"Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris is a quickly, but thoughtfully written response by Harris to the thousands of letters he received after his first book "End of Faith" hit the bookstores. Like a dentist who has hit a nerve, Harris tweaked the "faith" nerve of America and people wrote back to "testify" that he was wrong and/or attempt to convert this atheist. According to Harris, many of the letters were couched in distinctly non-Christian language and exuded an attitude of hate and intolerance. Many of the letters made it perfectly clear that they were written by Christians as they included chapter and verse citations from the Christian bible.
In this book Harris responds in kind - citing chapter and verse - and treating the beliefs of Christians with no more respect and tolerance than they have apparently shown him. Or that we all feel towards radical Muslim terrorists. Indeed, much of his argument is that Christians have no more reason to think their religion and God is any more certain than a Muslim feels about his. And they both can't be right. He even warns liberal and moderate Christians that their moderation will get them nowhere in a world where there appears to be no moderate Muslims.
Probably the scariest part of the book for me are the statistics on anti-science beliefs and attitudes in the United States and the idea that 44% of Americans expect AND WELCOME a cataclysmic end to the world within the next 50 years. If we have long term planners influenced by such people, we are indeed in trouble.
I'm appalled that such a book as this has to be written but I would definitely recommend this book.
I can't remember the exact citation, but I believe Harris was referring to the lack of any significant Muslim organization condemning the radicals or even pointing out alternative interpretations of the Quran that would not justify the actions of the violent radicals.
ReplyDeleteThe Western world has a tradition, now several centuries old, of peaceful, rational dialogue between various styles of Christianity. Can Islam claim the same? Harris suggests it cannot.