A Simple Rule

[abaris]

My stance is just that they act as a barrier to communication, as described much better by Sam in the video above. They validate the very idea of religion, making it an acceptable delusion rather than an insane superstition. I don't advocate any action towards them at all, just for them to consider whether their weak-sauce religious version is worth the shielding of the fundies. I understand some people don't think this is a thing, but I certainly feel it is.

Yeah, good luck with intellectually communicating that to a farmer in rural Alabama and even better luck communicating that to a farmer in eastern Anatolya or Egypt or any rural region of the Middle East.

That's the problem I have with Harris. He's an intellectual. More power to him, but actually he should try to walk a mile in the shoes of the people he's talking about. Life hasn't changed that much in the Islamic hinterlands for the last few centuries. And that's not a religious problem but a development and cultural problem. People won't get secular just because some intellectual urges them to. They will get secular once they are more educated and provided with actual opportunities.