On CNN – today, I noticed a video by a person going by the name of  Sam Harris, he calls himself a philosopher.

He delivers his views on religion – with the telling title:  ’Religion distracts us from important issues.”

However, like a number of other highly visible ‘philosophers’, in the media, he makes a fundamental error in the use of the term ‘religion’.  It’s not that, ‘religion’ can distract us from any human issue – as defined in a dictionary (www.dictionary.com): Religion is ”a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.” People, who label themselves, as religious – are usually the source of fundamental errors – as, the history of world affairs,  amply demonstrates -  well, that’s my non-philosophical view. 

The core of Mr Harris’ discussion – is really centred on the definition of an ‘important’ issue. Consequently, he is saying that ‘the set of beliefs which define any of the world’s current religions – do not cover any of the important issues, which concern the majority of this world’s population.

Any comments?

Posted on March 28th, 2010 by Shayne
Filed under: General