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The End of Faith
Religion, Terror, And The Future Of Reason
by Sam Harris

8.6 based on 11 reviews read critic reviews how did we calculate this? based on 26 votes read user comments rate this book

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• Official Publisher Site

An 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. [W. W. Norton]

W.W. Norton & Company, 256 pages
08/16/2004
$24.95

ISBN: 0393035158

Nonfiction
Current Events & Politics

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

The New York Times Book Review Natalie Angier

It's not often that I see my florid strain of atheism expressed in any document this side of the Seine, but The End of Faith articulates the dangers and absurdities of organized religion so fiercely and so fearlessly that I felt relieved as I read it, vindicated, almost personally understood.

Library Journal John Jaeger

It is rare in this postmodern age to read a book by someone so vigorously defending rational thought, especially from a unique neuroscientific perspective. [15 June 2004, p.75]

Chicago Tribune James McManus

Citing repulsive (but often hilarious) chapter and verse, he makes plain how one holy book after another guarantees paradise to believers and damnation to everyone else.

San Francisco Chronicle Daniel Blue

Despite its polemic edge, this is a happy book -- Harris is obviously tickled by his own intelligence -- and he writes with such verve and frequent insight that even skeptical readers will find it hard to put down.

The Economist

Harris's supporters may be disappointed by his efforts to reconcile spirituality -- a natural propensity of the human mind -- with reason and ethics. His approval of eastern philosophy and Buddhism is much too brief to be helpful, and it is hard to grasp the assurance that, "Mysticism is a rational enterprise. Religion is not."

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Salem Alaton

That's where Harris gives the least credit where due. For all the wretchedness that attaches to the great monotheistic religions, there is a significant case to be made for their advancement of the ideal of better things.

Kirkus Reviews

In many ways this is a courageous analysis whose theses will deeply trouble readers who choose to think about them rather than summarily reject them. But Harris's discussion of ethics sometimes reads like an undergraduate essay -- the probable parent of his arguments.

Los Angeles Times Susan Jacoby

Although the author is undeniably correct in his assertion that secular knowledge has been the main moderating force in religious history, modern Christian and Jewish theology have also evolved by substituting a god of love for a more ancient god of fear -- a religious, not a secular modification.[12 Sept 2004, p.R6]

The Independent Johann Hari

A crucial flaw in Harris' argument becomes clear. Although he does not state it explicitly, part of him clearly believes that religious moderates are as bad as fanatics; that there is little real difference, and even the most democratic and moderate of believers is "capable of anything". Militant atheist though I am, I can't follow him into this bog... Ultimately, this provocative, occasionally brilliant book did not persuade me.

Publishers Weekly

Harris's book generalizes so much about both religion and reason that it is ineffectual.

Salon Laura Miller

While it's true that religion often plays a role in humanity's wars, Harris' political naivete gravely undermines a book that, at heart, makes a political argument, however weakly supported... Closer to the truth would be the dismal notion that human beings don't need particularly compelling reasons to butcher other human beings, even their neighbors and friends.

The average user rating for this book is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Taran R gave it a10:
The most refreshingly rational and lucid book written on the topic. Harris has an astonishing talent for stating the obvious about the absurd.

Chris H gave it a9:
Most people assume all atheists are left-wing - but if there was ever a right-wing atheist, Sam Harris is it! Rejecting tolerance as a dangerous 'bleeding heart' virtue, and promoting a war of Islam & moderate religious leaders he still manages to come across as rational and thoughtful. The last chapter, however, is as if it was from another book. Promoting 'mysticism' with broad justifications (that he destroyed earlier in the book) like "No one knows if there is life after death" and "Western readers may not understand" seem out of place. I was expecting a chapter on meditation based on psychological & rational benefits, not a call to the faithful. Overall, an excellent and thoughtful read.

Clint S gave it a9:
This is a pretty remarkable book; very easy to follow yet very difficult to put down. Sam presents a crucial message that deserves to be spread about the inanity of organized religion and the value of skepticism and reason. I'm going to try to get my born-again mother-in-law to read it, wish me luck.

Tom W gave it a10:
I do have faith in SAM HARRIS. It needed be said and he did a great job!

Frank R gave it a10:
This book is one of the most compelling treatises on religion I've ever read. Sam paints an interesting portrait, one by one, of each of the World's major religions and, in greater detail, many of the World's sects and denominations with a critical but altogether fair eye. He paints into his picture of these belief systems a critique that compares and contrasts them philosophically and later as to how they have evolved ethically. I can understand how one might be offended when his cold light of reason falls upon one's own particular religion, but I cannot understand how one could not be compelled by his tight logical construction or could put aside his arguments completely. His final conclusions begin to seem rather dismal and anxiety provoking, especially in his treatment of Islam, as being stuck rather where Christianity was stuck in the fourteenth century, yet with potential access by Muslim governments to weapons of mass destruction being a near certainty. Yet from begins to seem the virtual certainty of the ashes of civilization as we know it, he produces, phoenix-like a prescription for global redemption that is at once simple and persuasive. This is a must read volume in any thoughtful person’s bookcase.

Ron B gave it a9:
Harris wields a hammer against the taboo of questioning the faithful, and for this alone his book is important. When he indicts religious "moderates" for their complicity, he is equally unrelenting, pointing out that "...a religious moderate is a failed fundamentalist." His alternative? Reason. Amen to that.

Joseph gave it a10:
Tim W is a fool for not reasoning that he has been blinded by his religious beliefs. Muslim fanatics are chopping peoples' heads off, including two eatchers in Bhagdad, in front of their elementary students, in the name of allah... Jews are co-ercing non jews to fight each other, gotta love Mossad ( by deciet shall we wage war)... Christians? well they are the most dangerous of them all... as they have proven time and again.

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