I dare you to read this book without getting fired up. Frankly, I don't think it can be done. Why? Because Letter To A Christian Nation by Sam Harris is intended "to demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity" and therefore is almost certain to generate a visceral response. This New York Times bestseller pulls no punches and takes no prisoners; there is no attempt on his part to meet his opponent halfway or to agree to disagree. As Harris states in the conclusion, there is a desperate need for "a public discourse that encourages critical thinking and intellectual honesty" and that nothing "stands in the way of this project more that the respect we accord religious faith." Consequently, he dispenses with such respect and call 'em as he sees 'em in no uncertain terms. And whether one is outraged by his overt assault on Christian tenets or is stamping one's feet in boisterous approval of Harris' irreverence, this book is likely to rile you up and, just maybe, cause you to deeply examine your own feelings about Christianity and, more broadly, faith itself. One way or another, this book will make you think and, as such, is far more valuable for what it does than for anything it actually says.
Sam Harris achieves his effect through both style and substance. Stylistically, this brief text (96 pages) is in the form of a letter to a Christian American, making it personal for anyone that ascribes to that faith (he uses the word "you" a lot). Furthermore, Harris can be undeniably funny and his frequently sarcastic humor can be used with devastating effect: "...53 percent of Americans are actually creationists...more than half of our neighbors believe that the entire cosmos was created six thousand years ago. This is, incidentally, about a thousand years after the Sumerians invented glue." As for the substance of his argument, Harris cites a number of issues. One obvious issue is the inconsistency between science and faith-based convictions: "The conflict between science and religion is reducible to a simple fact of human cognition and discourse: either a person has good reasons for what he believes, or he does not." But he also questions the morality embodied in the Bible, stating that Martin Luther King, Jr. (a Christian) based his non-violent approach on Mohandas Gandhi (a Hindu), who was ultimately influence by the Jains, whom Harris clearly admires, relatively speaking. This echoes the qualified approval he gave another Eastern philosophical tradition, Buddhism, in his previous bestselling work, The End Of Faith.
Whether Sam Harris makes you furious or you find yourself saying "Right on!" over and over again, Letter To A Christian Nation is a fundamentally thought-provoking book that is well worth reading. Check it out.
Letter to a Christian Nation is a well-written and concise distillation of the arguments against religion and for a worldview based on logic and reason. Given the clear an present danger to humanity posed by religiously motivated radicals and fundamentalists with access to nuclear materials or other weapons of mass destruction, this book should be required reading at the high school level.