Sam Harris' "The End of Faith"

Paper Summary:

This paper contends that, by ignoring the political implications of religion in his book "The End of Faith", Sam Harris oversimplifies the social and political impact of religion. The author points out that Harris and other secularists see religion waning in the face of the impending wave of modernity and technology, but the reality is that religion and modernity are not mutually exclusive. The paper stresses that Harris' inferred conclusion, which is that more secular Western societies are further advanced as civilizations and that Eastern civilizations are inferior, would wreak havoc on the global political arena.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Failure to Fix Religion
Religion's Debt to Secularism

From the Paper:

"An interesting case study of this commitment is the way women have faired in Islamic societies. Harris would be surprised to learn of the positive attitude towards Islam of what he calls "improbable creatures scurrying about in shrouds." Islam is actually empowering to the downtrodden. Women have the "potential...to shape the community's moral discourses... through their interpretation of Islam." Islam is not, as Harris argues, a monolithic religion dictating all of the actions and beliefs of its adherents. It does not corrupt the tenets of Islam for women to extrapolate from the Koran ..."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cox, Harvey. The Secular City. New York. The Mac Millian Company. (c)1965.
• Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy: elements of a sociological theory of religion. New York. 1990 (c)1967.
• Harris, Sam. The End of Faith. New York. W.W. Norton and Company. (c)2004.
• Rouse, Carolyn Moxley. Engaged Surrender. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California.University of California Press. (c)2004.
• Fanon, Frantz. A Dying Colonialism. New York. Grove Weldenfeld. (c)1965.

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