120: Sam Harris on tribalism, religion, and what actually saves us

Ask Haviv Anything

Haviv Rettig Gur

History

4.9 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2026

⏱️ 116 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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Haviv sits down with philosopher, neuroscientist and podcaster Sam Harris to explore the moral and informational crisis gripping the West. Sam explains why his defense of Israel has nothing to do with identity politics and everything to do with the long-term threat of jihadism to open societies, a position he has held consistently since 9/11. We dissect the profound generational shift in attitudes toward Israel and Jews, backed by stark polling data on Holocaust denial and acceptance of political violence among young Americans.

We explore how social media shattered our shared reality, creating a “funhouse mirror” effect that radicalizes both sides while making coherent moral reasoning nearly impossible; the rise of antisemitic conspiracy thinking on the right, particularly Tucker Carlson’s evolving rhetoric and the laundering of extreme voices; and we debate tribalism, dogmatism, the limits of secularism, and whether healthy particularism can survive in open societies.

An honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversation on trying to make sense of a world that doesn’t seem to anymore.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Leah. The episode is dedicated "to my son Noah, who told me, 'I thought your stories of antisemitism were long ago and far away, it's a bit shocking to live through what's happening now'; to all young Jewish Americans experiencing a similar awakening; and to Haviv and Rachel, who are giving them the tools to come to their own conclusions and the information needed to defend their positions. Being part of this podcast and this community has been the silver lining of a crazy period."

Thank you Leah.

If you like what we do here, please consider joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything or our Substack at https://havivgur.substack.com/. You can also Buy Me a Coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur. It helps us keep the lights on. Patreon and Substack are also the platforms where you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.

If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠.

Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everybody.
0:06.0	Welcome to a new episode of Ask a Leave Anything.
0:09.0	This is a special one.
0:10.7	Sam Harris is here.
0:12.8	Sam is a neuroscientist, philosopher, author of Five New York Times Best Sellers.
0:17.7	His work covers a wide range of topics, neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion,
0:22.9	meditation, practice, political polarization, rationality. But generally focuses on how a growing
0:29.3	understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. Sam hosts
0:34.3	the popular Making Sense podcast. He's the creator of the Waking Up app, which offers a modern approach to living a more examined life through in-depth mindfulness training and secular wisdom.
0:45.7	He holds a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA.
0:52.0	And we're going to talk about a range of topics that I have been eager to ask him about for a long time.
0:58.2	Before we get into it, let me tell you that this week's episode is sponsored by Leo,
1:03.1	who asked to say that the episode is dedicated to my son, Noel,
1:08.1	who told me, I thought your stories of anti-Semitism were long ago and far away.
1:13.0	It's a bit shocking to live through what's happening now.
1:16.4	The episode is also dedicated to all young Jewish Americans experiencing a similar awakening.
1:21.7	And to Chaviv and Rechel, for those who don't know, that's my wife, and the producer of this
1:26.6	podcast, who are giving them the tools to come to their own conclusions and the information needed to defend their positions, being part of this podcast and this community, has been the silver lining of this crazy period.
1:38.8	Thank you so much for that, Leah. We really appreciate that sentiment. Don't be afraid. Our young people will not be weaker for having faced some adversity in their lives and for being forced to know their story, to learn their story in the face of the bigotry that they now face.
1:56.0	I would also like to invite everyone to join our Patreon, subscribe to our substack. If you're interested in asking the questions that guide the topics we talk about, please join us there. You also get to be part of our monthly live streams where I answer your questions live. That's at patreon.com slash Ask Javiv Anything and Javivgur.com. Those links are in the show notes. Sam, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. It's great to see you, Haviv. As you know, I'm a big fan. So your audience should know I'm a big fan. That is a very helpful thing for my audience to know. I'm going to be telling them that a lot. No, I'm an envirro for many, many years. And let's just get right into it. The most urgent question I have to ask,
2:39.5	you have been unstinting in your support for Israel over the last three years, and not at all
2:47.9	in your support for everything Israel does or your support for the Israeli government in any particular way,
	...

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