Book Review: God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

"God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything", written by Christopher Hitchens. If a reader picks up this book because he is intrigued by the aggressive nature of the title, he will not be disapointed. Hitchens makes a passionate case that religion is not just a "mere mental delusion, but a great moral evil". His arguments in fact caused me to question my own "live and let live" philosophy toward religion, making me realize I must take a less passive role as an atheist. At the end of his book, Hitchens himself says that he would not want to get rid of religion if it would leave him and his beliefs alone, but religion is incapable of this. He cites shocking references of Hindu and Buddhist murderers and sadists, how Buddhist and Shinto priests trained the suicide bombers, or Kamikaze, in WWII, and a form of Hindu suttee that recommends "suicide" of widows, and lots more.

It is difficult to review a book without bias when one is in strong agreement with the author's views. My struggle to remain impartial was furthar thwarted as I found myself taking delight early on in Hitchen's searing wit and sarcasm. Hitchens is relentless in his critique of religion and comes off as downright belittling. But his belittling has good reason behind it. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions." Hitchens ridicules with wit, and I suspect that many of his put-downs will go over the heads of many religious people. For example, look how Hitchens reduces Aristotle's gods and the last remaining god of monotheism:

Aristotle, whose reasoning about the unmoved mover and the uncaused cause is the beginning of this argument, concluded that the logic would necessitate forty-seven of fifty- five gods. Surely even a monotheist would be grateful for Ockham's razor at this point? From a plurality of prime movers, the monotheists have bargained it down to a single one. They are getting ever nearer to the true, round figure.

I also love how Hitchens equates religion with solipsism several times in the book (something that theists love to throw at nonbelievers). Although Hitchens doesn't give the reasons why religion practices soliphism, if you think about it, theists have concern only for themselves and their fellow believers (damn those that don't convert). Religion comes entirely from the mind of believers and solipsism claims that knowledge only comes from the self. This fits religion to a tee because their only source about god and the supernatural comes from holy scriptures, written by fallible men, or from their own selfish minds. Nothing about supernatural religion comes from outside the mind; it comes entirely from the self, the very essence of solipsism.

Hitchens also poses the question that originated with Dawkins: "Is religion child abuse?" Considering the teachings of threats of hell, the idea of eternal torture, and the sin of sexual feelings, how many young minds have undergone depression, suicidal feelings, and at its opposite, rebelled to become sadistic rapers or killers in later life? Hitchens forces us to contemplate the untold systematic rape and torture of children, abetted by religious hierarchy, that has happened for centuries as the church stood above allowed criticism.

For these reasons and more, Hitchens wants people to examine the claims of religion and to demand accountability. He realizes that religion has run out of justifications and offers no explanation of anything important. Religion creates the conditions that make many a human life miserable, and furthermore, could very well wipe the human species off the planet. To this end, he wants us to understand the magnitude of what we are dealing with, and be prepared to make humankind aware of the dangers of religion.

Link to Andy's review