Making Sense of Belief and Unbelief | Episode 6 of The Essential Sam Harris

In this episode, we examine a series of Sam’s conversations
centered around religion, atheism, and the power of belief. 


First, we hear the stories of three guests who have fled their
respective oppressive religious organizations. We begin with
Sarah Haider, founder of the advocacy group Ex-Muslims of North
America, who details how her encounters with militant atheists
catalyzed her journey to secularism. Then our narrator, Megan
Phelps-Roper, walks us through her story of abandoning the
Westboro Baptist Church. Finally, Yasmine Mohammed presents her
harrowing account of escaping fundamentalist Islamism and Sam’s
role in inspiring her public advocacy work.


We then tackle the concept of belief more broadly, diving into
Sam’s understanding of atheism and what sets it apart from the
views of other atheist thinkers like Matt Dillahunty and Richard
Dawkins. We also revisit an infamous conversation between Sam and
Jordan Peterson, wherein they attempt to come to some universal
definition of the word “truth.”


The episode concludes with two Q&A portions from life events
in which Sam addresses some real concerns about purpose and
meaning in the absence of religion.


 


About the Series


Filmmaker Jay Shapiro has produced The Essential Sam
Harris, a new series of audio
documentaries exploring the major topics that Sam has
focused on over the course of his career.


Each episode weaves together original analysis, critical
perspective, and novel thought experiments with some of the most
compelling exchanges from the Making Sense archive. Whether you
are new to a particular topic, or think you have your mind made
up about it, we think you’ll find this series fascinating.