I am a spiritual but nonreligious person. I'd be one of those "non-christians" that the book refers to. I believe in greater things than myself, but I'm not so sure that those greater things necessarily care if we believe in them, but more that they would want us to live good lives.

I think that the point of this book is something similar, at least the last part of that sentence. The basis of the book is that Jim (christian) pays Casper (atheist) to attend churches with him in order to get an outsider's perspective.

To a certain extent, the book is limited in it's ability to portray churches, since they are mostly in the Western part of the country and attending a certain type of church.

However, I think many of the points that Casper makes is what Jim is trying to show to fellow Christians: churches as a community need to be more open minded about the way things are done and the way people live their lives.

I think I enjoyed the book so much because Jim isn't trying to convert the atheists or the reader (though most readers would be Christian, or is assumed to be by the author). Jim is saying "yeah, it'd be great if they joined the flock, but isn't it better to listen to what they have to say and see if you can improve their lives? And maybe that way they will find God and Jesus, but that shouldn't be the reason you're listening. You should listen because it's the best thing to do."

The writing was mediocre and had a nasty habit of them referring to each other by name, even when it was obvious who was talking, but otherwise an easy read (I read it in 2 days). I may even attend a church group's book discussion on it. That would be interesting!