Originally Posted by JahBohl

No church, temple, religion, slick preacher, inerrant book, or "god" is required for any of these virtues.


To the O.P. :
I think that one of Sam Harris' arguments is that religious moderates (through the increase in tolerance for ideas which have little basis in reason) have caused rise in fundamentalist thinking. Historically this has led to violence...(believe this or else you'll go to hell/ or we'll kill you).

"As long as it is acceptable for a person to believe that he knows how God wants everyone on earth to live, we will continue to murder one another on account of our myths" (End of Faith pg.134).

It's an interesting line of thought because most people view tolerance of other's beliefs as a good thing. Maybe we've let it go too far. Instead of calling bullshit on beliefs like getting 72 virgins upon martyrdom, or transubstantiation we give them a free pass under the guise of "faith".