On September 11, 2001, a horrified Sam Harris watches the towers collapse into a smoldering pile of rubble. The deadly jihadist attacks of that fateful day inspired him to immediately begin writing The End of Faith, a book that would launch the "New Atheist" publishing phenomena and cement his legendary status as one of the "Four Horsemen of New Atheism" alongside Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. Harris engaged in countless debates on religion over the years, and though I greatly admire Dr. Harris and find many of his arguments compelling and eloquent, this article...

It is often said that good educators teach students how to think, not what to think. This is indeed a profound notion. Sadly, we have witnessed a great deal of hypocrisy in attaining this aspiration. Moreover, despite an obsessive focus on constructing “safe spaces” in many of the most prestigious universities in the world to protect America’s best and brightest from the dangers of thinking about ideas, their constitutional rights and even physical safety has often been jeopardized from their fellow students, outside agitators, and even their own government, which should be protecting their...

Imagine it’s a bright and pleasant Sunday morning. You walk through the doors of your church and are greeted by familiar faces, friendly handshakes, and warm coffee. The service is an uplifting refuge from a challenging week full of difficulties at home and at work. You sing songs and read scripture in unison as you feel a powerful sense of connection with your church community in this weekly ritual. You listen to your pastor’s sermon and regain a spiritual awareness and meaning that was lost in the week’s rat race and turbulent headlines. Perhaps you make plans with your church friends to...

“I wear two hats, one representing the people of Israel, the other representing the Jewish people around the world." These are the words I was instructed to write into more remarks than I can remember over my eight and a half years working as the Strategic Outreach Director for the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest United States. Carefully consider the gravity of that statement. The more time I spent conducting interfaith outreach efforts for the Israeli government, the more confused I felt about Judaism as a religion, its nature as an ethnic identity, how the contemporary state...

Though I do not personally identify as a libertarian, one of the things I admire about libertarians is their emphasis on protecting individual rights. Freedom of conscience and freedom of religion are among our most important rights. I’ve made no secret about not being a fan of religion, and I do think we need to be able to honestly criticize bad ideas. I could easily write this article to be a brutal condemnation of radical Islam and its danger to society; but to do so would be to tread on well-trodden territory. When it comes to how we treat our neighbors and fellow citizens, there are...