The Reason Project

Launched earlier this year by author, neuroscientist, and outspoken atheist Sam Harris, the Reason Project is a "charitable foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society". Members of the advisory board include Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker, Bill Maher, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Steven Weinberg. The website explains the aim of the project:

The project will draw on the talents of prominent and creative thinkers from a wide range of disciplines - science, law, literature, entertainment, information technology, etc. — to encourage critical thinking and wise public policy. It will convene conferences, produce films, sponsor scientific research and opinion polls, award grants to other non-profit organizations, and offer material support to religious dissidants and public intellectuals — with the purpose of eroding the influence of dogmatism, superstition and bigotry in the world.

There are few things I can think of that are more worthy of funding. I hope this project succeeds. Sam Harris was recently engaged in a back and forth with Philip Ball, a freelance science writer, over some comments Ball made in his recent Nature article concerning the conflict between science and religion. Reading this informal debate reminded me of what I love about Harris. Besides his impressive knack for metaphor and elegant use of the language, the man can point out the absurdities of religion like no other:

To give you a sense of how bizarre Mr. Ball’s opinions will appear to rational people everywhere, imagine reading a column in Nature that criticized scientists for taking too adversarial a stance with respect to witchcraft—even in Africa, where a belief in the efficacy of magic spells, invisible spirits, and the occasional human sacrifice remains widespread. If the analogy between religion and witchcraft seems hyperbolic, please take a moment to review the actual tenets of the world’s major religions.

For instance, a reconciliation between science and Christianity (the explicit goal of The BioLogos Foundation) would mean squaring physics, chemistry, biology, and a basic understanding of probabilistic reasoning with a raft of patently ridiculous, Iron Age convictions. In its most generic and well-subscribed form, Christianity amounts to the following claims: Jesus Christ, a carpenter by trade, was born of a virgin, ritually murdered as a scapegoat for the collective sins of his species, and then resurrected from death after an interval of three days. He promptly ascended, bodily, to “heaven”—where, for two millennia, he has eavesdropped upon (and, on occasion, even answered) the simultaneous prayers of billions of beleaguered human beings. Not content to maintain this numinous arrangement indefinitely, this invisible carpenter will one day return to earth to judge humanity for its sexual indiscretions and sceptical doubts, at which time he will grant immortality to anyone who has had the good fortune to be convinced, on Mother’s knee, that this baffling litany of miracles is the most important series of truth-claims ever revealed about the cosmos. Every other member of our species, past and present, from Cleopatra to Einstein, no matter what his or her terrestrial accomplishments, will (probably) be consigned to a fiery hell for all eternity.

I highly recommend The End of Faith or Letter to a Christian Nation for anyone interested.