gericht, die jedes auch noch so brutale und menschenverachtende Verbrechen mit irgendeinem Koranvers zu rechtfertigen wissen. Als Grundübel sieht der Autor die Überzeugung jeder monotheistischen Religion, dass Zweifel an der jeweiligen "Wahrheit" etwas Negatives und Verdammungswürdiges darstellen. Religion ist der einzige Lebensbereich, in dem der Glaube an etwas, was nicht nachgewiesen werden kann, nicht nur akzeptiert, sondern gar als eine Leistung betrachtet wird.
Seine Position als Atheist definiert Harris folgendermaßen: "Atheism is nothing more than the noise reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs" (51).
Fazit: Diese kurze Darstellung ist primär an ein amerikanisches Publikum gerichtet, wo die Anzahl derjenigen, die die Evolutionslehre ablehnen und ernsthaft glauben, dass die Welt vor 6000 Jahren innerhalb von sieben Tagen geschaffen wurde, geradezu obszön hoch ist. Wer mehr an der Thematik interessiert ist, dem seien die ausführlicheren Darstellungen "Breaking the Spell" von Daniel Dennett und "The God Delusion" von Richard Dawkins empfohlen, die beide erst dieses Jahr auf den Markt gekommen sind.
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3 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
4.0 von 5 Sternen
Short version of "The End of Faith", 15. Juni 2007
Sam Harris is an atheist, a "bright", and does not make an effort to conceal the fact - quite the opposite. He is an outspoken critic of religions, of unjustified beliefs, and of the actions religious people undertake due to or justified by their beliefs.
Just as many critics of religion before him, Harris sees religion in general and the Christian faith in particular not only as a philosophically questionable position, but as a political issue. With creationism becoming a majority position in the US and religious influence not only on US' domestic policies, it is hard not to agree with him. Same point could be made for other countries and other faiths, but Harris has a specific audience in mind - the American public.
For the most part, the book is a shortened, very straight-forward, well-written and more accessible version of "The End of Faith" by the same author. Harris leaves no doubt that he thinks the Christian faith to be fundamentally wrong, and its fundamentalist followers to be both politically influential and harmful. He is also very clear about why he thinks so. Seen as that, it is a brilliant and short essay very worth reading.
My problems with the book are twofold: First, the arguments are not very original: The basic flaws of Christian faith(s) in particular have been pointed out since at least the 2nd century CE (e. g., the theodizee problem or the circularity of faith's justification - and we still lack satisfying arguments from Christian apologists for both issues). Second, Harris does not really try to explain why this is so: Why the tenets of all religions seem so obviously absurd to everyone except their respective followers. But without really asking in depth why people belief, it seems unlikely that he will change their beliefs, nor the political opinions they base on them.
In short: Sam Harris addresses the US public, and his "letter" is gritty, clear, to the point and well-worth reading - a very good introduction to his thoughts.
But I doubt he will reach many people apart from those who already agree to him anyway (and who will find Harris' more detailed "The End of Faith" more interesting). To understand why this is so, how religions work, I would rather recommend P. Boyer's "Religion Explained", D. C. Dennett's "Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" or R. Dawkin's "The God Delusion".
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