God Is Not Great

How Religion Poisons Everything

Paperback, 320 pages

English language

Published Sept. 2, 2008 by McClelland & Stewart.

ISBN:
978-0-7710-4143-3
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OCLC Number:
198525479

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(2 reviews)

In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.

11 editions

Important, entertaining, limited.

Rather than rehashing old arguments against common religious beliefs, this work is a systematic take-down of the myth that religion is a net-benefit for society. It's an educational and entertaining read, although Hitchens' can be a touch verbose and his choice of word at times leans esoteric. Depending on the chapter, "God is Not Great" could be a pleasure to read or a slog, but my biggest issue with it is that, while Hitchens didn't limit his critique to abrahamic religions, he stopped short of addressing the underlying issue of magical thinking in any form, not only religion, as a terrible and destructive framework for understanding reality and deciding upon a moral framework with which to engage with the world and others around us. In my opinion, this limits the utility of the work and opens it up to endless debate over historical and doctrinal points. There are some problematic …

Review of 'God Is Not Great' on 'Goodreads'

To paraphrase Mr. Spock, "it's only logical."

I read once that there is an innate human need to explain things, to draw clear lines between cause and effect. Humans also tend to put themselves at the center of the universe. Religion, therefore, is what we get.

It's a little frightening to hear what some of this year's Republican presidential candidates have to say about faith. People, people, people...can't we get past some of this?

Subjects

  • Atheism
  • Sociology of Religion
  • Social Science / General
  • Religion - World Religions