I can think of no right more fundamental than the right to peacefully steward the contents of one's own consciousness. - Sam Harris

As you know, the public conversation about the connection between Islamic ideology and Muslim intolerance and violence has been stifled by political correctness. In the West, there is now a large industry of apology and obfuscation designed, it would seem, to protect Muslims from having to grapple with the kinds of facts we’ve been talking about. The humanities and social science departments of every university are filled with scholars and pseudo-scholars — deemed to be experts in terrorism, religion, Islamic jurisprudence, anthropology, political science, and other fields — who claim that Muslim extremism is never what it seems. These experts insist that we can never take Islamists and jihadists at their word and that none of their declarations about God, paradise, martyrdom, and the evils of apostasy have anything to do with their real motivations.

In neither case does the open-endedness of our inquiry suggest that there are no real facts to be known, or that some of the answers we have in hand are not really better than some others. Respect for diversity in our ethical views is, at best, an intellectual holding pattern until more of the facts are in.

Смисълът, ценностите, моралът и добрият живот по необходимост са свързани с факти, свързани с благосъ
стояниетона съзнателни същества – и в нашия случай би трябвало да зависят закономерно от събития във външния свят и от състояния на човешкия мозък. Рационалното, непредубедено и
почтено изследване винаги е било единственият източник на познание
в подобни процеси. Вярата – ако изобщо може да се окаже права за нещо – е права само по случайност.