The men and women on death row have some combination of bad genes, bad parents, bad environments, and bad ideas (and the innocent, of course, have su… - Sam Harris

The men and women on death row have some combination of bad genes, bad parents, bad environments, and bad ideas (and the innocent, of course, have supremely bad luck). Which of these quantities, exactly, were they responsible for? No human being is responsible for his genes or his upbringing, yet we have every reason to believe that these factors determine his character. Our system of justice should reflect an understanding that any of us could have been dealt a very different hand in life. In fact, it seems immoral not to recognize just how much luck is involved in morality itself.

The men and women on death row have some combination of bad genes, bad parents, bad ideas, and bad luck — which of these quantities, exactly, were they responsible for? No human being stands as author to his own genes or his upbringing, and yet we have every reason to believe that these factors determine his character throughout life.

Unlike statements of fact, which require no further work on our part, lies must be continually protected from collisions with reality.

The problem is not that religious people are stupid. It's not that religious fundamentalists are stupid. I happen to think that you can be so well educated that you can build a nuclear bomb, and still get — and still believe that you will get the 72 virgins in paradise — that is the problem. The problem is that — religion — because it has been sheltered from criticism as it has been — allows people — perfectly sane, perfectly intelligent people — to believe en masse, what only idiots or lunatics could believe in isolation.

And yet, thinkers far more sober than Baudrillard view the events of September 11 as a consequence of American foreign policy.