"Will strike a chord with anyone who has ever pondered the irrationality of religious faith and
its cruel, murderous consequences."--Economist

"[Harris] writes with such verve and frequent insight that even skeptical readers will find it hard to put down."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"At last we have a book that...links Islamic terrorism with the irrationality of all religious faith."--Peter Singer,
author of The President of Good and Evil

"An important book, on a topic that...should not be shielded from the crucible of human reason."
--New York Times Book Review

This important and timely book delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world.
Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs,
even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behavior and sometimes heinous crimes.

He asserts that in the shadow of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer tolerate views that pit one
true god against another, the real peril of fundamentalism. While warning against the encroachment of
organized religion into world politics, Harris also draws on new evidence from neuroscience and insights
from philosophy to explore spirituality as a biological, brain-based need. He calls on us to take a secular
humanistic approach to solving the problems of this world.