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What are your thoughts on Sam Harris, and in particular his positions on Islam [1]? Are you aligning with alt-right ideology? How is Christianity, or any relig

What are your thoughts on Sam Harris, and in particular his positions on Islam [1]? Are you aligning with alt-right ideology? How is Christianity, or any religion for that matter, germane to the linked discussion? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/28/alt-right-online-poison-racist-bigot-sam-harris-milo-yiannopoulos-islamophobia https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/28/alt-ri... But it may be said that very little proof is required in a charge of this nature, since it takes very little argument to expose a person's guilt; for it is said in the Canon de Haereticis, lib. II, that a man makes himself a heretic if in the least of his opinions he wanders from the teaching [...] - Malleus Maleficarum

olliej 4y ago
I'm unsure what my thoughts on his positions on Islam are - it's sounds like he feels he went into islamophobia territory, in which case I'm going to take the headline as implying he got out of whatever extremist alcove he got trapped in and that he thinks that that is a good outcome. > How is Christianity, or any religion for that matter, germane to the linked discussion? The comment you dug up was using the example of libertarian ideologues protecting people from encroachment by the government. Libertarian politicians in the US are a conservative bloc and fairly consistently enforcing their conservative beliefs on others, so I was calling out the inaccuracy of "Outside of a few ideological libertarians". Personally, I agree with you: religion should not be a part of people's day-to-day lives outside of interpersonal relationships. No one's religious belief should have any impact on the rights or ability of anyone else. The problem is when people try to claim that legally recognizing the existence of different cultural groups is somehow forcing them to change their religious beliefs, and more importantly failure to acknowledge those other groups is not a direct attack on rights of the victims.

olliej 4y ago

I'm unsure what my thoughts on his positions on Islam are - it's sounds like he feels he went into islamophobia territory, in which case I'm going to take the headline as implying he got out of whatever extremist alcove he got trapped in and that he thinks that that is a good outcome. > How is Christianity, or any religion for that matter, germane to the linked discussion? The comment you dug up was using the example of libertarian ideologues protecting people from encroachment by the government. Libertarian politicians in the US are a conservative bloc and fairly consistently enforcing their conservative beliefs on others, so I was calling out the inaccuracy of "Outside of a few ideological libertarians". Personally, I agree with you: religion should not be a part of people's day-to-day lives outside of interpersonal relationships. No one's religious belief should have any impact on the rights or ability of anyone else. The problem is when people try to claim that legally recognizing the existence of different cultural groups is somehow forcing them to change their religious beliefs, and more importantly failure to acknowledge those other groups is not a direct attack on rights of the victims.