Letters to a Christian Nation - Free Download

Phat:

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I would wager that many of you agree with Sam Harris's view on "all religions".

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That's a safe bet.

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I keep my beliefs despite honest criticism from the likes of Harris and others.

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Of course you do!

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Perhaps one way that I differ from you is that my belief is very important to me.

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Given that atheists do not have beliefs in gods, that's another safe bet.

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Jesus is very important to me. To many of you, He is but a character in a storybook written by humans.

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If he even existed at all, he was a character in a storybook. If you want to find out the story of the real Jesus, I suggest you look to historians rather than pastors. Try Bart Ehrman as a starter. (He accepts a historical Jesus.)

Let's drill down a little bit: If Christian reasons for accepting Christianity are equally compelling to Muslim reasons for accepting Islam, what is the argument for choosing Christianity? You go on: And Muslim beliefs are very important to them. Allah and Mohammed are very important to them. How does the importance you attach to your beliefs take precedence over the importance they attach to theirs?The answer is the same as why you wear a jacket and tie to weddings and funerals. Maybe you don't, but at least you don't wear shorts, wife beaters and go barefoot. Why not? Why is it a jacket and tie that shows respect and not shorts and T-shirt? If there were some objective reason for what attire was appropriate, wouldn't we be wearing the same thing today as they did thousands of years ago?The reason we wear what we wear is cultural, which changes. There's no timeless right answer.And the reason we believe what we believe spiritually is environmental, which changes. There is no timeless right answer. Generally, however you were raised, that's what you believe. This is true a remarkably high percentage of the time. If you'd been born in Tehran instead of Denver you'd worship Allah and be as convinced of the truth of Islam as you are now of Christianity.I will wear a jacket and tie to the next wedding or funeral I attend, but I will do so in full knowledge that it is cultural and not an immutable requirement. I do it because I like my culture and want to fit in to this culture I like so much, but I also understand that I like this culture only because it is the one in which I was raised. Had I been raised in a different culture I would like that one.I'm making a point that has been made to you dozens of times. There is nothing unique about Christianity. Sure, it's unique in the specifics, but not in the beliefs about the qualities of Christianity itself. Most adherents think their religion the one, right and true religion. You are not in any way unique in that regard. Why do you think you're right and adherents of other religions are wrong? Why do they believe the same about you? How do you determine who's right?The key question is, when everyone thinks their particular set of beliefs are the only correct ones, and when no one has proof of the truth of the basic tenets of their faith, isn't it a certainty that no one is right?--Percy

Harris is the better writer, but I think we've already made all the same arguments over the years, and he's never shown any indication that he comprehends those arguments. Only by offering counter-arguments could he show he understands the original arguments, but he doesn't. Time and again he just says that his beliefs won't change.But we're not trying to get him to change his beliefs. We're just trying to get him to understand why he holds the beliefs that he does. At this point I don't even care whether he accepted those reasons. Just getting him to understand the arguments would be a major accomplishment in itself. In effect he's saying, "I don't care what you say, I'm going to keep believing what I believe." That's the answer that time and again reveals that he doesn't understand what we're saying. He gets the general idea that we're arguing against religious belief, but that's as far as he goes.--Percy

And Phat is not the least bit interested in having such an understanding.

I should be telling you guys why I hold the beliefs that I do. You are not capable of understanding my beliefs as well as I do. Quite frankly, I find it hard to trust advice from a man such as Sam Harris who is not a believer. He simply does not understand God. One does not understand God through secular psychology.

Nobody expects you to trust Sam Harris, or his advice. You are instead being asked to try to understand his arguments. You don't have to trust him to decide whether his reasoning is sound.

His reasoning is sound. Perhaps it is my reasoning and rationale is unsound, for I believe that we are all in a spiritual war and that rationality and reason itself have been hijacked. People are increasingly irrational and unreasonable.My only solution is to turn off the media, engage in perhaps a half day or one day water fast, and allow my own rationality and reason to return to me.Does anyone here realize how much observing daily shoplifting affects me? In The NewsWhen I see stuff like that, I am afraid that the world is turning more selfish and evil.

Yes, you should. Why don't you? Why haven't you? Why do keep stepping up to the precipice of explanation and then offer...nothing? Why don't you explain to us how even if you were born and raised in Tehran that you'd be a Bible-believing Christian, and how it is that the culture in which you were raised has nothing to do with the beliefs that you hold. I think we understand your beliefs as well as we need to. What's important is why you hold those beliefs. You don't trust a man offering sound reasoning? Is it everyone's "rationality and reason" that has been "hijacked?" Or just your own.--Percy

Yes, we realize that because of the way that you keep bringing the issue up./It is really quite simple. Your employer can reduce the amount of shoplifting by hiring more staff to watch for it.You employer won't do that, because the cost of the extra staff would be greater than the loss from shoplifting.You say that you are a libertarian, so you believe that your employer should be free to make that decision.Why are you whining to liberals instead of recognizing that the fault is with your own libertarianism?

I can't believe that you liberals are not as outraged as I am at the entitlement mentality of drug-addicted thieves who even laugh in our faces as they steal before our very eyes. All you tell me is that I am not behaving as Jesus would towards them. Believe me it's hard.I was taught never to steal. I was taught to respect the status quo rather than trying to overthrow it!I feel an urge to knock them over the head with a stick and have them arrested so that they will understand the limits of their entitlement. (that's my flesh talking. I would never do such a thing. I'm just telling you what emotions boil up within me)I can't understand why you people empathize with them and not with the workers who can't stop the stealing. You look at it as a mere economic entry on the company books and none of our business. Don't you understand that people are behaving irrationally? ALL OVER THE WORLD! I feel as if they are indirectly stealing from ME!

Its not that the cost of the staff would be greater than the losses. It is the potential tangle of lawsuits from people who want to defund the police, get something from the 'rich and powerful" rather than work like poor people did in the 1930s, and essentially become equal without putting in the hard work.Yes, I know. Jesus would help them and I often do also. For everyone I help, ten more steal from my store. (Oh that's right. It isn't my store! I almost forgot! )And if I am smart enough to realize it is not my store, why do the thieves think it is their store and their stuff???!!! Dont any one of you see the societal breakdown as the poor and marginalized pressure the business owners and global capitalists? What do you wanna be? Marxists? [/rant]

Could be you're in the wrong job. Have you thought about being a prison warden?

Outrage doesn't achieve anything.What about the entitlement mentality of billionaires who are paid far more than their work is worth? Yet you are a libertarian, and libertarianism is a system of theft from society. I don't empathize with shoplifters. But there isn't anything that I can do about it. There are people behaving irrationally all around us. But maybe shoplifting isn't as irrational as you think, for people who might otherwise have no income at all. Your employer could reduce the shoplifting by hiring more people to watch for it. Maybe your employer is indirectly stealing from you by not acting to reduce the shoplifting.

This is a flimsy excuse that is avoid doing anything.If there were more employees present in the store, there would be less opportunity for shoplifting. That would not lead to any lawsuits. And there would be more jobs available, and fewer poor unemployed people.

Sam Harris is a rightwing Islamophobic ass. I don't take advice from him. He has some good points. But he is just one person with ideas.