SAM HARRIS SCORES AGAIN
Congratulations to Sam Harris for his little gem: "A Letter to a Christian Nation".
Our bookclub appreciated his groundbreaking "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason". A few days later we showed some of our bookclub members the hour tape of Harris presenting his ideas (while being taped by CSPAN) at a liberal Jewish synagogue in Irvine, California ( home to U.C. Irvine).
Now appears a slim book summarizing the huge amount of letters he received, with the most vitriolic coming from the most pious! Go figure!
Harris begins:
“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.”
And I liked the following mini-review appearing on amazon.com website:
“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
Go, Harris, Go!!
Our bookclub appreciated his groundbreaking "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason". A few days later we showed some of our bookclub members the hour tape of Harris presenting his ideas (while being taped by CSPAN) at a liberal Jewish synagogue in Irvine, California ( home to U.C. Irvine).
Now appears a slim book summarizing the huge amount of letters he received, with the most vitriolic coming from the most pious! Go figure!
Harris begins:
“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.”
And I liked the following mini-review appearing on amazon.com website:
“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
Go, Harris, Go!!
posted by ted at 4:50 PM
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