Journal Entry 1 by flambard from Horsham, West Sussex United Kingdom on Tuesday, January 01, 2008

This very short book of 91 pages contains important information regarding the irrationalism of religion and the dangers it presents to the world in the 21st century.

This is how the book starts:
"Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ's love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse..."

It is predominantly aimed at American christians (and apparently at Roman Catholics in particular), but also serves as a useful resource for atheists, agnostics and anyone who seriously questions the rationale of religion and faith in the supernatural. The book is more of a summary than a thesis and is a great alternative to The God Delusion for the casual reader. Sam Harris does not waste a single word - his points are direct, consise, evidence-based and are delivered with ruthless assertion which, in this subject matter, is desperately required to get people's attention.

If you are religious, of any faith, please read this book. 

Journal Entry 2 by flambard from Horsham, West Sussex United Kingdom on Saturday, February 02, 2008

Ready to go off around the world!

Please journal when you receive the book and when you pass it on.

The participants are:

Leeny37 (Australia)(withdrawn from bookray)
VeganMedusa (New Zealand)
Flakes (USA)
Mellion108 (USA)
Seethroughfaith (Finland)
Hippolein (Finland)
Cats-eye (UK)
Pennywhistler (UK)
LeishaCamden (Norway) << here now!
Nikel27 (Germany)

Many thanks! 

Journal Entry 3 by flambard at to the first participant in sent by post, A Bookray -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, February 23, 2008

Released 4 yrs ago (2/23/2008 UTC) at to the first participant in sent by post, A Bookray -- Controlled Releases

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We're off and running! 

Journal Entry 4 by VeganMedusa from Invercargill, Southland New Zealand on Monday, March 03, 2008

Thanks flambard! I'll PM flakes now. 

Journal Entry 5 by VeganMedusa from Invercargill, Southland New Zealand on Thursday, March 06, 2008

Oh, poor Sam Harris is going to join Richard Dawkins in eternal hell. :)
It's so hard to argue against religion without making fun of religious people - which makes for entertaining reading for non-religious people, of course, but I don't think any believers would actually read this book. Never mind, us atheists have to have a bit of entertainment too.
Some good arguments here, a lot of them also in The God Delusion, but much more concise! No matter how much I hear/read about the percentage of Americans who believe in creationism/the coming rapture, etc, I still can't believe it. And it'll only get worse with kids in school learning about ID. Sigh.
One of my favourite bits was about the 10 Commandments, and comparing it to Jain philosophy. It almost seems like the Old Testament God was a child/teenager, New Testament he started to grow up and get over himself - and since then he's been busy with other things and forgotten about us. Off to hide under the bed in case lightning strikes me. ;)
The other favourite part for me was about the soul starting at the moment of conception - but what happens when two embryos join, or one splits? I giggled at the thought of all these serious theologists trying to decide on that.
I have the next person's address, but my hubby is reading the book at the moment - he'll finish in the next couple of days and I'll post it asap (although I might reread it over the weekend).
Thanks flambard! 

Journal Entry 6 by VeganMedusa from Invercargill, Southland New Zealand on Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Posted yesterday to Flakes.
Hubby read it, but I'm still working on getting him to make a journal entry. ;) 

Journal Entry 7 by Flakes from Bloomington, Illinois USA on Saturday, March 29, 2008

Arrived today, safe and sound. Will read it this weekend and then pass it on to Mellion108. Thanks for sharing!:) 

Journal Entry 8 by Flakes from Bloomington, Illinois USA on Monday, April 07, 2008

Wow...what an amazing little book! Harris made some great points, and asked some great questions. I particularly enjoyed his take on the "Wisdom of the Bible" (pg 7) as it pertains to morality.

Thanks for sharing, flambard. This little book will be on its way to mellion 108 in tomorrow's mail!:) 

Journal Entry 9 by mellion108 from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan USA on Saturday, April 12, 2008

Thanks, Flakes, and thanks to flambard for sharing. The book is here safe and sound. I need to finish my current read, and then I'll finish this one and have it moving again as quickly as possible.

I am rather chilled by the cover of the book. This is an image that I always fear I'll start seeing in places other than churches.

Journal Entry 10 by mellion108 from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan USA on Tuesday, April 29, 2008

What a useful book. I actually read this through a couple of times because so many of Harris' points are dead on. I have always tried to be respectful of others' religions, faiths, etc., but I too often find that this is not a two-way street. I don't know why it is that people feel so compelled to spend such a huge amount of their little bit of time on this earth trying to force other people into their way of thinking.

Anyway, I could rant on and on. I don't know if it's fair to compare, but I definitely got much more out of this little book than I did from Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. R.D.'s book seemed so angry (and I can relate to that to a point), while this little book was more like a bit of armor to help out in the "real" world.

I'm on the lookout for some used copies of this book because I have a few people who I think would find these words and topics relevant. It's a great temptation to buy copies and leave them in hotels next to the Gideon's Bible just to provide a different perspective.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this, flambard. I have Seethroughfaith's address and will have this book in the mail by the weekend. 

Journal Entry 11 by mellion108 from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan USA on Thursday, May 01, 2008

UPDATE: Mailed to Seethroughfaith today. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 12 by seethroughfaith from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Sunday, May 25, 2008

this book is here.

Having now read the first two chapters I want to say that

i) :as an oversight of lots of the wrong assumptions made about Christians this book works very well

(and some assumptions are not without foundation - e.g suppose that there are some of us who do think that only Jesus taught the golden rule "do unto others as you would have them do to you" and there are others who may not know that Martin Luther King, though a Bible believing Christian himself did take some of his ideas of passive resisitance from Mahatma Gandhi (who incidentally is reported to have said I like your Christ, I don't like your Christians but I there are many educated - and yes still conservative Christians who do not fit into Sam Harris' narrow-minded categories.)

ii) as an apology (a defence of not having faith in Jesus Christ) this book -so far at least - doesn't really persuade.

All it does do - IMHO - is give those who are non Christians, (especially atheists) ammunition which they can then pick up and try -again and again- to throw at those who do believe Jesus Christ is the son of God.

At this stage of the book I would also say that Sam Harris is pretty guilty of proof texting - so as to use scripture out of context to prove a point (as in his use of Ex 21:7-11 to prove that every man is free to sell his daughter into sexual slavery. Come on!

This book is designed to provoke. That's for sure! 

Journal Entry 13 by seethroughfaith from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Thursday, June 26, 2008

Further into the book I am still not convinced by much (if any) of what Harris has to say.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this book. I didn't like it much - because it was more or less a rant with few salient points.Suffice to say that much of what Harris spouts I am not in agreement with.

Christians are generally against abortion. Some more fanatically than others, others more quietly.
Christians are generally in favour of helping those in need. Some actively, others more passively.

I think that that's good.

I was intrigued by his conclusions on p 44-45. The facts might be right but I disagree with his analysis. What needs to be remembered when reading is that this book is written to the USA - and is deliberately against most of what they (as a seemingly Christian nation) stand for. But it misses the point really - and it's this: Most of the US is only nominally Christian at best. Many do go to church - it's part of the socail framework if you like - but most do not live like Christ taught.

Instead of throwing Jesus out - I'd like to give Harris and his fans a challenge instead: What if we actually lived like Christians - person by person, community by community, nation by nation? What a difference that might make. Putting people before profit. Putting love over lust. Putting compassion over corrutption. And yes raising human values over petty nationalism, sectarianism and individualism - we might be onto something good :)

This book now moves onto Hippolein 

Journal Entry 14 by seethroughfaith from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Monday, June 30, 2008

Posting this off to Hippolein today. 

Journal Entry 15 by hippolein from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Very small book indeed, and arrived safely in Helsinki. Thanks seethroughfaith for sending it.
Will try to read it soon so it can continue the journey.
 

Journal Entry 16 by hippolein from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Saturday, July 05, 2008

Have to tell right away that I didn't like the book at all, but the number gives more an idea of appreciating the effort of writing a book ;-)

I did know that we have fanatic christians, fanatic muslims, but I didn't realise in the US you even have fanatic atheists. And then one of those persons still found it necessary to write a book about it. Some luck his inspiration died out before he got to 100 pages, I would have liked to see the publisher that would have allowed him to go on after that...

But, like said, all kind of people exist in this world, and have the right to write about it. Not what you would call a book that everybody has to read, certainly not a book that all the Christians should read, but making a point that in the US some things could be changed for the better (although I'm sure fundamental atheists would make it any better than it us now!)
 

Journal Entry 17 by hippolein at By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Released 3 yrs ago (7/10/2008 UTC) at By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

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this book is going on Friday to the next reader - cats-eye in the UK.
Hope it arrives fast and safely there! 

Journal Entry 18 by cats-eye from Bishop Auckland, County Durham United Kingdom on Thursday, July 17, 2008

Arrived safely - thanks to hippolein for passing it along and to flambard for organising the ring. I'll have this read quickly, and will be back to journal my thoughts ;) 

Journal Entry 19 by cats-eye from Bishop Auckland, County Durham United Kingdom on Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Thoroughly enjoyed this little book! Though it didn't really tell me anything that I didn't already know, Sam Harris just says it much better, lol! I found his arguments sharp and his examples top-notch (especially enjoyed the amputee question, and have visited the website which is very thought-provoking). Unfortunately, I think Harris is "preaching to the choir" as not many religious people are likely to read this and have it change their mind (I wouldn't think). But maybe it will provoke some further research, and fuel some interesting conversations nonetheless.
I have PM'ed Pennywhistler and will post this as soon as I have an address.
Thanks for sharing this one, flambard! 

Journal Entry 20 by cats-eye from Bishop Auckland, County Durham United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Sorry for the delay! I have Pennywhistler's address but had a bit of a financial crunch so my mailing is a bit behind :-( This will be posted today or tomorrow....sorry again!
 

Journal Entry 21 by cats-eye at to next participant, a ring/ray -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, August 06, 2008

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On the way to Pennywhistler - safe travels, little book! 

Journal Entry 22 by pennywhistler on Sunday, August 10, 2008

Thanks for sending this. I was so grateful to see such a short book as I have been eyeing my huge MTR with some concern! I really enjoyed this as Sam Harris manages to put across his argument so succinctly. 

Journal Entry 23 by LeishaCamden from Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on Tuesday, August 26, 2008

This arrived in the mail today. Should be interesting. As soon as I finish my current read, I will get started on this one. Thanks for sharing, flambard!! :-)