Abstract
No doubt Sam Harris directed his self-confident declaration about history and historical evidence at those who have failed to learn the lessons of history with the same clarity and certitude that he has. But in fact, his abstract appeals to history and evidence-based reasoning fail when measured against the concrete conclusions of mainstream historians concerning the topics he addresses in making his case against all religion throughout all history. The New Atheist Denial of History calls him and other so-called New Atheists and their allies to account for failing to take seriously the historical record to which they so freely appeal when attacking religion.
If history reveals any categorical truth, it is that an insufficient taste for evidence regularly brings out the worst in us.
—Sam Harris1
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Notes
Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005), 26.
J. H. Hexter, “The Historian and His Day,” in Reappraisals in History, Second Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 8.
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© 2014 Borden W. Painter Jr.
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Painter, B.W. (2014). Introduction. In: The New Atheist Denial of History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137477699_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137477699_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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