“While believing strongly, without evidence, is considered a mark of madness or stupidity in any other area of our lives, faith in God still holds immense prestige in our society. Religion is the one area of our discourse where it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about. It is telling that this aura of nobility extends only to those faiths that still have many subscribers. Anyone caught worshipping Poseidon, even at sea, will be thought insane.”

American neuroscientist, philosopher, author, and podcast host

Samuel Benjamin Harris is an American neuroscientist, philosopher, author, and podcast host. He became widely known for his criticism of religion and is often grouped with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism. His work ranges across rationality, ethics, free will, determinism, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Much of his public writing and speaking returns to questions about how people think, what they believe, and how reason should shape public life.