A wickedly witty satire, The Loser Letters chronicles the conversion of a young adult Christian to atheism. With modern humor rivaling that of the media-lampooning Onion publication,
found on college campuses all over America, A. F. Christian’s open
letters to the “spokesmen of the New Atheism” explain her reasons for
rejecting God and the logical consequences of that choice. Along the way
she offers pithy advice to famous atheists such as Richard Dawkins and
Christopher Hitchens, in the hope of helping them win over more
Christians.
“Of course we score big time with the young guys who
aren’t responsible for anything, and don’t really care about anything
besides spending most of their time in the basement playing video games
and texting girls,” A.F. Christian points out. But what about all those
serious, thoughtful people who are Christian believers? If the New
Atheism is to make real headway, she argues, its advocates must do more
to persuade intelligent theists living meaningful and fulfilling lives.
Amid the many current books arguing for or against religion, social critic and writer Mary Eberstadt’s The Loser Letters is truly unique: a black comedy about theism and atheism that is simultaneously a rollicking defense of Christianity.
Echoing C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters and Dante’s Divine Comedy, Eberstadt takes aim at bestsellers like The God Delusion and God Is Not Great
with the sexual libertinism their authors advocate. In her loveable and
articulate tragic-comic heroine, A.F. Christian, Dawkins, Hitchens and
the other “Brights” have met their match.