So before I get started today with who my guest is, I want to bring up something really important.

I recorded this show Wednesday morning, and yet that afternoon there was another mass shooting in the United States,

another mass shooting at a school, but this wasn't just any school, it was my

alma mater, Marjorie Stonman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. So I

know, I mean I hope everyone listening is continually shocked by these shootings that take place in the United States, especially the ones that take place in schools.

But when it's your school, when it's the halls that you walk down, the cafeteria you sat in,

you know, it hits home in a completely different way.

And it's pretty terrifying.

So I wanted to bring this up before you listen to the show because my guest today is Sam Harris and he has been a lifelong critic of religion and God and this is a topic we discuss quite heavily on today's show.

It's also especially precedent in the wake of yet another

American mass shooting and the reason for that is because every time one of these

things happen there's this pathetic response by politicians in this country who offer their quote-unquote

thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families but do absolutely nothing to

stop these tragedies from continuing to happen. So if you want to hear more on this topic after the show stick around and I'm going to talk to

my editor John Kelly no not the xenophobe in the White House right now the

actual editor at Vanity Fair about how these weak NRA-backed politicians respond to these shootings and what we, you, me,

anyone who's listening can do to effect change.

So now on to the show. My guest today is Sam Harris. He has been described as one of the four horsemen of the new atheism,

along with his buddies Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchins, and Daniel Dinet.

Sam's a trained neuroscientist. He's written... Christopher Hitchins and Daniel Dinette.

Sam's a trained neuroscientist.

He's written half a dozen incredible books

...