Christians, have any of you read Sam Harris' "Letter to a Christian Nation"?

Question

Will you provide a review please? Non-christians feel free to do so as well.

Answer 1

Letter to a Christian Nation is a non-fiction book by Sam Harris, written in response to feedback he received following the publication of his first book The End of Faith. The book, a slim volume, is written in the form of an open letter to a Christian. Harris states that his aim is "to demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms." The book was released in September 2006. In October it entered the New York Times Best Seller list at number seven.

Harris addresses his arguments to members of the conservative Christian Right in America. In answer to their appeal to the Bible on all questions of morality, he points to the harsh moral code of the Old Testament (death for adultery, homosexuality, disobedience to parents etc.), and contrasts this with, for example, the complete non-violence of Jainism. Harris argues that the reliance on dogma can create a false morality, which is divorced from the reality of human suffering and the efforts to alleviate it; thus religious objections stand in the way of condom use, stem-cell research, abortion, and the use of a promising new vaccine for the human papilloma virus.

On the intellectual front Harris tackles the problem of evil—the difficulty in believing in a good God who allows disasters like Hurricane Katrina—and the conflict between religion and science. A recent Gallup poll suggested that 53 per cent of Americans are creationists, so Harris spends some time arguing for evolution and against the notion of Intelligent Design.

Harris then widens his argument to consider the variety of religions in the world and their mutual antagonism, drawing attention to the religious basis for many ethnic and inter-communal conflicts. There are those who hope for progress through religious tolerance, mutual respect, and interfaith dialogue, but Harris thinks this only makes it more difficult to criticize faith-based extremism. While readily admitting that spiritual experiences can be valuable and life-enhancing, he is concerned that these should not be linked to religious beliefs. He admits that religion may have served some useful purpose for humanity in the past, but argues that it is now the greatest impediment to building a global civilization.

Answer 2

I have no read it but I understand the basic premise and I agree.

For those who have seen anything of me on yahoo have noticed I think organized religion is the root of all evil and the worst thing humanity has ever created.
I think religion in of itself would be fine but when for some reason people think they should organize it and when that is done you make a vehicle of destruction and chaos. You make rules and then make lines in the sand as to who is right and wrong about stuff that NO ONE can know and dispute people who have PROOF for an argument because you have "faith". Because as the majority of the Earth's population is religious and the Earth is headed for destruction the logic is clear...the religious (who 99% of which don't obey their so called precepts) are causing all these problems and because they wear the name tag of a God then obviously there is no way it is their fault so they blame the vast minority who don't follow God and blame all the problems on the religious's right inability to force everyone to do things their way.

To the religious I made a challenge....stop blaming the non-religious and instead ACT like your religion says to..then we can see how easily we can solve our problems when the majority of people actually PRACTICE generosity, tolerance, fairness, justice, etc. You never know, it might just work..it certainly hasn't been tried yet


To Johnny Cee i say that you might get the same feeling from my words and you would be correct. It is because people brandish "Christian" as being better than everyone else and lord it over people. I believe in God but I find all religions are not correct for me....of all the religions it is the Christians I get the most sh*t from as if the fact that they are "Christians" gives them the right to look at me like a retard or a disobediant child. I am in NO way saying it is worse than other religions but Christianity in general is a very arrogant religion which has no right to be.

Answer 3

i'm no longer a Christian, yet i've got examine "Letter to a Christian united states of america" and now i'm analyzing "the top of religion". i know... that's out of order. end of religion got here in the previous Letter... yet Letter is so darned short. I have been given by using it in a pair hours. i presumed it became nicely accomplished, yet i'm liking end of religion a lot greater.

Answer 4

Sam Harris is obviously an intelligent writer. But somehow I get the feeling he has issues with Basic Christianity, not to mention the Bible in general. I find my self feeling sorry for Mr Harris in light of his position.
I Cr 13;8a

Answer 5

I live in Thailand, where affordable English-language books are hard to come by. I did read End of Faith and loved it. Looking forward to picking up "Letter ..." next time I'm in U.S.

Answer 6

I love Same Harris!

Answer 7

I've read it, but I'll read more of it if you're going to post some text or provide a link!

Answer 8

The new Bible for those who hate the idea of a bible.