It is time we admitted that we are not at war with “terrorism.” We are at war with Islam.

I know of no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too desirous of evidence in support of their core beliefs.

The truth is that we simply do not know what happens after death.

The truth that we must finally confront is that Islam contains specific notions of martyrdom and jihad that fully explain the character of Muslim violence.

It is also true that the less competent a person is in a given domain, the more he will tend to overestimate his abilities. This often produces an ugly marriage of confidence and ignorance that is very difficult to correct for.

Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches.

The problem I want to talk to you about tonight is the problem of belief. What does it mean to believe? We use this word all the time, and I think behind it lurk some really extraordinary taboos and confusions. What I want to argue tonight is that how we talk about belief- how we fail to criticize or criticize the beliefs of others, has more importance to us personally, more consequence to us personally and to civilization than perhaps anything else that is in our power to influence.