God and the New Atheism, Chapter One

Haught organizes chapter one of God and the New Atheism around the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism modified to fit Sam Harris' argument. He writes, "Envisioning himself almost as a new Buddha, Harris resolved to share with his readers--and with the whole world--something like a new version of the ancient Buddha's Four Noble Truths. Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens make essentially the same set of claims" (2).
1. First Noble Truth: Buddhism: All life is suffering.
First Evident Truth: Harris: The purpose of human life is to find happiness.
As Haught notes, many philosophers including Immanuel Kant and many spiritual masters all note that happiness comes as a by-product in the search for something eternal. The almost sure way not to find happiness is to pursue it directly.
2. Second Noble Truth: Buddhism: The cause of suffering is greedy desire.
Second Evident Truth: The cause of suffering is faith, particularly faith in God.
According to Harris the mind's fabrication of God by faith is "intrinsically dangerous."
3. Third Noble Truth: Buddhism: The way to overcome suffering is to find release from clinging desire.
Third Evident Truth: Harris: The way to true happiness is to cleanse our minds of faith.
As Haught writes concerning this evident truth, "Here they begin offering something startlingly new, at least outside the reach of atheistic dictatorships. It is not just faith, they say, but our polite and civil tolerance of faith that must be uprooted if progress toward true happiness is to be made" (8)
4. Fourth Noble Truth: Buddha: The way to find release is through the Eightfold Path.
Fourth Evident Truth: Harris: The way to true happiness is to follow the path of the scientific method.

Haught writes toward the end of the chapter, "The invitation to join them in a world without faith will sound to most people like a petition to shrink our world to the point where we can all be suffocated (13).