Product Description

Last year, Sam Harris made headlines and topped bestseller lists with his angry and honest Letter to a Christian Nation. At its heart, this little book was an atheist complaint against Christians: Harris pointed an accusing finger at the church, telling Christians that they weren t as nice as they thought they were and warning fellow atheists that the Christians were out to get them. Prominent intellectuals and anti-Christians were quick to praise this little book; as one Harvard professor wrote, Reading Harris Letter to a Christian Nation was like sitting ring side, cheering the champion, yelling Yes! at every jab. In response, Douglas Wilson has written his own little book: Letter From a Christian Citizen. As Gary DeMar writes in the foreword, Douglas Wilson has taken the operating assumptions of Sam Harris seriously and has shown what life would be like if the world were consistent with atheistic assumptions. Walking through Harris claims step-by-step, Wilson dismantles his arguments and demonstrates that honesty lies on the side of the Christians, not the atheists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66531 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Review
Douglas Wilson provides a good-natured but devastating point-by-point rebuttal to Sam Harris s Letter to a Christian Nation. --Phillip E. Johnson, Professor of law emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, author of Darwin on Trial

Douglas Wilson s Letter from a Christian Citizen has enough bite to ridicule, enough compassion to inform, and enough facts to persuade. Sam Harris has more than met his match. --Dr. Larry Schweikart, Professor of History, University of Dayton

About the Author
Douglas J. Wilson is a Senior Fellow of Theology at New Saint Andrews College, a permanent member of the College s Board of Trustees, and a member of the College s Executive Council. At other colleges, he has taught both ethics and logic. He received a B.A. in Classical Studies, and a B.A. and an M.A. in Philosophy, all at the University of Idaho. He was also a founder of Logos School, a K-12 institution that pioneered the current classical Christian school movement. Today more than three hundred schools around the country (and countless homeschools), model their curriculums on the classical instruction used at Logos. Wilson is also the editor of Credenda/Agenda magazine, a small Trinitarian cultural journal known for its humorous and satirical flavor, and has authored numerous books. These include several titles related to education and worldview: The Case for Classical Christian Education, Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, The Paideia of God, and Excused Absence: Should Christian Kids Leave Public School? His works on theology and culture include Mother Kirk, Reformed is Not Enough, Angels in the Architecture and To a Thousand Generations. He has also written A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking as well as several children s books and biographies. Wilson has been the pastor of Christ Church, Moscow, for more than 30 years. He and his wife, Nancy, have three grown children and a bunch of grandchildren, some of whom live in Moscow, and some who currently dally in Oxford, England.

Customer Reviews

A Letter Discussing the Underlying Assumptions of Theism & Atheism
This compelling book is a rapid read due to its brevity (109 pages - Sam Harris' book, Letter to a Christian Nation, was just as short) and its likable style. This is one of the finest assessments of Harris' anti-theistic charges available. In response to Harris' indictment that Christianity is "divisive, injurious, and retrograde" Wilson leaves no apologetic stone unturned. The book demonstrates the necessity of biblical theism by constantly employing the moral argument in refuting the atheistic worldview. The author assesses what Harris was attempting to maintain in his moral attack against theism and turns it against atheism.

Wilson's Letter addresses:

- OT/NT view of slavery (p. 20)
- The supposed biological basis for morality (p. 29)
- The absurdity of Bach and Moral Law being products of chance
- Autonomy, the nervous system and fixed ethics (p. 37-39)
- The charge of OT genocide
- The positive fruit of Christianity in forming Western Civilization
- The problem of reducing morality to personal preferences (p. 46)
- The truth of the wrath of God and how to avoid it
- The ultimate solution to the problem of evil
- The defense of the Virgin birth (p. 68)
- The old canard that Solomon formulated pi incorrectly (p.72)
- Alleged bible contradictions and errors

Since Wilson is responding to Harris' book he doesn't offer additional complex formulations of theistic arguments in any detailed depth. Thus this is not the book you would want if you only had a couple apologetic books in your library. However for those who want a charming and pithy volume that defends Christian ethics as it counters atheist moral grounding, this little work is for you.

Even if you do not hold to the presuppositional method of apologetics, this book is still an engaging text to read to gain a better understanding of the rational tools needed to defeat the new atheists. Learn to utilize moral absolutes as you counter alleged bible difficulties.
by Mike A Robinson author of: God Does Exist and other apologetic books:
Letter to an Atheist Nation: Presupositional Apologetics Responds To: Letter to a Christian

Laughably horrible
I read this book because (as a fan of "Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris) he thought I should read the counter argument. I agree with that - one should always read the counter argument in order to form an educated, independent decision.
This book is extremely poorly written, and almost all of Wilson's arguments are assumptions guided towards his predetermined outcome that Harris is gravely mistaken in all that he has written. Instead of relying on fact of any kind, he personally attacks Sam Harris' views, and the man himself - as if tearing down Sam Harris will suddenly erase all of the fallacies that the Bible holds within its pages.
However, I do recommend reading this book. It's a very quick and easy read, and it will help to strengthen Sam Harris' arguments, because Wilson's counter arguments are so idiotic.
Also, I think that Wilson wrote some rather racist books previously in his career, and this discredits him to me even further.

Interested in truth rather than mere faith? Then, do consider this book
Douglas Wilson gives a well-thought out response to some of the key issues that Sam Harris has raised against Christianity in his popular book "Letter to a Christian Nation". Wilson writes in a clear style and conversational tone, so the book is easy to read and follow.

Some of the writing deals with corrections to certain misunderstandings shown by Harris, such as described on pg. 41-44, where Harris defends the point "Are Atheists Evil?". Wilson clears this out by explaining that this is a "common misunderstanding of a standard Christian argument" and "the issue is not whether atheists are evil, but rather, given atheism, what possible definition can we find for evil." He further clarifies: "The argument is not one about personal character but rather about what the tenets of atheism logically entail."

It was good to see that Wilson addresses the question of faith vs. facts. Harris states that "Everyone recognizes that to rely upon 'faith' to decide specific questions of historical fact is ridiculous" (quote 67). But, of course, Peter and James and John, the Apostles of Christ didn't rely on such faith to determine if Jesus rose from the dead or not. Thomas, another one of the Apostles illustrated this very well, saying that he would not believe until he saw and touched the risen Jesus (pg. 78-83). That's how you would expect any good scientist to behave. Then, for those of us who did not see the risen Jesus, we rely on eye-witness testimony, something that is typical for all of our knowledge of history, whether of Plato, or Alexander the Great, or George Washington (not axiomatic, simply "on faith"). Atheists claim this is being intellectually dishonest, but why believe some reliable eye-witness testimonies and not others? Wilson provides a good reply: "You would say it is because a resurrection from the dead is a miracle, and miracles don't happen. But this is your materialistic faith kicking in again. This is a mere assumption of yours." Indeed, atheists (but even more strangely "agnostics" as Harris claims to be), possess quite a bit of faith that the universe is a closed system and that something like a resurrection cannot take place and God cannot exist. Why would an agnostic have such faith that the universe is a closed system, despite lack of evidence or reason to support such belief?

At some parts, specific atheists objections are addressed, such as why doesn't the Bible explicitly condemn slavery (pg. 22). Wilson clearly explains that the goal of Christianity was to change and subvert the entire pagan system, but not by revolutionary means, rather by the Christian gospel, by means that are not violent, but similar to how yeast works through a loaf of bread. This concept is often hard to understand for atheists because they tend to have an expectation towards revolutionary methods of changing of a society, perhaps being influenced by Marx and his followers in the area of social analysis. Wilson gives some other good answers: quoting style in the Bible does not have to follow today's standards (pg. 70), the weak presentation of the Intelligent Design movement and their arguments that was done by Harris, and who missed discussing some very important issues and concepts, such as irreducible complexity, information theory, source of information, etc (pg. 88). For a good and easy to read introduction to Intelligent Design see books such as: Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology, Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is or videos: Where Does The Evidence Lead?, The Privileged Planet, Icons Of Evolution.