If Religion Were Defensible...

It's a problem of discourse. It's a problem that certain ideas remain in good standing, and remain immune to criticism.

Now, previously, I spoke about the problems that beset any claim that any religious doctrine is true. These being, that if religion really were a genuine brand of intellectual inquiry, it would function by the same rules: We would have people's certainties about their religious doctrines scaling with the evidence and the arguments that can be marshalled in support of those ideas, and we fundamentally find that that's not what's going on in religion.

Sam Harris, 11/07/06, "Beyond Belief" conference in San Diego.