Sam Harris | Making Sense of Belief and Unbelief @samharrisorg | Uploaded March 2023 | Updated October 2024, 6 hours ago.
In this episode, we examine a series of Sam’s conversations centered around religion, atheism, and the power of belief.
First, we hear the unique stories of three guests who have fled their respective oppressive religious organizations. We begin with Sarah Hairder, 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.
March 17, 2023
SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes of the podcast at samharris.org/subscribe OR become a channel member to access episodes on YouTube.
Subscribe to the YT channel: youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=samharrisorg
Follow Making Sense on Twitter: twitter.com/MakingSenseHQ
Follow Sam on Facebook: facebook.com/Samharrisorg
Follow Sam on Instagram: instagram.com/samharrisorg
For more information about Sam Harris: samharris.org
In this episode, we examine a series of Sam’s conversations centered around religion, atheism, and the power of belief.
First, we hear the unique stories of three guests who have fled their respective oppressive religious organizations. We begin with Sarah Hairder, 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.
March 17, 2023
SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes of the podcast at samharris.org/subscribe OR become a channel member to access episodes on YouTube.
Subscribe to the YT channel: youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=samharrisorg
Follow Making Sense on Twitter: twitter.com/MakingSenseHQ
Follow Sam on Facebook: facebook.com/Samharrisorg
Follow Sam on Instagram: instagram.com/samharrisorg
For more information about Sam Harris: samharris.org
