>Letter to a Christian Nation

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As well-written as this book is, I doubt that it will persuade anyone to abandon his/her religion, and I’d be surprised if many Christians actually read it. It seems more likely to appeal to people like me–nonbelievers looking for help in explaining why religion makes no sense. It’s why I subscribe to “Free Inquiry” and it’s why Buddhism–the philosophical system moral practice without the relgious underpinnings–has long attracted me.

So I was already convinced when I opened this book, which is best understood as a response to critics of the author’s previous book, The End of Faith. There are numerous choice barbs here, but let me just offer one:

“The choice before us is simple: we can either have a twenty-first-century conversation about morality and human well-being–a conversation in which we avail ourselves of all the scientific insights and philosophical arguments that have accumulated in the last two thousand years of human discourse–or we can confine ourselves to a first-century conversation as it is preserved in the Bible. Why would anyone want to take the latter approach?”

For more about Sam Harris and his views (and to participate in a lively forum), check out www.samharris.org.

About the author

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.

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