Controversial Book Calls for 'End of Faith'

 

By Mike O'Sullivan

The author of a controversial book called "The End of Faith" says an unspoken rule against criticizing religion needs to be re-thought in an age of religious terrorism. Author Sam Harris says people of all faiths need to be respected, but religious beliefs should not be sacrosanct¹.
Religion, say its adherents², has the power to inspire, to provide a moral compass and sense of meaning. But its critics say faith also has its dark side. Differences over religion have divided communities and sparked violent conflicts. Partly for that reason, most people today avoid addressing religious differences.
Writer Sam Harris says, however, the spread of new technology, including nuclear weapons that can fit into a suitcase, has created a world where the rule no longer applies.
"It was never the case even 50 years ago that one person, based on his zeal³ to find his way into paradise, could destroy the lives of millions of people. And we're fast approaching a time where weapons of mass destruction, weapons of mass disruption, even being able to spread viruses on the Internet, can be so confounding to society that we really have to get our act together in a way that we really didn't even 50 years ago."
The author of The End of Faith takes rhetorical aim at Islamic militants⁴ who see themselves engaged in a war against infidels, and at Christian⁵ fundamentalists who he says want to impose their moral views on abortion⁶ and sexuality on others. He says politics requires a more nuanced discussion than some religious people are willing to engage in.
The problem, in his view, is not just with fundamentalism, but also with moderate religion, which he says contains the seeds of extremism. John Crossley, a professor of religion at the University of Southern California, sees merit in some of Mr. Harris' observations.
"He is clearly morally outraged⁷ at the violence that's being done in the world in the name of religion, in the name of faith. I think, though, that he makes a fundamental category mistake when he attributes the problem not just to religious fanaticism⁸ or to certain types of faith, but when he denigrates⁹ faith itself and contrasts it with reason."
Mr. Harris is not a conventional atheist¹⁰, and says atheism¹¹ often carries a "whiff of formaldehyde," ignoring much of life's authentic¹² mystery. He also rejects suggestions that religion be suppressed as it has been in many communist countries. In fact, he says, communism is a faith-based ideology¹³ as much as religion is. He says on questions of faith, he is simply suggesting "new rules of conversation."
"I'm not recommending laws or that we imprison¹⁴ people or anything else, simply that it no longer be taboo¹⁵ to challenge someone's religious beliefs."
The author believes that life indeed has a spiritual dimension, but says it should be accessible to scientific study. As a college undergraduate, he studied philosophy and is now completing a doctorate¹⁶ in neuroscience. He says the world's mystics may offer insights into the human condition, but adds that spirituality should be subject to the same rigorous tests as other forms of knowledge.
Professor Crossley responds that Mr. Harris' conception of faith is much too narrow. Faith, says the professor, is more than a list of dogmas, although he agrees it is sometimes viewed that way.
"I think he's right in many ways because faith, whatever kind of experience it's based on, can very easily become rigidified into a certain set of beliefs or propositions, and then one can act in the name of those propositions. But what he does is to equate¹⁸ faith in its most fundamental sense with beliefs in these set propositions."
Mr. Crossley says faith, for him, stems from a personal sense of the transcendent.
"And that's based on one's own natural feeling of dependence¹⁹. We didn't make ourselves. We don't know where we came from, and we know we're finite and limited and we're going to die. And for a sense of the transcendent to develop in a person seems to be very natural."
Author Sam Harris says religion incorporates valid²⁰ ethical²¹ insights about the need to love one's neighbors, for example, but says non-religious people have the same insights. And he acknowledges the role of religious ritual in bringing people together for important events like births and marriages. But he says communal²² ceremonies need not be religious.
"I would argue that we need to craft rituals and discourse²³ that is not an offense²⁴ to all that we have discovered about the world in the last 2,000 years, but which is equally powerful, equally solidifying²⁵ of community. And I don't see any reason why we can't do that."
He says people who subscribe²⁶ to the world's religions have every right to do so, but says they should be open to challenge if they try to impose their views on others.
Professor Crossley responds that religion is not inherently rigid¹⁷, and that faith, at its best, promotes peace, tolerance²⁷ and openness.
Sam Harris' book, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, is published by W. W. Norton.
Mike O'Sullivan, VOA news, Los Angeles.
注释：
sacrosanct 极神圣的
adherent 信徒
confounding 混乱，讨厌
rhetorical 带修辞色彩的，用作说服效果
infidel 不信仰者，异教徒
fundamentalism 正统派基督教
merit 有点，义处
outrage 愤怒
denigrate 毁誉
atheist 无神论者
dimension 尺度，范围
doctorate 博士头衔
neuroscience 神经系统科学
dogma 教条
transcendent 超越宇宙的，用来指神
ritual 典礼
inherently 天性地，固有地

1 sacrosanct   

adj.神圣不可侵犯的

参考例句：

• In India,the cow is a sacrosanct animal.牛在印度是神圣的动物。
• Philip Glass is ignorant of establishing an immutable, sacrosanct urtext.菲利普·格拉斯不屑于创立不变的、神圣的原始文本。

2 adherents   

n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙

参考例句：

• He is a leader with many adherents. 他是个有众多追随者的领袖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The proposal is gaining more and more adherents. 该建议得到越来越多的支持者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 zeal   

n.热心，热情，热忱

参考例句：

• Revolutionary zeal caught them up,and they joined the army.革命热情激励他们，于是他们从军了。
• They worked with great zeal to finish the project.他们热情高涨地工作，以期完成这个项目。

4 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

7 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

8 fanaticism   

n.狂热，盲信

参考例句：

• Your fanaticism followed the girl is wrong. 你对那个女孩的狂热是错误的。
• All of Goebbels's speeches sounded the note of stereotyped fanaticism. 戈培尔的演讲，千篇一律，无非狂热二字。

9 denigrates   

v.诋毁，诽谤( denigrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The line is clever, but it unfairly denigrates the predictive power of stock markets. 话说的很聪明，但却不公平地贬低了股市的预测能力。 来自互联网

10 atheist   

n.无神论者

参考例句：

• She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
• He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。

11 atheism   

n.无神论，不信神

参考例句：

• Atheism is the opinion that there is no God.无神论是认为不存在上帝的看法。
• Atheism is a hot topic.无神论是个热门话题。

12 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

13 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

14 imprison   

vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚

参考例句：

• The effect of this one is going to imprison you for life.而这件事的影响力则会让你被终身监禁。
• Dutch colonial authorities imprisoned him for his part in the independence movement.荷兰殖民当局因他参加独立运动而把他关押了起来。

15 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

16 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

17 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

18 equate   

v.同等看待，使相等

参考例句：

• You can't equate passing examination and being intelligent.你不能把考试及格看成是聪明。
• You cannot equate his poems with his plays.你不可以把他的诗歌和他的剧本相提并论。

19 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

20 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

21 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

22 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

23 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

24 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

25 solidifying   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的现在分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• The substances are formed from a mixture of liquids solidifying under pressure. 这些材料是由几种液体混合在一起并加压使之凝固而成的。
• Painting is an art solidifies time and space for solidifying. 绘画是凝固了的时间和空间的艺术。

26 subscribe   

vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助

参考例句：

• I heartily subscribe to that sentiment.我十分赞同那个观点。
• The magazine is trying to get more readers to subscribe.该杂志正大力发展新订户。

27 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。