It is taboo in our society to criticize a persons religious faith.. these taboos are offensive, deeply unreasonable, but worse than that, they are getting people killed. This is really my concern. My concern is that our religions, the diversity of our religious doctrines, is going to get us killed. I'm worried that our religious discourse- our religious beliefs are ultimately incompatible with civilization. Sam Harris
About This Quote

This quote, spoken by the late Bishop Desmond Tutu in response to the death of his friend Nelson Mandela, is an important reminder that it is important to engage with people of other faiths. The topic of religion is often distasteful in our society, but Tutu was clear that this should not prevent us from learning from one another. We all have a lot to gain from being more open-minded.

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More Quotes By Sam Harris
  1. Consider it: every person you have ever met, every person will suffer the loss of his friends and family. All are going to lose everything they love in this world. Why would one want to be anything but kind to them in the meantime?
  2. Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, 'atheism' is a term that should not even exist. No one needs to identify himself as a 'non-astrologer' or a 'non-alchemist.'...
  3. The problem with religion, because it's been sheltered from criticism, is that it allows people to believe en masse what only idiots or lunatics could believe in isolation.
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  5. The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of...
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