Books
Here be the anti-theists
Published 11 December 2006
Letter to a Christian Nation
Sam Harris Knopf, 96pp, £10
Sam Harris's first book, The End of Faith, published two years ago, brought him acclaim, exposure and – in reaction to its condemnation of religion – thousands of emails from enraged Christians.
Letter to a Christian Nation is his modest rejoinder. The arguments in the newer book repeat many of those in the older: Christianity is dangerously irrational, its persecution of other religions is deep-rooted, "sin" is a guilt-inducing concept, faith perverts trust, respect and tolerance.
Harris’s focus has shifted, however. Where The End of Faith was shadowed by Islamic terrorism, Letter aims at conservative Christians, particularly in the US, who oppose stem-cell research, condoms and abortion. But just as Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion has been criticised for not being well enough informed about modern theology, so Harris, if he wishes to defeat Christianity, must come to terms with its intellectual advocates – John Hick and Richard Swinburne, to name two – not merely its hotheads and populists.
Harris's book is also oddly free of dialogue. Surely the many emails included a few well-argued ripostes. In failing to address the most challenging arguments, he is in danger of provoking more trenchant missives.
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