Atheist Evangelist

Harris started writing "The End of Faith" on Sept. 12. Fifteen publishers would reject the book. Norton said yes after a torturous internal debate.

The reluctance of all these publishers hardly seems surprising. There are surely atheists in the ranks of politicians, op-ed writers and TV talk-show hosts, but can you name one? (Fellow religion critic and Oxford luminary Richard Dawkins says that atheists are the new gays -- in the closet and pretty much disqualified from public office.) But to Harris, the Bible would seem just a poorly constructed fable with a few useful metaphors if he didn't consider it so dangerous. Without the Old and New Testaments, he states, there is no way to understand opposition to stem cell research, or the notorious laws in El Salvador that criminalize abortion, even in the event of rape.

The worst part, Harris says, is this: Because Christians and Jews cling to their "delusions," they are in no position to criticize Muslims for theirs. And, as he italicizes it in his new book for maximum effect, " most Muslims are utterly deranged by their religious faith. "

Which gets us to another problem with Harris's work often cited by critics: He can preach only to those who have left the choir. As a critique of faith, "You people are nuts" isn't likely to change a lot of minds. There is the broader question, too, of whether religious moderates really are enablers for extremists. Maybe moderates are a bulwark against fanatics. If this is really a war of ideas, it is probably not a war between no religion (which is what Harris would like) and extremism. It's a war between moderation and extremism, which is a war one needs moderates to fight.

"You're not going to convert everyone to atheism," says Harvey, the retired Stanford professor. "Secular humanists like Harris ought to be concerned with allies, to win fights on questions like the separation of church and state. But Harris isn't concerned about the political implications of his arguments, because he thinks that anything supernatural is evil."

Harris isn't against all religion. He endorses Jainism, a religion-philosophy from India that finds God in the unchanging traits of the human soul. But everyone who organizes his or her life around an ancient text that purports to convey the words and sentiments of God -- Harris would like you to surrender your prayers, history and traditions. You are welcome to check out Jainism, but Harris recommends that you accept his conclusion, which is that we live in a universe without God. Deal with it.

How exactly the faithful will transition to a godless, Good Book-less cosmology is not exactly clear. Harris isn't sure it will ever happen. But he is heartened by countries such as Sweden, where he claims 80 percent of the populace do not believe in God.

"Massive social change is clearly possible," he says in an interview. "Look at the way we have transformed our attitudes about race. There's still racism in this country, but it's profoundly disreputable."

'A Failed Science'

"The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation" contain plenty to outrage just about everyone. Harris assails political correctness, evangelicals, liberals, right-wingers and even Judaism, which often gets a pass in such debates. (Harris charges that Jews have been complicit in their centuries-long persecution because they have insisted on setting themselves apart from the rest of the world.) The one constant in these books is Harris's absolutism about reason. If an idea can't survive rigorous testing and scrutiny, he thinks it ought to be tossed.

To Miroslav Volf, a Yale professor of theology, that is Harris's first mistake.

"All of reason is informed by some faith, and there is no mature faith that hasn't been coupled with and enlightened by some reason," he says. It's also wrong for Harris to assume that Christians consider the Bible the direct word of God, Volf says. Most don't, so combing the scriptures for the fingerprints of fallible authors, and then declaring victory once you find them, is silly.

"Most Christians believe that while the Bible was inspired by God, it is not free-floating, megaphone pronouncements out of nowhere by God. It was given through the medium of a culturally situated people, with the limitations of their knowledge at the time. And it's our task to ask, 'What does this mean to me today?' "