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Letter to a Christian Nation

A Challenge to Faith

By Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins (Preface)

(60)

| Hardcover | 9780593058978

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4 Reviews

3 people find this helpful

A call for facing fallibility

This small, single-sitting book is written expressly for Christians. Yet, it will move anyone, of any religion, or lack thereof. Its effect is twofold.
For religious readers, the effect is to compel them to question their respective dogmas. For many, doubt is a repulsive concept. Yet, for thos ... (continue)

This small, single-sitting book is written expressly for Christians. Yet, it will move anyone, of any religion, or lack thereof. Its effect is twofold.
For religious readers, the effect is to compel them to question their respective dogmas. For many, doubt is a repulsive concept. Yet, for those who take a moment to admit their own fallibility--hence, the need for God--the prospect of realizing their mistakes and learning from them is a welcome addition to the reruns that run through their heads each day reassuring them of traditional comforts.
For nonreligious readers, Sam's book encourages them to not only continue living reason-based lives, but, more importantly, for everyone's sake, to encourage the religious majority of this world to think for themselves for once, expand their practice of tolerance, and open themselves to religious discussion, without the incredibly arrogant and irrational presumption of being absolutely right all the time on matters of religious belief.
Listen, whether you are a devout Christian or a militant atheist, do yourself a huge favor and read this book. There is no conceivable way that you will regret it. Besides, all you have to lose is your ignorance.

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uberkuh said on Sep 26, 2006 | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

A short read which responds to the major arguments of a Christian, explains why religion is dangerous, explains why religious moderation is not as benign as it seems, and stresses that we should not blindly tolerate people's beliefs without asking for good reasons to support those beliefs, which is ... (continue)

A short read which responds to the major arguments of a Christian, explains why religion is dangerous, explains why religious moderation is not as benign as it seems, and stresses that we should not blindly tolerate people's beliefs without asking for good reasons to support those beliefs, which is the attitude we take in all other areas of human discourse such as history, medicine, and the natural sciences. Apparently I have a fear of ending sentences.
To Christians: If you claim to be open-minded, there really is no reason not to read this book. At 96 pages, you'll tackle it in a few hours. If there is one book to read about the views of the responsible, rational thinker, surely this is it.

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audioreader said on Aug 16, 2008 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

Harris Knocks 'Em Silly. And In So Few Words, Too...

We should not in the 21st century be obliged to take seriously the metaphysical speculations of Bronze Age goat-herders, to whom a wheel barrow would be regarded as cutting-edge, emerging technology.
We take for granted that millions of our fellow citizens harbour beliefs that would persuade t ... (continue)

We should not in the 21st century be obliged to take seriously the metaphysical speculations of Bronze Age goat-herders, to whom a wheel barrow would be regarded as cutting-edge, emerging technology.
We take for granted that millions of our fellow citizens harbour beliefs that would persuade them that a nuclear attack on the United States of America would be tragic, yes, but also a sign of the "end times" and the best of all possible news: the imminent return of their personal Saviour and the time to float up bodily into the sky if you happen to be a "chosen" one. These are not beliefs for a healthy society.
People who rate this book low almost invariably do so because they feel compelled by their religious beliefs, not because the book is anything but an excellent extended argument in the age-old and respected tradition of a polemic.
Contrary to what open-minded, rational people might think, Christians will generally not appreciate this little book. Even open-minded, rational Christians are often persuaded by their set of beliefs not to entertain certain thoughts, sometimes for fear of eternal damnation. And that is one of the points Harris tries to convey.
However, every Christian should read this book and if it upsets them in any way then they should take that as a clear sign that there is something very wrong with their view of the world and with their personal beliefs that they cannot tolerate sound, strong, and rational criticism.
Sam Harris is eminently reasonable yet forthright in his arguments over the dangers of religion. This letter, in admirably succint form, lays open the soft underbelly of Christianity and exposes all the things we in society are not encouraged to think about when it comes to religion. Do we want a President who literally believes in a talking snake? No, of course not. But we do favour religious candidates over everyone else. Are they ever grilled about their beliefs? No. Is it relevant to know what a person believes about the so-called "end times" and the "apocalypse" when that person is responsible for shaping critical environmental policies for the future, or who has their finger on the big red button, for example? I think so.
This book is a wake-up call to the world's Christians, particularly the Americans. They should not forget that the only way an outspokenly "reborn" President who consulted a "higher Father" on the War in Iraq was able to get a nation's permission to fight an illegal war, was to appeal to their morals as Christians! The last leader of note to do that sort of thing was Hitler who persuaded the devout Christian German people that he was on a mission from God, just like George Bush Jnr. has actually claimed about the War in Iraq.
You will notice that Harris's detractors hardly ever tackle his arguments head on, they rather cower in the shadows and snipe about what a bad man he is, how he doesn't understand religion (without giving concrete or valid examples), what a bad man Richard Dawkins is (as if that were even relevant to Sam's book), and so on. They generally paint all critics of religion with the same broad brush and try to dismiss them by association as "cardboard cut-outs" of some mythical evil polemicist, not by rational argument.
Harris has written a page-turning triumph in a mere 90-or-so small pages. Awesome.

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Ramnagel said on Apr 27, 2009 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

Cheap shots, mercifully brief in nature

Harris is just one more in the line of cardboard cut-out polemicists against religion. Reads like a pot-boiler: banalities abound, but luckily it ends no sooner than it should.
What Harris, Dawkins et al don't quite seem to realize is that religion as a balm is a concomitant of the liberal cap ... (continue)

Harris is just one more in the line of cardboard cut-out polemicists against religion. Reads like a pot-boiler: banalities abound, but luckily it ends no sooner than it should.
What Harris, Dawkins et al don't quite seem to realize is that religion as a balm is a concomitant of the liberal capitalist order, one that they are signed up to unreservedly. There is little that is intrinsically 'rational' about this mode of living: it is destructive, chaotic, and indifferent to individuals.
As Pope said: 'The proper study of mankind is man'. In other words, we are social beings, and to that extent will not be satisfied with purely 'scientific' answers, since scientific answers are not, demonstrably, the most rational option for humans to take, since the crucial stuff, as Buber pointed out, is between man and man, i.e., not between man and ideology, man and scientific method, or even, to that extent, man and dogma - yet 'religion' as a countervailing force will keep popping up just so long as the capitalist club is beating heads.
We need as a species to get beyond these unhelpful dichotomies, which have us in thrall to an enervating round of 'yes/no', 'stand up/sit down', walk/don't walk' pseudo-problems. I for one would like to put Dawkins and Rowan Williams in a space capsule and jettison the pair of them, along with all their respective kin. let them gnaw at each other, and wear themselves out with endless bickering. We are not obliged in the 21st century to repeat the discussions of the 19th.

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OwnedLibrarian said on Jun 14, 2008 | Add your feedback