FYI - Sam Harris' New Book "Letter To A Xtian Nation" Out on 9/19/6

[stopbush]

Just a heads up. You can pre-order at amazon.

Editorial Reviews
Review
“Sam Harris’s elegant little book is most refreshing and a wonderful source of ammunition for those who, like me, hold to no religious doctrine. Yet I have some sympathy also with those who might be worried by his uncompromising stance. Read it and form your own view, but do not ignore its message.”
–Sir Roger Penrose, emeritus professor of mathematics, Oxford University,
author of The Road to Reality

“Reading Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation was like sitting ring side, cheering the champion, yelling ‘Yes!’ at every jab. For those of us who feel depressed by this country’s ever increasing unification of church and state, and the ever decreasing support for the sciences that deliver knowledge and reduce ignorance, this little book is a welcome hit of adrenalin.”
–Marc Hauser, Harvard College Professor, author of Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Sense of Right and Wrong

“I can’t sign my name to this blurb. As a New York Times best selling author of books about business, my career will evaporate if I endorse a book that challenges the deeply held superstitions and bigotry of the masses. That’s exactly why you should (no, you must) read this angry and honest book right away. As long as science and rational thought are under attack by the misguided yet pious majority, our nation is in jeopardy. I’m scared. You should be too. Please buy two, one for you and one for a friend you care about.”
–Unsigned, New York Times best selling author

“It’s a shame that not everyone in this country will read Sam Harris’ marvelous little book Letter to a Christian Nation. They won’t but they should.”
–Leonard Susskind, Felix Bloch Professor in theoretical physics, Stanford University, author of The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design

“We all know about good things that have been derived from bad ideas. Modern religions serve many social goods such as health care for the poor. The problem is that is also services many reprehensible ideas. Harris blows the whistle, pointing out the religions of the world are based on human generated vengeful stories. Read this book and you decide your stance for the future.”
–Michael S. Gazzaniga, Director of the Sage Center for the Study of Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of The Ethical Brain

“Sam Harris fearlessly describes a moral and intellectual emergency precipitated by religious fantasies–misguided beliefs that create suffering, that rationalize violence, that have endangered our nation and our future. His argument for the morality, the honesty, and the humility of atheism is galvanizing. It is a relief that someone has spoken so frankly, with such passion yet such rationality. Now when the subject arises, as it inevitably does, I can simply say: Read Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation.”
–Janna Levin, Columbia University, author of How the Universe Got Its Spots and A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines

Book Description
“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

[wellst0nev0ter]

1. I Found Sam Harris's Last Book To Be Smug And Sophomoric, and Useless

Yes, he's done a good job in The End of Faith pointing out how organized religion was responsible for almost all of the world's violence and how illogical all of it is when you look at it with a detached eye, but castigating and mocking religious people rarely wins you converts, and he fails to mention how atheists aren't immune to the type of violence and immorality he assigns to those professing a religious doctrine (think the communists and sans-culottes).

But where he really loses me is how he treats Muslims in his book. Apart from advocating torture and the war with Iraq, he treats Muslims like a whole other species of the human animals, even saying outright that Muslims are not capable of loving their women. Thank you, but I can find more substantive discussions about atheism from someone who doesn't make smart-ass comments from the back of the classroom.

[sadiesworld]

2. Religion has genrally been used as a cover (a way to unify the masses)

for power and the control of natural resources. It's certainly true today.

And the elites are thrilled when we play their divisive, cynical games.

[wellst0nev0ter]

5. Well Sam Harris Is Using Religion As An Enemy To Rally Against

especially the Islamic religion, which is also wrong and arrogant of him.

[sadiesworld]

6. Agreed.

My point is live and let live as much as is reasonably possible concerning religion (and I'm not crazy about missionary work either-religious OR secular), then perhaps we could all focus on following the money.

[stopbush]

3. I agree with your analysis of Harris' attitudes toward Muslims.

I also found End of Faith very heavy going in the middle.

This new book is supposedly shorter and more to the point.

As far as mocking religious people - turnabout is fair play. I don't think he's trying
to convert anybody.

[wellst0nev0ter]

4. If He's Not Trying To Convince People, Then That's The Problem

He's just preaching to the choir and not doing anything to further the debate. In fact by advocating torture and the Iraq war he takes away from the debate and fails to convince me that atheists are less of fools, sadists and miscreants than overly religious people.

[Mr Rabble]

7. How else can you tell someone that they suffer from

a delusion? Is there a polite way to tell someone that their entire worldview is based on science fiction- without sounding condescending?

I have thought about this for decades. I have still not come up with a suitable alternative to mockery.