Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris

  (out of 5 stars)

Having read Harris' more substantial work The End of Faith (and given it 4/5 stars despite having some signficant disagreements with some of his points), I finally picked up the much shorter (96 pages) Letter for a quick read. It reads mostly like a condensed, directed version of Faith and offers very little new material for the reader, Christian or atheist.

There really isn't much to discuss about the book. It is a one-sided conversation Harris is having with the anonymous Christian reader (though it is doubtful many actual Christians will read the book). Harris uses many of the same arguments he puts forward in Faith to support his thesis that religion is dangerous and that Christians in the US are no more correct or moral, and make no more positive contributions than any other group of people.

I've read other reviews which trash this book as 'preaching to the choir'. I do agree that, despite the fact that this letter is to a 'Christian', this is largely intended for atheistic audiences. However, 'preaching to the choir' is not really a legitimate knock on this or any work. Until the mid-2000s, most US atheists had no popular voices for their point of view. What Harris (and other vocal atheists) have done is provide a provacative (and antagonist) voice for those of us who have had almost no one speaking on our behalf. While I agree that Harris is confrontational, I argue that that is his point. Atheists have long needed a few loud-mouthed antagonizers to bring our issues into popular discussion, and we certainly could not have done so if Harris et. al. were polite reconcilators.

Overall, this book is just a condensed version of Faith and will largely serve as a booster for atheists who need to find arguments which speak to their own positions. Three and one-half stars.