The Loser Letters, A Comic Tale of Life, Death, and Atheism

The Loser Letters by Mary Eberstadt, Ignatius Press, 2010, pbk, 150 pp. Age: Young Adult and Mature Teen.

What if you followed the advice of your "loser" boyfriend and chucked God in the wastebasket? What kind of choices would you make? In The Loser Letters, A. F. (A Former) Christian writes a series of letters to her new BFF (Best Friends Forever!) --Atheists Dawkins, Hitchens, et. al.-- offering friendly advice on how they need to improve Atheism in order to gain more recruits. In her opinion, much of their advice has been tried and found wanting. [Actually, the "Loser" in the title refers to God. Since the "enlightened" atheists, or "brights" as she refers to them, like to refer to those who believe in God as losers.]

This is a powerful fictional account of what happens when you follow the advice of the real losers in life, i.e. Dawkins and friends Let's be honest. How many young people are going to open a deep philosophical, theological or moral tome on why sex before marriage messes up your life. They just don't want to hear it. In the contemporary language that young people use (just have a conversation with one or read Facebook), A. F. Christian writes a series of letters, each one focusing on a different argument of Atheism, building her arguments until the final chapter.

The audience is to young people, so it's not your typical writing style. Either you like it or you don't. "To All My Awesome Leading Atheist Idols." This isn't just fluffy packaging either; there are plenty of arguments to think about, so prepare yourself the next time you have a heated dicussion with your atheist brother, brother-in-law, uncle, aunt, . . .