Letter to a Christan Nation

Sam Harris is an author who writes on atheism and religion. Letter to a Christan Nation is his epistle to fundamentalist Christians.

Harris touches on the logical problems of faith, but the main thrust of his argument is that Christianity is not inherently moral. If morality is defined as dealing with human suffering and happiness, then it has nothing to do with modern religion. Modern Christianity is more concerned with saving a few blobs of cells than curing devastating religions, and more concerned with making sure people don't have "sinful" sex instead of protecting them from STDs or unwanted pregnancies. As such, religion is more focused on its own fantastical description of God and the afterlife than the real life suffering in the world.

Harris also compares Islam to Christianity, and points out that a Christian looking at the Muslim faith will see it as irrational and without any basis in reality. In truth, Christan fundamentalists are much closer to Islamic fundamentalists than any liberal Westerners.

The book gets an A-. For its shortness, under 100 pages, it does a pretty good job of hitting the main points with modern religion.