We do not respect people's beliefs, we evaluate their reasons. If my reasons are good enough for believing what I believe, you will helplessly believe what I believe. I will give you my reasons and reasons are contagious. That is what it is to be a rational human being.
Sam HarrisEverything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness. We form friendships so that we can feel certain emotions, like love, and avoid others, like loneliness. We eat specific foods to enjoy their fleeting presence on our tongues. We read for the pleasure of thinking another person's thoughts.
Sam HarrisThe power of psychedelics... is that they often reveal, in the span of a few hours, depths of awe and understanding that can otherwise elude us for a lifetime.
Sam HarrisWe read the Golden Rule and judge it to be a brilliant distillation of many of our ethical impulses. And then we come across another of Godโs teachings on morality: if a man discovers on his wedding night that his bride is not a virgin, he must stone her to death on her fatherโs doorstep (Deuteronomy 22:13-21).
Sam HarrisIf Jesus does come down out of the clouds like a superhero, Christianity will stand revealed as a science . That will be the science of Christianity.
Sam HarrisIt is terrible that we all die and lose everything we love; it is doubly terrible that so many human beings suffer needlessly while alive. That so much of this suffering can be directly attributed to religionโto religious hatreds, religious wars, religious delusions and religious diversions of scarce resourcesโis what makes atheism a moral and intellectual necessity.
Sam Harris