“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that suc... (show more)
“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.”
So begins Letter to a Christian Nation…
www.samharris.org (show less)
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All books that challenge religious faith, such as Dawkins's The God Delusion or God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, must overlap somewhat on ... (show more)
All books that challenge religious faith, such as Dawkins's The God Delusion or God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, must overlap somewhat on the arguments offered. After all there are only so many arguments the believers give, so there can only be so many arguments against them. What differentiates these books, then, apart from some of the specifics of how those arguments are addressed, is their tone and focus.
While The God Delusion attacked the irrationality of religion and looked for truth in the debate, Harris writes as though he is genuinely worried for the future of humanity if it remains firmly in religion’s grip. For example, one of his central arguments is that, considering a large proportion of the States, including its politicians, believes in the truth of the Book of Revelation, if a world gripped by nuclear war saw New York and Washington DC turned into smoking craters, a large number of people might actually rejoice in the belief that this may herald the glorious second coming of Jesus. Assuming they would be wrong, this would not be a very helpful state of affairs in the subsequent struggles to rebuild American society.
While Dawkins writes like a lecturer going through facts and inferences he has found to argue his case, Harris’s writing brings to mind a man desperately rushing through a busy street, grabbing people’s lapels and shaking them, shouting “Don’t you see? We must do something! Don’t you see?” I believe that both of these approaches are important and, having read Harris’s letter, I can understand why he is worried. (show less)
The arguments put forth over centuries by the greatest of philosophers simplified though perhaps if these arguments were specified when brought up ... (show more)
The arguments put forth over centuries by the greatest of philosophers simplified though perhaps if these arguments were specified when brought up (moral and natural evil, inconsistent triads,soul-making, mystics, miracles, etc) it would add to the amatuer atheists' weight in debate. While Harris uses logical examples, the tone of the book is pompous, arrogant, and would potentially turn off any reader of faith from going past the first few pages. Religion itself defies logic and reason, as do many beliefs whether teleologically based or not but that does not prevent people from believing or having faith. This age old debate will not be settled with this book, there are no intellectual challenges put forth, and it appears as though the inability to concede that people are different, and no two people will agree 100% will keep Harris, Hitchens, and others on the defensive. Rather than berate, friendly atheism needs application and through understanding fellow human beings only then will their be rationale discussion on the subject. Overall,I feel this particular book will not change the fundamentalists mind and has potential to drive the wedge even further between believers and non-believers. (show less)
This is a book if you are a Christian you should consider reading. Before you read the book google Christian Reconstructionism and Dominion theology. Read who the major players are of each movement, what their goals are and what churches, philosophically tend to be the most aligned to those ideals. Than goggle the lemon laws and the court case that preceded it, Lemon vs Kurtzman. Than read the 1st amendment of the Constitution of the U.S. If you do those 4 things this 96 page book will p... (show more)
This is a book if you are a Christian you should consider reading. Before you read the book google Christian Reconstructionism and Dominion theology. Read who the major players are of each movement, what their goals are and what churches, philosophically tend to be the most aligned to those ideals. Than goggle the lemon laws and the court case that preceded it, Lemon vs Kurtzman. Than read the 1st amendment of the Constitution of the U.S. If you do those 4 things this 96 page book will probably make more sense and may impact you more than if you don't.
The book, written as a letter to Christians is a series of thoughts on questions to Americans who wish to Christianize the USA and disolve the idea of seperation of Church and State. It covers topics such as the morality of birth control, the morality of the 10 commandments, the question of the "first mover" also called "outside mover", introspection into the wisdom of the Bible, and other similar topics.
It is a quick read with serious questions that answered or unanswered will impact those around irregardless if they believe in your God or not. It is a book that discusses the implications of integration of Church and State in sociological, political and moral terms. (show less)
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91 small pages with one big message.
If you as reader ever had the feeling that "something was just not right" with basic explanations about morality provided by the World's top religiouns .. I recommend this book. Do you personally believe that, if a woman is not a virgin on her wedding day, that the groom has the right to "stone her to death at her father's doorstep"? If not, you might be dealing with a book whose advice is out of touch. I have about 13 favorite cita... (show more)
91 small pages with one big message.
If you as reader ever had the feeling that "something was just not right" with basic explanations about morality provided by the World's top religiouns .. I recommend this book. Do you personally believe that, if a woman is not a virgin on her wedding day, that the groom has the right to "stone her to death at her father's doorstep"? If not, you might be dealing with a book whose advice is out of touch. I have about 13 favorite citations in this book but I've chosen two to share here:
If you think it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures. [...] Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: "Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being". Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible. It is impossible to behave in this way by adhering to the principles of Jainism. How, then, can you argue that the Bible provides the clearest statement of morality the world has ever seen?
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A three-day old human embryo is a collection of 150 cells called a blastocyst. There are, for the sake of comparison, more than 100,000 cells in the brain of a fly. The human embryos that are destroyed in stem-cell research do not have brains, or even neurons. Consequently, there is no reason to believe they can suffer in their destruction in any way at all. [...] If you are concerned about suffering in the universe, killing a fly should present you with greater moral difficulty than killing a human blastocyst. (show less)
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