With the cameras in hot pursuit, Derren faces his toughest project yet, going in search of an unsuspecting member of the British public prepared to adopt the guise of a pastor and miracle worker.
His chosen one then has six months to learn the trade and flourish across the pond as a convincing pastor.
Reporter John Sweeney's last investigation into the Church of Scientology resulted in an explosive confrontation with church officials. This time, in a Panorama Special, one of those officials has turned whistleblower to help him reveal the dark secrets of the church, which boasts Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its devotees.
(CNN) -- For the world to tackle truly important problems, people have to stop looking to religion to guide their moral compasses, the philosopher Sam Harris told CNN.
"We should be talking about real problems, like nuclear proliferation and genocide and poverty and the crisis in education," Harris said in a recent interview at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California. TED is a nonprofit group dedicated to "ideas worth spreading."
"These are issues which tremendous swings in human well-being depend on. And it's not at the center of our moral concern."
Religion causes people to fixate on issues of less moral importance, said Harris, a well-known secularist, philosopher and neuroscientist who is the author of the books "The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation."
"Religion has convinced us that there's something else entirely other than concerns about suffering. There's concerns about what God wants, there's concerns about what's going to happen in the afterlife," he said.
"And, therefore, we talk about things like gay marriage as if it's the greatest problem of the 21st century. We even have a liberal president who ostensibly is against gay marriage because his faith tells him it's an abomination.
Harris also said people should not be afraid to declare that certain acts are right and others are wrong. A person who would spill battery acid on a girl for trying to learn to read, for instance, he said, is objectively wrong by scientific standards.
"It's not our job to not judge it and say, 'Well, to each his own. Everyone has to work out their own strategy for human fulfillment.' That's just not true," he said.
"There's people who are wrong about human fulfillment."
Harris placed no faith in the idea that Muslims and Christians will be able to put their differences aside and cooperate on global issues.
"There's no way to reconcile Islam with Christianity," he said. "This difference of opinion admits of compromise as much as a coin toss does."
The Internet: Where religions come to die -Kinda speaks for itself. Clips taken from Godzilla of course :-) 'the end of the world cult' Fascinating documentary about some guy who claimed to be j...
The Internet: Where religions come to die -Kinda speaks for itself.Clips taken from Godzilla of course :-)'the end of the world cult' Fascinating documentary about some guy who claimed to be jesus (one of many) and predicted the end of the world a couple of times. The interesting conclusion (other than the world not ending of course) was that he was arrested for his sexual abuse of minors. Seeing the 'son of god' go from righteous 'they are persecuting me like they did with jesus' to a man institutionalized in prison, on hunger strike is a fascinating insight into the human mind and the messiah complex. I would also recommend reading the wiki article on him.... it's captivating stuff! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_BentJesus camp of course (I'll leave you to find that!)and Mr Deity (who does some wonderfully funny satire on Christianity). http://www.youtube.com/user/misterdeityTurns out he's an ex mormon (damn the typo is so tempting), and has a v. interesting story to tell. RDF.netClip from Richard Dawkins vs the Muslim from 'The Big Debate' Clip also taken from the simpsons satire of cults 'The Joy of Sect'.Clip of Bill Maher also taken from religulous.
From Vanity Fair: http://bit.ly/c4eAEv - The Ten Commandments were set in stone, but it may be time for a re-chisel. With all due humility, the author takes on the job, pruning the ethically dubious, challenging the impossible, and rectifying some serious omissions. ... Read more: http://bit.ly/c4eAEv
