Sam Harris talks about how religion is a conversation stopper.

“The problem with religion is, it is the only mode of thought that systematically closes people to real conversation. Because it is the only mode of thought that puts a positive value on a person’s perpetual immunity to new evidence and new argument. And this closure is euphemistically called faith. And it is generally thought to be beyond criticism, even by atheist scientists who don’t share it.

Now I want to make it clear, I’m not advocating new laws, I’m not advocating that we infringe people’s religious freedom. I’m advocating new rules of conversation.

There is no law against believing that Elvis Presley is still alive. How have we kept this belief from invading our board rooms and our academic departments (and political arena)? The principle of our immunity is really quite simple. Anyone who seriously espouses that Elvis is still alive, either in a lecture, or in a job interview or on a first date, immediately pays a consequence (pays a price), in ill concealed laughter.

There is a general principle at work here. People who claim to be certain of things they clearly can’t be certain of, have a problem meeting their goals in life, except when these certainties are on the subject of religion.

But such people do not get asked to run our major corporations on any other subject, when they espouse these certainties on any other subject. They don’t get invited to present at conferences. They are apt to find their business cards discreetly placed in the trash.

Notice, we don’t have to pass any laws against bad ideas, to reliably deliver these reviews. We simply have to be free to criticize bad ides, and we are free to criticize bad ideas, except we are not availing ourselves of this freedom on the subject of religion.

We have been cowed into silence. We have learned to be terrified of the peevishness and irrationality of our neighbors. We’ve learned to fear their suffering which is, notice, different than feeling compassion for their suffering. We have learned to fear that the only remedy for their day to day suffering is the false consolation of false ideas."

Sam Harris, Beyond belief, Enlightenment 2.0, November 2, 2007, Sam Harris, Beyond belief, Enlightenment 2.0