 | | |
| Letter to a Christian Nation (Vintage) | 
 enlarge | List Price: $11.00
Buy New: $5.89
You Save: $5.11 (46%)
Buy New/Used from $5.09
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 621 reviews)
Sales Rank: 4757
Category: Book
Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Vintage
Studio: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Label: Vintage
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5
ISBN: 0307278778
Dewey Decimal Number: 277.3083
EAN: 9780307278777
ASIN: 0307278778
Publication Date: January 8, 2008
Release Date: January 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From the new afterword by the author:
Humanity has had a long fascination with blood sacrifice. In fact, it has been by no means uncommon for a child to be born into this world only to be patiently and lovingly reared by religious maniacs, who believe that the best way to keep the sun on its course or to ensure a rich harvest is to lead him by tender hand into a field or to a mountaintop and bury, butcher, or burn him alive as offering to an invisible God. The notion that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that his death constitutes a successful propitiation of a ?loving? God is a direct and undisguised inheritance of the superstitious bloodletting that has plagued bewildered people throughout history. . .
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 616 more reviews...
 A Tribute to Christian Hate Mail November 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Here, Harris responds to the thousands of mostly indignant letters he got for writing "The End of Faith". We might assume he is attacking a stereotype of Christianity, as a fanatically intolerant relic of the Dark Ages. But it seems these Christian letter writers really did convince him, quoting chapter and verse, that their religion stands for bigotry.
To me, Harris's letter sounds roughly like an argument between two Americans, one a critical thinker, and the other some kind of super-patriot who actually insists that everything said or done in American history has been God's will, because America is God's country. That would roughly compare to claims of inerrancy for the Bible's vast record of ancient Middle Eastern civilizations.
Harris makes reasonable arguments against the delusions of thinking we speak for God. We would all applaud his efforts if he was a Saudi Arabian or Iranian doing likewise against Islamic fanaticism. Harris knows this, and uses our current fear of Islamists to discredit similarly fanatical Christians. But most Christians and Muslims both will feel he depicts their religions as believed by their stupidest members.
--author of "Different Visions of Love"
 this guy has it right October 30, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
i really enjoyed this book. i had read his other book, the end of faith, and it was ok but this one hits it right on.
Sam Harris' "Letter" adds fuel to the current fire. October 20, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Anyone interested in religion and its role in today's society should read Harris brief, one sitting "Letter." Can you spend $8.80 in order to educate yourself on why so many millions worldwide reject religion? Hopefully, folks who buy this book and read it are on the fence about their beliefs. It appears that many of the reviewers here at Amazon had their minds made up prior to even picking up this book (and I must include myself in that group, but I've done quite a bit of reading lately on religion and society).
 Not what I thought it was going to be... October 14, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was thinking this was going to be much more of an intellectual book with well thought out arguments. Sam Harris just did not deliver the book that I thought it was going to be, this book is full of holes and bad reasoning. Sam Harris, I thought you were smarter than this...
GET...right on outta town! October 10, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have to say that I began reading this book as one critical to the point of view expressed. I thought it was an extraordinarily well-written letter, using good grammar and turns of phrase, that though smarmy and condescending, were still of the highest literary quality. I started sympathizing with the author, because I'll admit, as everyone should, that not all Christians are "tolerant" of other points of view (like Sarah Palin is! ... couldn't resist). Roundabout page 21, Harris's argument got a little thin around the 10 Commandments ... I thought he was overly grasping, just to doggedly make his point. He gradually minced backwards until he admitted that at least commandments 5-9 were good ... and later on, I believe he indirectly endorsed #10 (like oh, by the way, envy, jealousy, coveting, etc. can be bad). Soon after, on page 26 his argument got a little thin again ... I'll let you read it for yourself.
This micro-tome on the injuries and idiocy of organized religion finished stronger than it started out, but still lapsed occasionally into sneering and pure name-calling. Also, conspicuously missing is any more than a passing mention of atheist ills and wrongdoings. Harris, Dawkins and basically every atheist advocate (though rightly reproachful of religious mobs) all fail to acknowledge the murder records associated with famous atheists. Thomas Aquinous, Popes Pious X and XII were famous Christians mentioned ... let's talk about some atheists that really got the world's attention! Socialism (to use the general term, which includes[ed] Nazis, Marxists, Communists, Maoists, and a dozen other political ideals which hinge on a faithless society to govern. BTW, Hitler cannot be described as anymore than a nominal, non-practicing, non-observant child of Christian parents, who admired the tenants of at least 3 religions insofar as they would further justify his persecution of Jews and his championing of the master races), anyway, Socialism is responsible for far many more murders/deaths/kills than Christianity. China's Great Leap Forward alone ended in roughly 25MM premature dirt-naps. Part of this is organizational (governments have more horsepower when it comes to killing than do private entities like a religious group), and part of it is that most religions condemn killing without good cause. He makes the irrefutable point that many groups of Christians, Muslims, Hindus and myriad others still have killed, though fails to mention there has always been dissent among them as well, showing a lack of dedication to religious killings overall ... socialist atheists haven't even this mild influence, and are thus left to depend on the (Harris's atheist assertion) intellectually obvious "morals" non-religious people can arrive at without the influence of religion. Nice job, Stalin! Way to misuse or ignore the Harris System to kill over 14MM (just like Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists have ignored the basics of religion ... and there I was thinking atheists were superior?!?!). Oh yeah, and Harris thinks science and religion don't mix ... this is where I stare at the screen and contemplate what would happen if the most integral part of science were faith, or the keystone of religion were emperical proof. Thanks for the head's up, Harris.
I find his framing the whole abortion issue around 3-day old blastocysts, used for stem cell research to be especially ludicrous yet prima facia ingenious. If you let Harris couch the argument as such, you really are missing out on the whole partial-birth thing ... oh yeah, that ... the thing that makes most people want to puke. I have seen folks get up and leave the discussion, the table and the room when the details of why partial-birth abortions are murder come up. These are pro-choice individuals without the stomach to fly the flag of their "convictions". I've heard them say, "If men had babies, abortion would be sacrosanct!" While a memorable and catchy phrase, this is not a valid argument any more than, "If Africans had reciprocally traded in white slaves, then slavery would've been OK." It has an air of fairness about it, but entirely misses the point. The harvest of thousands of petri-dish-blastocysts (though troubling to some) isn't really what the abortion battle is about. It is, however, viewed by both sides as a crucial stepping stone to partial-birth.
We religious nuts (which I'm actually not ... not even a moderate or religious liberal; I use this phrase only to identify with the thinking of the actual church folk, and to satirize Harris's caricature of believers as somehow mentally inept), anyway, we nuts aren't st-st-stoopid. We realize the benefits of stem cell research, and know all about the roughly 50% of all pregnancies being naturally aborted. We also know that a fetus torn limb from limb on the mother's whim is a grotesque miscarriage and misapplication of morals, and even writing about it makes me want to get up and leave the room . I know partial-birth bans are a stepping stone to blanket bans ... I also know framing the abortion issue around blastocysts is a chicken-poo and small minded tach, and is thusly receiving all the respect it deserves here in my review.
Finally, Harris closes with a moderately smug and again condescending entreat for all readers to please read up on the topic and join him and the other culturally enlightened souls who despise organized religion. The language is more than a little demeaning and harsh, which I sort of let slide, and his logic is mostly in step with the jack-booted rank and file atheists who want to tear down monuments and waste public dollars making uncultured and rustic rubes like me feel inferior. To rephrase, it gets a little thin more than once. I like that this book makes one think, and in that, I would say Harris enjoys total success. He isn't a bad writer or some demon-man (as far as I can tell). In short, nice little book with good points scattered throughout. However ... if you finish it, and say to yourself, "I agree with everything HE said", then I would say, "GET right on outta town!"
|
|
|
 Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |
