Sam Harris  has a column in today’ New York Times
objecting to Obama’s naming Francis Collins 
director of NIH. 
He objects solely because Collins is a Evangelical Christian.

For those who have not read
Harris’s The End of Faith, 
and I have, his book is a withering but not very insightful criticism of
fundamentalism combined with an incompetent extrapolation of his critique to
cover religion in general.  Harris
gives good ammunition to those of us who want to use it,
but that’s about it.  He also
demonstrates eloquently that self righteousness, willful ignorance, and
intolerance are not only problems in religious communities. 

In his column Harris did not
mention that his religious bigotry has led him to suggest nuclear first strikes
on Muslim nations.  In The End of
Faith he writes that if an “Islamist regime” acquires long range nuclear
weaponry

In such a situation the only thing
likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own.  Needless to say, this would be an
unthinkable crime [though I have just proposed it -diZ] – as it would kill tens of
millions of innocent civilians in a single day – but it may be the only course
of action available to us, given what the Islamists believe. (p. 36)

One would think a ‘serious thinker’
like Harris would have carefully studied the “Islamist” mentality, especially
before signing off on murdering millions of people he admits are innocent.  One would be wrong.  He has studied it as closely as he has
studied the Evangelical mentality. 
Like the religious fundamentalists he despises, Harris knows the truth
without having to study an issue. 

For example, in a 2007 debate
between himself and  Chris Hedges,    Harris cites a PEW poll that
indicated, he claimed, substantial Muslim support for suicide bombing, the same
logic he used to justify a nuclear first strike on a Muslim society, a strike
killing millions.   The
moderator in the debate, Robert Scheer, broke in, observing “I actually studied
the PEW poll carefully, and what it said was that in the face of an occupation,
where theoccupier is hurting your country and your people, that this is a
legitimate attack because you don’t have alternatives.  That’s what the PEW poll said.”

Harris advocates mass murder based
on careless and slipshod research, and then says ALL Evangelicals, even ones
with distinguished scientific records, are unqualified to head NIH.

What a total loser.

(Thanks to Mark Kleiman and his
excellent blog, The Reality Based Community, for alerting me.  To forestall simple-minded supporters
of Harris who want to turn this into an atheist versus religious conflict,  Kleiman is a secular Jew.