When considering Sam Harris’ comments about faith, religion, theism, the Bible, Islam, creationism, etc. it may be noteworthy to keep in mind that we are considering the opinions of a man who believes that “Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them. This may seem an extraordinary claim, but it merely enunciates an ordinary fact about the world in which we live.”1 A man who seeks to “present an argument for the use of torture in rare circumstances.”2 A man who wrote, “Mother Teresa’s compassion is very badly calibrated if the killing of 1st trimester fetuses disturbed her more than all of the suffering she witnessed on Earth.”3 What more can be said? We are dealing with a man who believes that his worldview is the one true way.
In Sam Harris we are also dealing with a man of whom Daniel Blue has written:
“Under pressure, Harris reveals ideological biases that will trouble some readers_He seems to loathe Islam with a fury the more surprising because he doesn’t seem to know much about it. (His quotes on the subject stem mostly from the works of Bernard Lewis and a university Web site.)”4
Sam Harris’ Biblical references also appear to be no better researched than the mis-quotations, mis-citations, mis-interpretations, and mis-applications for which he is famous/infamous. As stated above, I will be dealing with his claim that we can justify stoning someone to death for adultery by appealing to the New Testament. While this may seem a succinct claim it is a claim that he saturates with enough assertions and fallacies that it required quite a bit of verbiage to respond to responsibly, fairly, and carefully.