A review of “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens
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.
Category: Book review, Commentary
May 8th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Much evil has been done in the name of religion, but keep in mind that Jesus Christ’s worst enemies were themselves very religious people.
If a religion legitimizes ideas that say that envy, pride, arrogance, and foolishness are acceptable, then those religious ideas are evil and false.
But if there exists a good God, then walking with God and putting His good commands into practice is a good thing.
What strikes me is your apparent outrage and indignation at the “poison” of religion. I presume you are not similarly outraged when a lion kills its prey. Likewise, you are not outraged when people eat bacon. If we are merely an accumulation of particles of matter, then why the “outrage” at “injustice”? If there is no God, and we are only made out of star stuff, then this whole notion of “morality” is ridiculous. Also, the supposed reality of morality can not be proven through the scientific method. So, becoming “outraged” by “injustice” is ridiculous.
But you can’t escape this outrage, because you can’t escape this sense of justice. And you can’t escape this sense of justice, because you have been created in the image of God.
May 18th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Hi Concerned Engineer,
You bring up some common arguments and I’d like to respond to each one.
Much evil has been done in the name of religion, but keep in mind that Jesus Christ’s worst enemies were themselves very religious people.
The fact that Jesus’s enemies were religious supports the case that religion is at best worthless and at worst deadly.
What strikes me is your apparent outrage and indignation at the “poison†of religion.
When I reread the post, I don’t hear any outrage or indignation. ? I’m not sure what to say about that.
I presume you are not similarly outraged when a lion kills its prey. Likewise, you are not outraged when people eat bacon. If we are merely an accumulation of particles of matter, then why the “outrage†at “injustice�
You are right, I am not outraged when a lion kills his prey. Maybe I should be. But, I am outraged when people die needlessly - especially when the cause for these deaths is ancient myths that border on the absurd and yet refuse to go away. I am similarly outraged when people shoot each other over Playstation 3s, stab each other for iPods, or when parents hurt their children because they are upset. People hurting each other angers me. This particular blog is about the harmful effects of religion because I think this is where I can make the biggest difference. Having a blog about why people shouldn’t shoot each other for Playstation 3s isn’t going to make any difference at all. Religion is a mind virus that has been passed around to billions and billions of people. It needs to die and I’d love to help. I’m not sure I follow your logic here though… are you saying that we shouldn’t care when people kill each other because lions kill zebras? Obviously not, I’m just not sure you’ve thought your metaphor through all the way…
. If we are merely an accumulation of particles of matter, then why the “outrage†at “injustice� If there is no God, and we are only made out of star stuff, then this whole notion of “morality†is ridiculous. Also, the supposed reality of morality can not be proven through the scientific method. So, becoming “outraged†by “injustice†is ridiculous.
This argument is so common and yet irrelevant it baffles me that people just don’t intuitvely understand this. Here’s the thing - whether or not there is a God, morality matters. In fact, it’s extremely important. Integrity, honesty, respect, mercy, service, graciousness, caring, loving, giving… these things are supremely important whether your God exists or not. Just because an atheist doesn’t believe in something (your god), doesn’t mean that they believe in nothing. Why wouldn’t an atheist want to be a good person? Do christians have some sort of monopoly on morality (apprently not since there are disproportionately more Christians in prison than atheists). Morality is not ridiculous without god. Rather, without god morality becomes that much more important because people need to learn to be moral for moralities sake (rather than being scared into being good by the idea of eternal hell fire and damnation or promises of a glorious heavenly reward). Actually, I think the scientific method has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that morality exists and is actually very constant across cultures and societies - even when those cultures and societies have vastly different religious beliefs. I will become “outraged at injustice” till I die thank you very much. I just don’t understand why religious people think nothing matters without god. Think about it. What changes about what you think is right and wrong when you stop believing in god? Apparently you’d be surprised by how little.
But you can’t escape this outrage, because you can’t escape this sense of justice. And you can’t escape this sense of justice, because you have been created in the image of God.
That’s certainly one way of looking at it. I think it’s a pathetically archaic world view but who am I to tell you your beliefs about this world are silly and outlandish?