Gap Fill Annotated Bibliography - Sam Harris article

1) Harris, Sam. "The Case Against Faith | Cover." Sam Harris. 13 Nov. 2006. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/the-case-against-faith/>.

2)  Religious people believe in illogical things which don't add up and don't make any sense when compared next to the rest of the physical world.  These are the same people that elect our congressional representatives, and who run for office themselves.  Believing in these sorts of ridiculous notions is no way to go about maintaining a stable civilization (geopolitically,  environmentally, and economically).  Christian ministers who hold congregations in which thousands of people attend are some of the most well-funded and influential people in our society. 

While it is wrong to criticize someone's personal religious beliefs, many of their ideals conflict with "genuine morality."  Religious people are quick to focus their attention to "moral problems" such as gay marriage where nobody actually suffers, but they are fine with letting people suffer if it coincides with their religious beliefs.   Embryonic Stem Cell research is a prime example.  The majority of religious people believe that human life starts at the moment of conception, and that the embryo has a soul.  Therefore, a girl with an extreme ailment which needs medical care cannot take precedence over the "life" of a five day old embryo. 

Religious people are protected from the demand to provide valid, logical arguments by their strongly held beliefs.  These are the same beliefs that dictate exactly how they will live their life.  Our militaristic and destructive technology is only getting better.  Our obsession with religion poses a threat to all of humanity while we possess weapons of mass destruction in a world in which religious tension is always rising. 

3)  This is relevant to my topic because it provides logical arguments in support of ESCR.  I can use this, along with other passages from this article to help support my claim.

4) "Bush used his first veto to deny federal funding to this research. He did this on the basis of his religious faith. Like millions of other Americans, President Bush believes that “human life starts at the moment of conception.” Specifically, he believes that there is a soul in every 3-day-old human embryo, and the interests of one soul—the soul of a little girl with burns over 75 percent of her body, for instance—cannot trump the interests of another soul, even if that soul happens to live inside a petri dish. Here, as ever, religious dogmatism impedes genuine wisdom and compassion."

"The problem, however, is that much of what people believe in the name of religion is intrinsically divisive, unreasonable and incompatible with genuine morality. One of the worst things about religion is that it tends to separate questions of right and wrong from the living reality of human and animal suffering."