Most religions have merely canonized a few products of ancient ignorance and derangement and passed them down to us as though they were primordial truths.[2]
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Religions often preserve ancient errors and irrational ideas as eternal truths.
- In plain terms
- Religions keep old mistakes as if they were true.
- What can you take from it?
- Check if traditions are based on old errors.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What are the origins of your beliefs?
- How do we separate truth from history?
Another view
Some argue traditions preserve wisdom rather than ignorance.
More from Sam Harris
It is difficult to imagine a set of beliefs more suggestive of mental illness than those that lie at the heart of many of our religious traditions.[2]
Permalink to quote #7 The danger of religious faith is that it allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy.[2]
Permalink to quote #9 It is merely an accident of history that it is considered normal in our society to believe that the Creator of the universe can hear your thoughts while it is …
Permalink to quote #6
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