Sam Harris, "Letter to a Christian Nation," Reviewed

I am reading through the new book by Sam Harris, "Letter to a Christian Nation," and thought I would share my thoughts on it. Sam Harris is an atheist who addresses his book to Christians in an attempt to point out how illogical they are. His goal is to awaken Americans to the dangers of religion in hopes of a future America where atheism is the predominant belief. I am not yet halfway through this very short book, and I have many reactions already, but I will narrow them to a few.

1. I agree with Harris' assessment early in the book, “If the Bible is an ordinary book, and Christ an ordinary man, the history of Christian theology is the story of bookish men parsing a collective delusion (p.5)." How true! So many "Christians" want to pretend that the only important part of their faith is the moral guidlines. They seem to think that whether or not all the claims of the Bible and of Jesus are true or not is not so important. I may believe them, but if somebody else doesn't, so what? Whatever works for them. Yet Harris understands the problem brilliantly: if the main claims of your faith aren't true, what good are they?

2. However, Harris' next statement reveals his negative thinking when it comes to Christianity:
"If the basic tenets of Christianity are true, then there are some very grim surprises in store for nonbelievers like myself (p.5).” I know what he is getting at here, but I would argue to the contrary, if they are true, what wonderful news for everyone! If you are not a Christian, have you ever stopped to think of the implications if Christianity is true? God became a man and died for you! Now you can have a relationship with God-I mean really- G-O-D, GOD! Although it almost seems like you would have to be a fool to believe something like this, what if it really were true? I can tell you, in my own life, I have found it to be true, and it is amazing.

I will post again shortly on some of my other reactions.