This important and timely book delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world. Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behavior and sometimes heinous crimes. He asserts that in the shadow of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer tolerate views that pit one true god against another. Most controversially, he argues that we cannot afford moderate lip service to religion--an accommodation that only blinds us to the real perils of fundamentalism. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris also draws on new evidence from neuroscience and insights from philosophy to explore spirituality as a biological, brain-based need. He calls on us to invoke that need in taking a secular humanistic approach to solving the problems of this world.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 08/01/2004
ISBN: 9780393035155
Pages: 336
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.46h x 5.74w x 1.11d
Award: Independent Publisher Book Awards - Winner
Award: Literary Award - Winner

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2004 pg. 526
Publishers Weekly 05/31/2004 pg. 73
Library Journal 06/15/2004 pg. 75
New York Times 09/05/2004 pg. 19
Commonweal 11/04/2005 pg. 24
Christianity Today 03/01/2007 pg. 80