“if you think that it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures. once again, we need look no further than the Jains; Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: ‘do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being.’ imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible. it is impossible to behave this way by adhering to the principles of Jainism. how, then, can you argue that the Bible provides the clearest statement of morality the world has ever seen?”
— Sam Harris, letter to a christian nation
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