Episode description

So Sam Harris went on Decoding the Gurus, and we decided we had to talk about it.

Content warnings.

Podcast Notes:

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Show Notes:

Decoding the Gururs, Special Episode: Sam Harris and Meditation is all you need ( https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/special-episode-sam-harris-meditation-is-all-you-need )

Decoding the Gurus interview with Sam Harris ( https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/sam-harris )

Sam Harris in The Washington Times, December 1, 2004, Mired in a religious war ( https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/dec/1/20041201-090801-2582r/ )

"It is time we admitted that we are not at war with “terrorism.” We are at war with Islam. This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims, but we are absolutely at war with the vision of life that is prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran. The only reason Muslim fundamentalism is a threat to us is because the fundamentals of Islam are a threat to us. Every American should read the Koran and discover the relentlessness with which non-Muslims are vilified in its pages. The idea that Islam is a “peaceful religion hijacked by extremists” is a dangerous fantasy — and it is now a particularly dangerous fantasy for Muslims to indulge.

"It should be of particular concern to us that the beliefs of devout Muslims pose a special problem for nuclear deterrence. There is, after all, little possibility of our having a cold war with an Islamist regime armed with long-range nuclear weapons. A cold war requires that the parties be mutually deterred by the threat of death. Notions of martyrdom and jihad run roughshod over the logic that allowed the United States and the Soviet Union to pass half a century perched, more or less stably, on the brink of Armageddon. We must come to terms with the possibility that men who are every bit as zealous to die as the September 11 hijackers may one day get their hands on long-range nuclear weaponry.

Polite Conversations 17 with Sam Harris ( https://soundcloud.com/politeconversations/episode-17-sam-harris )