# Letter to a Christian Nation - Author: [Sam Harris](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris.md) - Quotes: 10 - Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation ## Quotes > It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. You are, of course, free to interpret the Bible differently—though isn't it amazing that you have succeeded in discerning the true teachings of Christianity, while the most influential thinkers in the history of your faith failed? p. 11 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/it-was-even.md) > One of the enduring pathologies of human culture is the tendency to raise children to fear and demonize other human beings on the basis of religious faith. p. 80 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/one-of-the.md) > Atheism is not a philosophy - it is not even a view of the world. It is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or a "non-alchemist." We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. p. 51 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/atheism-is-not.md) > Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: "Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being." Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. p. 23 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/mahavira-the-jain.md) > If God exists, either He can do nothing to stop the most egregious calamities, or He does not care to. God, therefore, is either impotent or evil. p. 55 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/if-god-exists.md) > 20 percent of all recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. There is an obvious truth here that cries out for acknowledgment: if God exists, He is the most prolific abortionist of all. p. 38 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/20-percent-of-all.md) > The moral truth here is obvious: anyone who feels that the interests of a blastocyst just might supersede the interests of a child with a spinal cord injury has had his moral sense blinded by religious metaphysics. p. 32 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/the-moral-truth.md) > Some researchers have speculated that religion itself may have played an important role in getting large groups of prehistoric humans to socially cohere. If this is true, we can say that religion has served an important purpose. This does not suggest, however, that it serves an important purpose now. There is, after all, nothing more natural than rape. But no one would argue that rape is good, or compatible with a civil society, because it may have had evolutionary advantages for our ancestors. That religion may have served some necessary function for us in the past does not preclude the possibility that it is now the greatest impediment to our building a global civilization. p. 90 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/some-researchers-have.md) > It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that if the city of New York were replaced by a ball of fire, some significant percentage of the American population would see a silver lining in the subsequent mushroom cloud, as it would suggest to them that the best thing that is ever going to happen was about to happen: the return of Christ. It should be blindingly obvious that beliefs of this sort will do little to help us create a durable future for ourselves- socially, economically, environmentally, or geopolitically. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/it-is-therefore.md) > Perhaps you think that the crucial difference between a fly and a human blastocyst is to be found in the latter's potential to become a fully developed human being. But almost every cell in your body is a potential human being, given our recent advances in genetic engineering. Every time you scratch your nose, you have committed a Holocaust of potential human beings. This is a fact. The argument from a cell's potential gets you absolutely nowhere. p. 30 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/letter-to-a-christian-nation/perhaps-you-think.md)