Saturday, June 30, 2007

Thirty Years Later

Thirty years after I last spoke with Harvard classmate David Blankenhorn, I discovered something amazing. We have both arrived at very similar conclusions about faith, our country, and the future.

David and I both majored in Social Studies, and were magna cum laude graduates of the 1977 class at Harvard. Though we didn't have many classes in common, the Social Studies program was a unique experience. Sophomore year we read "the great books" of history's leading social theorists -- Hegel, John Stuart Mill, Max Weber, Alexis de Toqueville, Sigmund Freud. Then Junior year we took a specialized tutorial ( I studied government regulatory policy ), and Senior year we wrote a thesis (mine was on the structure, conduct, and performance of the American automobile industry).

As I recall, David was a Christian even back then, making him quite remarkable within the Harvard community of the day. I, however, was not, though I could properly have been called a "seeker". It took me almost a decade after Harvard to come to faith, but I made it eventually.

In the 1990's David wrote a fantastic book about the need for fathers in American to behave more like fathers. This was shortly after he founded the non-profit think tank the Institute for American Values.

Now comes another great work from David: The Future of Marriage.

In it, David argues that the preservation and strengthening of the institution of marriage is the single most important thing that can be done to maintain American civilization. I couldn't agree with David more.

David also is a very big proponent of Islamic-Christian engagement, another theme that you will find in my recent book, Letter to an Atheist.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Los Angeles Times running my opinion piece on the Creation Museum

Check out today's Los Angeles Times.

They're running my opinion piece "The Trouble With Fred and Wilma", which is critical of both the Creation Museum and the mainstream media coverage of that facility's recent grand opening.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Letter to an Atheist Leads the Sam Harris Responses on Amazon !

Rising very early Monday morning to do some real business, I check on the book sales at Amazon.

For the first time, Letter to an Atheist is in the lead of the Sam Harris responses books ! Granted, it's not by much, and is likely to change again, but for now, it's one small victory to enjoy !

Sam Harris: #121
Michael Patrick Leahy: # 21,163
Douglas Wilson: # 22,375
Joel McDurmon: # 33,531
RC Metcalf: # 36,843

The good news is that all four of the Sam Harris responses seem to be gathering steam !

Take a snapshot of book sales in another 4 hours, however, and you could see Letter to an Atheist on its way down to 100,000.

My goal is to get it past the 1,000 mark . If you haven't purchased the book yet, you could certainly help me get there by purchasing it on Amazon now ! Or, you can purchase it direct from the Letter to an Atheist website.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Amazon Book Sales Heat Up !

Here are the numbers as of Sunday evening:

Sam Harris # 103
Douglas Wilson #12,168
RC Metcalfe #18,809
Michael Patrick Leahy #22,856
Joel McDurmon #34,885

The interesting phenomenon developing is that having four responses to Harris seems to be generating a critical mass of activity. Many readers who disagree with Harris are buying three, and in some cases all four of the responses.