1 post tagged “transcendence”
Sam Harris's new book, Letter to a Christian Nation, is a rant against Christians, specifically, and all theists, generally. It is not deeply argued. Harris gets away with ad hominems ad nausea, and fails to demonstrate that his assumptions (as an atheist) are better than mine (as a theist).
A central theme in the book is his definition of morality as the alleviation of suffering and the promotion of happiness. Interesting definition given the fact that Harris offers no basis for the belief that suffering is bad and happiness is good.
So, while he charges God-believers with all manner of evils, including the "evil" of circular reasoning, Harris fails himself to rescue himself out of his own circularity. (Sam, let us know if you ever catch your tail.)
On the whole, it is a good book for a Christian to read as it presents at least the basic problems that unbelievers and atheists have with the Faith. It is also a good book for unbelievers to read, as it shows that ranting does little to quench the thirst in the human soul for transcendent truth. Sorry, Sam. It is the way you were made.
