Sam Harris at the Global Atheist Convention

[Brian37]

I think this conclusion depends on a simplistic and poorly evidenced theory of the nature of religion.

Well Sam Harris is a neurospsychologist and there have been studies done to test the hypothesis that that the fear of death motivates religious commitment, and that it may be alleviated by assurances about an afterlife. I have referenced a couple of peer reviewed articles about these studies.

Kahoe, R. D., & Dunn, R. F. (1976). "The fear of death and religious attitudes and behavior". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 14 (4): 379–382

Wink, P. (2006). "Who is afraid of death? Religiousness, spirituality, and death anxiety in late adulthood". Journal of Religion, Spirituality, & Aging 18 (2): 93–110

What he calls "spirituality" is nothing more than our brains falling for a sensation. Our species has always been capable of mistaking an intense feeling of a "state" for being something other than mundane nature.

There is no need to call our brain activity "spiritual". Intense and "feeling real" yes, but "spirituality" is a nonsense word. The study of our brain when we have "spiritual" experiences is nothing but a study of the state of our brain when we think about or do certain things that lead our brains to that state. But there is nothing "spiritual" about any state our brain can be in.

Victor Stenger, "The New Atheism" read it. As much as I love Sam, he is merely adding superfluous words when they are not needed. Sam does not get a pass from me. "Spiritual" is a bullshit word.

Instead of "spiritual" when I have that sensation I say "WOW that was intense". I don't add superfluous bullshit words to mundane reality.

The God Delusion explains quite aptly the confusion even Sam is falling for. It is the "moth mistaking the light bulb for the moonlight".

Sam is right on lots of things, but he is dead wrong on insisting that "spirituality" is something more than our own mundane brain activity.