Hitchens has a refreshingly different approach to exposing the absurdity and harmful effects of religion (compared to Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins and the like). While Harris’s and Dawkins’s latest books have a bit of overlap, I found very little to no overlap of material in “God is Not Great.” As a profoundly well read historian and journalist, his lexicon is a bit out of my reach and many of his literary allusions were lost on me but I enjoyed the challenge. I have to admit that I prefer the streamlined, accessible, “no nonsense” writing of Harris but I did appreciate Hitchens writing style for its unique qualities. Though he is discussing dark subject matter, his tone remains upbeat most of the time.Unlike Dawkins and Harris, he gives many accounts of his firsthand experiences/encounters with religion and the religious.The content of the book weaves a compelling argument for “how religion poisons everything.”I highly recommend it for anyone interested in learning about how religion affects our world.Get the book HERE.

In North Korea alone, 300 people are killed each year for their faith. Here are some examples of the religious persecution that takes place:

* In one prison, a warden hung a Christian man upside down and ordered him to deny his beliefs. Eventually the warden stabbed at him and pushed him to the ground, ordering 6,000 prisoners to trample him to death.
* Eight prisoners stayed silent when told to deny the existence of heaven, so an infuriated prison official ordered other inmates to pour molten iron over them.
* Some reports say Christian prisoners are deliberately crippled so they cannot walk; others are left naked and so starved they eat the rats scampering in their prison cells raw.

More on this can be found here.

This is an example of a government trying to force its religious beliefs onto it’s people. Oddly, the major religions in North Korea are Buddhism and Confucianism - two typically nonviolent faiths. This is also an example of how religious faith can be used to justify/cause/allow suffering… in this case, even when one’s religion of choice has passive attitudes and “benign” beliefs.

From Reuters.com: “More than 70 percent of Egyptians, Pakistanis, Indonesians and Moroccans believe the United States is trying to weaken and divide the Islamic world, a poll released on Tuesday showed.

The survey by WorldPublicOpinion.org also showed more than 40 percent thought that was the primary goal of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, while only 12 percent believed Washington’s aim was to protect the United States from attack.”

Full article here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2332112320070424?feedType=RSS

Religion is often hailed as a sort of glue that holds people together - morals, families, countries. This oft-repeated mantra doesn’t hold up in reality though. Rather, religion tends to divide people into groups that disagree with one another on issues they believe are paramount to the fate of their eternal souls.

A recent survey of Brits shows that the majority, 82% in fact, are aware that religion is a cause of division and tension:

Full article here.

Click to hear Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens discuss why, exactly, the world and everyone in it would be better off there were no religion.