Letter to a Christian Nation [Paperback]

 

 

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This little book is a gem of its kind. It is an argument with a literal minded Christian (fundamentalist, evangelical, etc) in the form of a letter. Harris's arguments are mostly not original - some previous versions of them date back more than a century in the skeptical literature - but his concise and hard-hitting presentation of them is. He is almost unique for his honest and, one must say, sometimes blunt treatment of religion. Some readers will find this offensive and won't pay his arguments the attention they deserve. I can only ask them to persevere and see if they can find a problem with Harris's reasons. The challenge for the committed Christian is to meet him on the plane of reason; and if you think that you don't have to, because faith prevails even where reason fails, I must ask, why your faith rather than any other? As Harris points out, many Muslims have exactly as much devout belief as you do and yet you are not troubled by this; can't you see that to an outsider, this is a reason to doubt all faiths? But I am paraphrasing Harris here, and poorly. I refer you to his forceful eloquence instead.

One more thought. Where does this book leave the moderate or liberal Christian? What does it say to them? While ostensibly not aimed at them, some challenges are obvious. If you are not a literal-minded Christian, then what exactly do you believe? Why are the literal-minded Christians not just simply more consistent (less politely: less hypocritical) than you are? Are there resources within Christianity that can justify your liberal stance, or are you really compromising with outside standards and motivated by outside factors? And the final question is last, and this is treated more fully in Harris' other book, The End of Faith: to what extent are moderate religious people responsible for enabling religious extremists to thrive and thereby threaten civil society? Harris is saying that religion is false and dangerous, even in its moderate forms, and he is saying that the polite silence rational people maintain about it is morally and intellectually unconscionable. Even if you are sure that he is wrong - especially so - you owe it to yourself to read this book.

Sam Harris says what a lot of us have been thinking, but have been afraid to say in public. In this concise book, Harris directly attacks the very foundation of religious faith.

One might expect such a book to be either mean-spirited or intentionally provacative. Christian Nation is neither, although some will experience it that way. Harris sticks to the facts. He does not believe that religious faith, including but certainly not limited to Christianity, is good for people.

Harris is concerned with reducing human suffering and increasing human happiness. He agrees that many of the things that Jesus about love and kindness are indeed valuable and wise. He points out, however, that the bible contains much, much more than love and kindness. It contains cruelty, such as slavery, and pointless rules, such as the ban on graven images.

In the end, Harris argues, religious faith, or any belief that is not based on evidence and reason, does not make sense and will ultimately lead to unnecessary suffering.

No doubt, many good and loving people would be offended or hurt if they read this book. But that simply proves Harris' point. These people have been so blinded by faith that they cannot even consider the possibility they have been led astray. Hopefully, a good number of religious people will muster the courage to read the book anyway.

Sam Harris is best know for his book entitled "The End of Faith" and although this small follow-up book is a welcome addition to the discussion of the role of religion in the modern world it seems unlikely to have a similar impact  although it is quite a pithy synopsis of the earlier book. I remember  over half a century ago  reading Bertrand Russel's book entitled "Why I am not a Christian". And there is clearly an overlap between the two books with Bertrand Russell probably being a little more ruthless in his criticism of Christianity. Russell says that There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ's moral character, and that is that He believed in Hell. And I wrote in the margin of my copy of the book: Interestingly many practising Christians do not.

Although Harris did not use the exact same words I am sure he agrees that there are indeed some of Jesus' views (as recorded in the New Testament) which do not seem to be morally defensible. Unfortunately, Harris does not distinguish very well between fundamentalist Christians who reject the occurrence of evolution and believe all sorts of unscientific mumbo jumbo about the age of the earth and more enlightened Christians who are comfortable with scientific discoveries about the nature of the physical and biological world.

Bertrand Russell wrote an earlier essay entitled Mysticism and Logic and in this essay he says I believe that . . there is an element of wisdom to be learnt from the mystical way of feeling which does not seem to be attainable in any other manner. If this is the truth, mysticism is to be commended as an attitude towards life and not as a creed about the world. There are many of us who agree with Russell when he says I do not believe that the decay of dogmatic belief can do anything but good but also many of us who are agnostic rather than atheistic and feel that although the dogmatic views of many Christians are indefensible there are nevertheless more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. The world is a mysterious place and the sense of the numinous ought not to be decried.

It may seem paradoxical but the history of the interaction between the Christian religion and science is not one of unrelenting animosity and hopeless incompatibility  despite what Harris writes. There is a sense in which Christianity and Western civilization have grown up together. There are many leading scientists including Newton himself who were also religious and the renowned astrophysicist Arthur Stanley Eddington was a life long Quaker.

There is really nothing badly wrong with Sam Harris' latest book and it is entirely fair of him to poke fun at the Roman Catholic church's baseless discussion of limbo. Christianity is clearly a type of crutch which is no longer needed but, in growing beyond it, it is almost certainly unwise to lose our sense of awe and wonder. Who knows what really makes the universe tick.

The mutual incompatibility between the world's major religions is strong evidence that none of them has an inside track on understanding the ultimate nature of reality and both fundamentalist Christianity and relentlessly dogmatic Islam are huge threats to our future. And, in shining a searchlight on the reasons why they are a menace, we are all in Sam Harris' debt.

There is a recent poll in America which asked the right question for a change and uncovered the fact that some 45% of Americans are not absolutely sure that God (as traditionally conceived) actually exists. And if many of these individuals read Sam Harris' book it may well help to clarify their thinking.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Letter to a Christian Nation
I love the reading of the book, I also ordered the CD-audio of it.
Great many points and powerful reasoning that demands thinking. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Shahin

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye opener
Sam Harris writes a great easy read book. As a 70 year old brought up Catholic, I have always questioned the faith and many other different aspects of all religions especially... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Outdoor man

1.0 out of 5 stars Sadly lacking
I found Harris' book juvenile and pedantic, the many instances of name calling "lumbering, bellicose, dim-witted giant. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Mike

5.0 out of 5 stars Letter to a Christian Nation
Another excellent book by Sam Harris. All believers should read it with an open mind and when finished, ask themselves a question: Can these facts be disputed?

Published on Sep 22 2009 by Paul Plihal

5.0 out of 5 stars Small but powerful
This short book by Harris packs a punch. It ought to be read by anyone who holds religious/supernatural beliefs, but might be particularly good for the American audience for which... Read more

Published on Nov 21 2008 by Star Stuff

3.0 out of 5 stars A Tribute to Christian Hate Mail
Here, Harris responds to the thousands of mostly indignant letters he got for writing "The End of Faith". Read more

Published on Nov 4 2008 by Brian Griffith

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb
I'd never heard of Sam Harris before seeing this book recommended along with other ones about atheism.

Concise, straightforward, and extremely well written. Read more

Published on May 21 2008 by S.M.

1.0 out of 5 stars So disappointed...
I give Sam Harris 1 start not because I am a Christian but because this a very poor book on anti-theism. Read more

Published on Dec 20 2007 by Valeriy Strugov

1.0 out of 5 stars Carl Friedrich Gauss was a believer
"He took us to the house where Gauss' father had first lived, a narrow four-story one in a good neighborhood, a few houses from the present Brunswick castle, which we went through... Read more

Published on Aug 9 2007 by Sports Car Enthusiast

3.0 out of 5 stars Amen
The book is literally a letter, 91 pages in a booklet format, I read it in about 20 minutes.

The "letter" by Sam Harris is addressed to christians re-iterating his... Read more

Published on Dec 30 2006 by Coach C

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