Letter to a Christian Nation

By: Sam Harris

Narrated by: Jordan Bridges

Length: 1 hr and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

"Forty-four percent of the American population is convinced that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead sometime in the next 50 years," writes Sam Harris. "Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government actually believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this, purely on the basis of religious dogma, should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency."

In response to his award-winning best seller The End of Faith, Sam Harris received thousands of letters from Christians excoriating him for not believing in God. Letter to A Christian Nation is his courageous and controversial reply. Using rational argument, Harris offers a measured refutation of the beliefs that form the core of fundamentalist Christianity. Addressing current topics ranging from intelligent design and stem-cell research to the connections between religion and violence, Letter to A Christian Nation boldly challenges the influence that faith has on public life in the United States.

Don't miss Harris' The End of Faith.

©2006 Sam Harris. All rights reserved (P)2006 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Well written and Informative

This "letter" kept my interest. It was well organized, written, informative and narrated. The author makes his points clearly and often references specific examples to help support and explain his points. Helpful and interesting while keeping my attention throughout.

Excellent critique of Christian Fundamentalism

With brilliant clarity of thought and citing their own reference book Harris provides a pithy critique of Christianity as a basis for morality and ethics.

This is one of the most important reads

Atheists are the most hated groups in the world yet are much less likely to commit the crimes we as a Western culture find deplorable. Why? Sam Harris makes one of the most rational arguments against religion. Perhaps that may be the issue, religion is based on faith rather than logic. I applaud Sam for tackling such a divisive issue in such a respectful way. A great read!

Short and succinct

Almost too short bit still it encapsulates the basic argument that religion has become the greatest threat to human civilization, and what we can do about it.

Brief and punctual, yet provocative and relentless

If you are going on a shirt road trip or have a couple hours ahead of you on a flight, get this book. The narrator is clear and concise, and the content is brief but rich with evidence and inquiry potent enough to challenge the faith of the most devout believer and the way they view religion in the paradigm of Western culture.

A Contemplative expose of Christian belief

I would recommend this book to anyone who has the slightest question about their faith. Or anyone wondering why religion in the Middle East may be bringing us towards destruction. Sam carefully breaks down the falsehoods and fallacies of belief and asked the reader to consider their beliefs intellectually.

Perfect READ

What a wonderful book for the 21st century. This book should be sent to every Christian out there

Letter to a Christian Nation

Wonderfully written with good oration. Sam Harris is a brilliant writer and says what many think but either can't, won't, or don't care to say.

The Hypocrisy of Christianity and Revealed

Who could forget the devastation wreaked upon thousands of innocent people and a prime symbol of capitalism and modern achievement that took place on September 11, 2001? Certainly not I. What some people, religious moderates in particular, seem unable or unwilling to accept, is that acts of violence such as the cruel, unctuous and calculated murder of what were considered "oppressors" and "infidels" were motivated entirely by religious brainwashing. Education and intelligence are no guarantee of inoculation; many of the hijackers had a tertiary education.

Harris begins with a bold claim; that Christianity and its policies are murderous. It is a claim amply supported by the evidence (the Catholic's anti-condom policy in Africa being a prime example, to say nothing of the myriad religious wars being fought today). He concedes and shows great respect for Jainism, which is objectively more moral and compatible with peace in today's modern world. Jainism influenced Mahatma Gandhi (and MLK's non-violent protests by extension). The hypocrisies of Christianity are examined in detail, particularly the religious right's stance against the HPV vaccine (the virus was considered a deterrent against teenage and pre-marital intercourse by the most outlandish Republicans), abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Essentially, Christians worship a hypocritical tyrant who cares nothing for blastocysts, which are naturally aborted via miscarriages in the majority of pregnancies. Harris could have bolstered his case with Exodus 21:22, but his point is still substantial and yet to be refuted.

"Mother" Teresa is given a harsh yet fair beating. As Hitchens eloquently put it, she was allied with poverty itself, not the poor who had to endure it. Her opposition towards analgesics and contraception ensured that women in third-world countries remained oppressed and uneducated. Her primitive morality and blind acceptance of Church dogma in relation to abortion has left her emotionally stunted and quagmired in the first stage of moral development (rewards and punishments/blind obedience to authority). By considering fertilised eggs to be the moral equivalent of fully-developed children, her priorities are, by definition, backwards. Such paradigms prevent otherwise compassionate human beings from working towards solving true moral problems, such as poverty, genocide and "honour" killings (which Harris rightfully treats with trenchant scorn in this book).

Slavery is never condemned outright in the bible, and "Saint" Paul instructed slaves to be extra-nice to their Christian masters. This isn't morality. This is propaganda written by slave-owners who lived in the lap of luxury. Funnily enough, Ravi Zacharias does not even touch on the issue in The End of Reason (to the best of my recollection). If the blatant contradictions of the bible weren't enough, the admonishments and edicts of Jesus make something transparent - the atrocious laws and regulations of the old testament are not to be altered until all is fulfilled (and despite apologetic hand-wringing, there are no verses that support their claims that Jesus fulfilled all of the laws upon his return; obedience is a far cry from fulfillment). The glut of contradictions between the gospels, written decades after their supposed events, are enough by themselves to disprove the presence of a divine hand. Theologians have as yet been unable to explain why multiple gospels were required for the life of just one man. If he is as crucial to human history and salvation as his followers claim, the tomes could be expected to be wordier and less ambiguous, for starters.

Harris is rightly concerned at the NAS' capitulation and deference to religion (understandable given that a sizable proportion of the US public rejects the fact of evolution). Although unstated, a Christian Taliban is feared and would result in grievously abhorrent consequences. Harris echoes Bill Maher's sentiments in Religulous: as a society, we must grow up or perish at the hands of fundamentalists.

Transformative

Harris’ best work, in my opinion. Terse and transformative. You’ll be pulling it off your shelf year after year to refresh and rearm yourself in debate with theists.