God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Christopher Hitchens

Aug 2008 · Allen & Unwin

About this ebook

With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion.

'This is easily the most impressive of the present crop of atheistic and anti-theistic books: clever, broad, witty and brilliantly argued.' - Sydney Morning Herald .

Christopher Hitchens has been hailed as 'one of the most brilliant journalists of our time' (UK Observer ). Here he makes the ultimate case against organised religion.

In God is Not Great, Hitchen tweezes through the major religious texts with forensic shrewdness. With chapters entitled 'Religion Kills', and 'Is Religion Child Abuse?', he fearlessly argues for a secular life based on science and reason, tarring religion as man-made wish-thinking. He documents the ways in which religion is a cause of dangerous sexual repression and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos; in Hitchen's vision, hell is replaced by the Hubble telescope's view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the double helix. Principally, Hitchens argues that the concept of an omniscient God has profoundly damaged humanity, and proposes that the world might be a great deal better off without 'Him'.

'If you are a religious apologist invited to debate with Christopher Hitchens, decline.' - Richard Dawkins.

Ratings and reviews

Hitchens was a smart man. But like a grandpa with an IQ of 160 but sadly also with Alzheimer's Disease, this book degenerates into a heterogeneous rant. Quite simply, each point does not build on the previous. He goes on massive tangents. Hitchens generalises like you wouldn't believe. All in all, read this with a whisky sour and maybe you could laugh otherwise leave it alone.

This book is a must read for all humans. Anyone that is familiar with Hitchens online will be familiar with most of the topics he address in this book. It takes these topics into a greater depth than what you will find in most of his lectures and debates you will see online. Hitchens' ability to change the perspective and juxtapose ideas and concepts of religion and spirituality with scepticism and rationality is inspiring, presenting many typically accepted beliefs and shining a new light upon there irrational logic. His ability to see through these beliefs demonstrates and deep understanding of the line of thought used with in these religions, gifting him insight difficult to achieve from with in theological dogma. If you are a rationalist or an open minded theologist this book is a must read, setting the standard in rational and theological debate today. If you are not debating or discussing the issues presented in the book then you are simply centuries behind in understanding contemporary theology. If you are religious and enjoy discussing theology with rationalist you must be up t date with this text and its issues to have any input to debate regarding religion and theology.

This book has so much truth to it, and the way it is written could not even offend the pope. It has a great argument and is very hard to call a bad book: no faults no loopholes no bad chapters! (very hard to put down too) ;)

About the author

Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), 'one of the most prolific, and well as brilliant, journalists of our time' (Observer), was a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a visiting professor of liberal studies at the New School in New York. The most recent of his numerous books are the international bestsellers God is Not Great, Hitch-22 and Arguably.