Dive Into The Loser Letters: A Comic Tale Of Life, Death, And Atheism Written By Mary Eberstadt Formatted As Brochure

update on CS Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, It's always tough for an author to revisit and update a classic she is just not as funny as CS Lewis was, You don't have to have read The Screwtape Letters to appreciate this book, it stands on its own just fine, It is not a detailed rebuttal for all secularist objections to religion, but it does point out some of the difficulties that secularists might gloss over in advancing their worldview.
If you pay attention to the claims and counterclaims in the secular vs, religious debate, this is probably worth a couple of evenings to read, This was another one that I read for a class, and one of the things we discussed was whether or not the tone of this book works against the message.
Who exactly is the audience supposed to be To atheists or to strengthen the brethren Does the sarcasm subvert the message and prevent evangelization Is the tone actually unChristian in its usversusthem style

Scattered with hitandmiss pop culture references, at times perhaps this book tries a little too hard to sound hip and relevant would a twentyfiveyearold who has read all she has and graduated from college still use “ever” in place of “forever”.
Also, from a character perspective, the fact that she gives the Christian or theistic argument for something, cited and wellexplained, and then just throws in a “but theyre stupid” phrase because shes a militant atheist doesnt initially make the format believable or justify how she knows all this.
While these passages may present excellent defenses, are they true to who the character is supposed to be I struggled to completely suspend my disbelief and buy that this was a young punk atheistnot Mary Eberstadt.
The fact that the protagonist seems to embody just about every vice imaginable also makes her unconvincing or maybe that stuff is more normal today than I think.


To be fair, the bulk of these reservations were ironed out by the end of the book, In fact, I think many of these factors make the ending all the more powerful, Speaking of the conclusion, I like how her thinking, reading, and inquiring was at best a jumpingoff point toward Christianity it is only through an encounter with the living God that the gift of faith is given to her.
But what was with the votes

As a whole, the book does present some very thoughtprovoking critiques of the atheist worldviewnot just the debunking of fallacious inferences, proportionalism, etc.
, but also exploring the cultural collateral that comes from trying to prop up a world without God, With authentic and infinite Love forcibly removed from the equation, the results are incredibly damaging to the human person, The sanctity of family life and the conjugal union are quickly displaced by a view of the family dominated by ridicule, materialism, and a loss of dignity.
Christianity, a religion based in holding up and defending the weak and vulnerable, detrimentally clashes with a postChristian society based on survival of the fittest.
The necessity of religion for authentic culture spreads to all aspects of society, The book touches on many of these, including charitable works, the witness of individual lives, intellectual contributions, science, art, and how the transcendentalsgoodness, truth, beauty, belongingfigure into the Christian vision as they express and point to the Almighty.
Still, I don't feel like this book would be very helpful at converting any atheists, . . especially that ending which probably seems a bit of an imaginative embellishment even for Christians,

Despite it's flaws, overall, this is worth a read, Although Im still not sure who exactly the target audience is, . . Enjoyable look at the new atheism and some of the gaping holes in their reasoning, Awful. My entire book club hated it, The author comes off as condescending and insincere, The author belittles atheism and suggests that the only reason not to believe in god is to justify abortion, and that once you move past it religion is the only logical conclusion.
I am an atheist. I don't particularly care if agree with me or not, but don't care to be mocked either,

An interesting discussion on the holes in Atheist beliefs, Written in a way that kind of mimics C, S. Lewis' 'Screwtape Letters', though doesn't nearly pull it off that well though how can you compete with Lewis, I haven't particularly about some of these, so it was interesting to see some of what works against Atheism, I also appreciated the kind comments about my own religion, The first seven letters were the best, the last three i, e. the personal conversion story were just a little lame and kind of pushing it, A fun and captivating read in the style of C, S. Lewis. It was ok, though not great, A newlyconverted and highly enthusiastic atheist chronicles her fallingout with Catholicism in letters that “constructively” critique atheism and which ultimately lead her to discover a deeper meaning behind her newfound “faith.
”

Mary Eberstadts The Loser Letters takes an interestingly sarcastic view of the atheist argument by telling it from the fictional perspective of a Catholicturnedatheist.
The female main character writes letters in firstperson to atheists in general but to the leaders of the movement in particular, in order to break down their arguments in what the character hopes to be “constructive criticism” for the movement.
However, in some instances Eberstadts writing felt simplistic and childish, and the story became too contrived and predictable it was a very simple read atpages with big margins and big print.
It was also confusing because while in my mind I knew that Eberstadt is Catholic and I understand her motivations for the book, the writer in the novel wrote from an atheists perspective and sometimes confused my thoughts with what

the different points of view are.


Still, its obvious that Eberstadt knows what shes talking about and she has handsdown influenced me to read up on the historical arguments in order to get a stronger sense of how to stand up for FAITH.
Ive racked up a list of the scholars Catholic, atheist, and atheistturnedCatholic, and Im excited for some good academic reading, BRING ON THE DEBATE! The premise of this satirical book is that A F Christian a former Christian now Atheist writes letters to atheist leaders giving advice on particular aspects of their argument.


The first letter dealt with the sexual revolution and the argument that is often put forward that atheism has lead to wonderful freedom in the area of sexuality.
In fact, the Sexual Revolution has not brought the freedom it promised, and the years since have proved the wisdom of Christians in the area of sexual morality.


In letter, the protagonist points out that a number of cherished atheistic arguments should not be used since they cut both ways, For instance while it might be true that some find psychological refuge in the existence of a God, there can also be wish fulfilment reasons for rejecting him.
Nor is the God of the Bible the sort of God one would invent,

The third letter is an absolute cracker, Here she points out that atheists should steer clear of hammering the idea that atheism does as much good in the world as Christians, since the actual evidence for this is embarrassingly against the atheist.
She points out, “The reason why well lose every time is simple: because their highest authority, Loser, tells them to care for the sick and weak, whereas ours, Nature tells us the opposite.
”

It is in this chapter he quotes from Arthur C, Brooks “Who Really Cares: Americas Charity Divide Who Gives, Who Doesnt, and Why it Matters, ” Ill include the couple of great quotes she mentioned,

“People who pray every day whether or not they go to church arepercentage points more likely to give money to charity than people who never praytopercent.
And people saying they devote a “great deal of effort” to their spiritual lives arepoints more likely to give than those devoting “no effort”topercent.
Even a belief in beliefs themselves is associated with charity, People who say that “beliefs dont matter as long as youre a good person” are dramatically less likely to give charitablytopercent and to volunteertopercent than people who think that beliefs do matter.
”

In her fourth letter, A, F. Christian points out that the towering intellects of history, and the great artists and architects have willingly harnessed themselves to the cause of religion and that their record of achievements speaks for itself.


Letterlooks at how many great atheists have become committed Christians, but the traffic has not been replicated the other way,

The sixth letter was one that I found rather powerful, Here she points out the influence of family, “Its families that make people religious, not vice versa, ” Why “Its familial love that first gives people the idea of infinite love, Its that kind of love that puts them in touch with Loser in the first place meaning that nothing is more of a problem for is than the existence of human families.
” Faith is hard to shake off, because devotion to God doesnt exist on its own, but is wrapped up with the other people in ones life.


Abortion is the subject of the seventh letter, Here A. F. Christian argues that atheism needs some people on the Pro Life side, She puts down one of the more silly arguments that favour abortion nature aborts, and notes that youth is on the side of the Pro Life argument.
The Dulls her word for those of faith do not think abortion is an issue, they think it is the issue of our time, and only Christians seem to be worrying about it.
This very fact is causing some to turn to Christianity, Therefore, she argues, there is great need to a prominent atheist to be Pro Life,

The final three chapters tell the story of her journey to atheism, and I won't spoil the surprise, Suffice it to say, that there is a twist or two here, .