Sam Harris, who was a graduate student in neuroscience when he wrote this book, goes after organized religion with hammer and tong. Early on he states his premise: we can no longer tolerate religions that advocate martyrdom and the murder of innocents in honor of their god, nor can we tolerate a literal interpretation of the Book of Revelation. The world is too dangerous: these same people now have access to nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

Harris blames religion for the murder of millions upon millions of people. Early on, he points to The Inquisition, which was officially sanctioned by the Church in 1215 during the Lateran Council. It had been extant since the Fourth Century. Harris shows how the church worked hand-in-hand with secular powers to deprive "heretics" of their land and wealth. Harris blames faith itself. He says, "Whenever a man imagines that he need only believe the truth of a proposition, without evidence . . . he becomes capable of anything." None of the great doctors of the church go unscathed. St. Augustine supposedly sanctioned torture to punish those who broke the laws of God. Matthew the Evangelist puts words in the mouths of the Jews who called for Jesus's execution rather than Barabbas's. Those words, "His blood be on us and on our children," would be the impetus for the Holocaust.

Harris does admit that man has a spiritual side, but he turns to meditation and what sounds like Buddhism as an alternative to religious faith. Harris's meditation leads him to a state of selflessness. Besides religion, Harris blames envy, jealousy and hatred---all resulting from selfishness---for the evils in the word. Like Buddhism he stresses compassion and love.

Harris ends with some modern offenses done in the name of religion: Pope John Paul I's opposition of condom use in AIDS-ravaged Africa; Muslim rioting over a report that U.S. Interrogators defiled the Koran, and the fact that twenty states would like to have their schools teach Creationism alongside evolution. Ronald Reagan was so convinced that the apocalypse was at hand that he included Jerry Falwell in his national security briefings. Harris provides some statistics: Only 28% of Americans believe in evolution; 72% believe in angels.

The fact that Sam Harris would not allow his book to translated into Arabic says it all. He was worried that the translators would be held accountable for what he said.