Response to Samuel Harris

Atheist Samueal Harris wrote the book "Letter to a Christian Natoin", basically insulting everyone of Christian faith, or any faith for that matter, by calling them idiots who believe in an invisible man in the sky. Basically comparing us to trekkie fanatics of an "archaic" book with "outdated " values known as the Bible. As if we were a bunch of LOTR fans. It's inspired a lot of controversy and pissed lots of people off. Just look it up on amazon and read the reviews and the forums about the book.

Here is my response:

"it seems that what makes you a Christian or not is the degree to which the Bible tickles you."
Amen to that, but not so much the rest of what you said.
A lot of people choose atheism over Christianity simply because of their egos; they don't want to admit that what they do is wrong, or that if they were judged, they would not get a "good score", if you will.

I feel that all of this discussion is born of ignorance. Most people know bits and pieces of the bible, but few know or understand all of it. Heck, lets not limit this to just the Bible- no one understands or knows everything about the universe.

I know Nietzche was an Atheist, but he did have some good points; it seems to be that it is human nature/instinct to try and define everything. So here's the thing; we are going in circles trying to define, then revise, then redefine and then argue all of this. Lets just accept that everyone has different views and fight about politics instead of religion. Philosophers proved a long time ago that there is no logical, concrete proof for God; its a leap of faith.

So how about this: stop attacking those who are brave enough to take this leap of faith.
Its not easy to be faithful (to believe the beliefs AND to live the life), especially not with a culture around us that tries to coerce us into doing things opposite to our faith.

I truly wish we could all just fight about what we know instead of what we don't. How about writers like Harris stop beating around the bush and say that they don't like certain political policies or candidates supported by the conservatives. Instead of complaining about the Christians in America, why doesn't he do some useful, practical argumentation that can get something done instead of writing things that inspire more hate, anger and resentment towards the faithful.

Let us take a look at the abortion issue for example: The politicians who support outlawing abortion and claim to be "pro-life" also support policies that aren't so "pro-life; they often get rid of government aid and close down hospitals. So the poor working class woman is forced to have her child because abortion is illegal, but the child dies anyway because the child gets sick and she can't afford medicine or the child gets injured and dies because there are no hospitals nearby. Therefore, one who is pro life should look at life in the context of more than just the fetus when choosing to vote for a particular candidate or another.

I want more of ^^^that^^. "Liberals" making "conservative" values support more progressive policies. Do you want stem cell research? Earn it; make a case using conservative values to support it, instead of bashing the conservatives.
Sure, faith is a little bit silly, but its personal, and the outcome of faith isn't relevant to our lives right now. Write stuff that makes a difference, not stuff that will waste a few hours of someone's life and piss them off.

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