God Is Not Great
Encyclopedia
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007)
is a book by author and journalist Christopher Hitchens
criticising religion
. It was published in the United Kingdom
as God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion.
Hitchens contends that organised religion is "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism
, tribalism
, and bigotry
, invested in ignorance
and hostile to free inquiry
, contemptuous of women and coercive
toward children" and sectarian
, and that accordingly it "ought to have a great deal on its conscience." Hitchens supports his position with a mixture of personal stories, documented historical anecdotes and critical analysis of religious texts. His commentary focuses mainly on the Abrahamic religions
, although it also touches on other religions, such as Hinduism
and Buddhism
.
instructor, and began to see critical flaws in apologetic arguments, most notably the argument from design. He goes on to discuss people who become atheists, saying that some are people who have never believed, whereas others are those who have separately discarded religious traditions. He also asserts that atheists who disagree with each other will eventually side together on whatever the evidence
most strongly supports. He briefly discusses why human beings have a tendency towards being "faithful" and argues that religion will remain entrenched in the human consciousness as long as human beings cannot overcome their primitive fears, particularly that of their own mortality
. He ends by saying that he would not want to eradicate religion if the faithful would "leave him alone", but, ultimately, that they are incapable of this.
: if he were alone in an unfamiliar city at night, and a group of strangers began to approach him, would he feel safer, or less safe, knowing that these men had just come from a prayer meeting? Hitchens answers, He gave detailed descriptions of the tense social and political situations within these cities, which he attributes to religion. He has thus "not found it a prudent rule to seek help as the prayer meeting breaks up."
Next he discusses the 1989 fatwa
issued on author and friend Salman Rushdie by the Ayatollah Khomeini because of the contents of his book The Satanic Verses
. He goes on to criticise several public figures for laying the blame for the incident on Rushdie himself. He also writes about the events following the September 11, 2001 attacks
, describing how religion, particularly major religious figures, allowed matters to "deteriorate in the interval between the removal of the Taliban and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein
."
("porcophobia" as Hitchens calls it) in Judaism
, also adopted by Islam
. Hitchens writes that this proscription is not just Biblical
or dietary
. He reports that even today, Muslim zealots demand that the Three Little Pigs
, Miss Piggy
, Piglet
from Winnie-the-Pooh
and other traditional pets and characters be "removed from the innocent gaze of their children." Hitchens proposes that the prohibition against pork found in Semitic religions may be based in the proscription of human sacrifice, extended to pigs because of the similarities in appearance and flavor between pork and human flesh.
s saw the polio vaccine
as a conspiracy
, and thus allowed polio to spread. He goes on to discuss the Catholic Church's response to the spread of HIV
in Africa
, telling people that condom
s are ineffective, which, he argues, contributes to the death toll. He notes with examples that some in both the Catholic and the Muslim communities believe irrationally that HIV
and HPV are punishment for sexual sin—particularly homosexuality
. He describes religious leaders as "faith healers", and opines that they are hostile to medicine
because it necessarily undermines their position of power.
He then criticises the Jewish ritual of circumcision
, especially the Orthodox strain that would have him "take a baby boy
's penis
in my hand, cut around the prepuce
, and complete the action by taking his penis in my mouth, sucking off the foreskin
, and spitting out the amputated flap along with a mouthful of blood
and saliva
", and denounces the traditional African practice of female genital mutilation. He concludes the chapter writing of the religious "wish for obliteration" — for a death in the form of the day of the Apocalypse
.
' time to what we now know about the world. He uses the example of Laplace — "It works well enough without that [God] hypothesis" — to demonstrate that we do not need God to explain things; he claims that religion becomes obsolete as an explanation when it becomes optional or one among many different beliefs. He concludes by averring that the leap of faith is not just one leap; it is a leap repeatedly made, and a leap that becomes more difficult to take the more it is taken: which is why so many religionists now feel the need to move beyond mere faith and cite evidence for their beliefs.
ic religions are used to make people feel like lowly sinners, encouraging low self-esteem, while at the same time leading them to believe that their creator genuinely cares for them, thus inflating their sense of self-importance. He says that superstition
to some extent has a "natural advantage", being that it was contrived many centuries before the modern age of human reason and scientific understanding, and discusses a few examples as well as so-called miracles.
He then discusses the design arguments, using examples such as the human body wearing out in old age as bad design. He writes that if evolution
had taken a slightly different course, there would be no guarantee at all that organisms remotely like us would ever have existed.
s and inconsistencies in the Old Testament, and writes that many of the "gruesome, disordered events [...] never took place." He writes that the Pentateuch is "an ill-carpentered fiction, bolted into place well after the non-events that it fails to describe convincingly or even plausibly." He points out, for instance, that when Moses
orders parents to have their children stoned to death (see also List of capital crimes in the Torah) for indiscipline (citing Deuteronomy
) it is probably a violation of at least one of the very commandments
Moses brought down from God. He observes that Moses "continually makes demented pronouncements ('He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord')."
in the Old Testament with its prediction that "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son" (see Isaiah 7:14
), pointing out where the stories converge, Old Testament to New
. Comparing the Testaments, he considers the New Testament "also a work of crude carpentry, hammered together long after its purported events, and full of improvised attempts to make things come out right." He points out that, while H. L. Mencken
considered some of the New Testament events to be historically verifiable, Mencken maintained that "most of them [...] show unmistakable signs of having been tampered with."
Hitchens also outlines the inaccuracy in Luke's attempt to triangulate three world events of the time with Jesus
's birth (viz, the census ordered by Caesar Augustus of the entire Roman world
, the reign of King Herod
in Judea
and that of Quirinius
as governor of Syria
, see the Census of Quirinius
). He further relates that there is no record by any Roman historian of any Augustan
census, and that, although "the Jewish chronicler Josephus
mentions one that did occur—without the onerous requirement for people to return to their places of birth", it was undertaken "six years after the birth of Jesus is supposed to have taken place." In addition Hitchens notes that Herod died in 4 BC
, and that Quirinius
was not governor of Syria during his tenure.
Hitchens refers to The Passion of the Christ
as "a soap-opera film about the death of Jesus [...] produced by an Australia
n fascist and ham actor named Mel Gibson
", who "adheres to a crackpot and schismatic Catholic sect". In Hitchens' view, the film attempts tirelessly to blame the death of Jesus on the Jews. Hitchens claims that Gibson did not realize that the four Gospel
s were not at all historical records, and that they had multiple authors, all being written many decades after the Crucifixion
— and, moreover, that they do not agree on anything "of importance" (e.g., the virgin birth and the genealogy of Jesus
). He cites many contradiction
s in this area.
He further contends that the many "contradictions and illiteracies" of the New Testament, while written about at great length in other books, have never been explained except as "metaphor
" and "a Christ of faith." He states that the "feebleness" of the Bible is a result of the fact that until recently, Christian
s faced with arguments against the logic or factualness of the Bible "could simply burn or silence anybody who asked any inconvenient questions."
Hitchens points out the problematic implications of the scriptural proclamation "he that is without sin among you, let him cast a first stone" with regard to the practical legislation of retributive justice: "if only the non-sinners have the right to punish, then how could an imperfect society ever determine how to prosecute offenders?" Of the woman whom Jesus saved from the stoning (she having been charged with adultery), the author contends that Jesus thus forgives her of sheer sexual promiscuity
, and, if this be the case, that the lesson has ever since been completely misunderstood. Closing the chapter, he suggests that advocates of religion have faith alone to rely on — nothing else — and calls on them to "be brave enough" to admit it.
, and examines the origin of its holy book, the Koran. Hitchens claims that there is no evidence for any of the "miraculous" claims about Muhammad
, and that the Koran's origin was not supernatural. Hitchens contends that the religion was fabricated by Muhammad or his followers and that it was borrowed from other religious texts, and the hadith
taken from common maxims and sayings which developed throughout Arabia and Persia at the time.
s. Hitchens claims that no supernatural miracles occur, nor have occurred in history. Hitchens claims that evidence of miracles is fabricated, or based on the unreliable testimony of people who are mistaken or biased. Hitchens points out that no verifiable miracle has been documented since cameras have become commonplace. Hitchens uses a specific purported miracle by Mother Teresa
to show how miracles can become perceived as true, when in fact they are based in myth or falsehood.
s, Pentecostal minister Marjoe Gortner
, and Mormonism
. Hitchens discusses Joseph Smith
, the founder of Mormonism, and illustrates negative aspects of his character and history.
religions in chapter fourteen, focusing on the Buddhist religion in Tibet
and Sri Lanka
.
. He cites examples such as genital mutilation
, circumcision
, and imposition of fear of healthy sexual activities such as masturbation
. He also criticizes the way that adults use religion to terrorize children.
and Joseph Stalin
. Hitchens begins by saying "it is interesting that people of faith now seek defensively to say they are no worse than fascists or Nazis or Stalinists". He goes on to analyze those examples of immorality, and shows that although the individual leaders may have been atheist or agnostic, that religion played a key role in these events, and religious people and religious leaders fully participated in the wars and crimes.
, Albert Einstein
, Voltaire
, Spinoza, Thomas Paine
, Charles Darwin
, and Sir Isaac Newton. Hitchens claims that many of these people were atheists, agnostics, or pantheists, except for Socrates and Newton. Hitchens says that religious advocates have attempted to misrepresent some of these icons as religious. Hitchens describes how some of these individuals fought against the negative influences of religion.
, in the New York Times Book Review, lauded Hitchens' "... logical flourishes and conundrums, many of them entertaining to the nonbeliever." He concluded that "Hitchens has outfoxed the Hitchens watchers by writing a serious and deeply felt book, totally consistent with his beliefs of a lifetime."
Bruce DeSilva of the Associated Press
wrote,
DeSilva goes on to opine that "Hitchens has nothing new to say, although it must be acknowledged that he says it exceptionally well."
Responding to Hitchens's claim that "all attempts to reconcile faith with science and reason are consigned to failure and ridicule", Peter Berkowitz of the Hoover Institution
(with which Hitchens has an official affiliation) quotes a paleontologist that Hitchens himself commends—Stephen Jay Gould
. Referencing a number of scientists with religious faith, Gould wrote, "Either half my colleagues are enormously stupid, or else the science of Darwinism
is fully compatible with conventional religious beliefs—and equally compatible with atheism." For his part, Ross Douthat
remarked that "Hitchens's argument proceeds principally by anecdote, and at his best he is as convincing as that particular style allows, which is to say not terribly."
In a lengthy critique of the book's treatment of the Bible
and Gospel
s, William J. Hamblin
, a professor of history at Brigham Young University
, concluded:
Daniel C. Peterson
, a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU, attacked the accuracy of Hitchens' claims in a lengthy essay, concluding, "The book...is crammed to the bursting point with errors, and the striking thing about this is that the errors are always, always, in Hitchens's favor.... There is not a disputed fact or a fact that struck me as questionable that I've checked in Hitchens's book where it has not turned out that he's wrong. Every single time."
The religious critic Frank Brennan described the book as an affirmation of Hitchens' Marxist origins in contrast to his labeling by some critics as a neoconservative:
bestsellers list (behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), and reached No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list in its third week.
2007 in literature
The year 2007 in literature involves some significant new books.-Events:*November 19 - First Kindle e-book reader released.*December 11 - Terry Pratchett informs fans on-line that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.-Literature:...
is a book by author and journalist Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
criticising religion
Criticism of religion
Criticism of religion is criticism of the concepts, validity, and/or practices of religion, including associated political and social implications....
. It was published in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
as God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion.
Hitchens contends that organised religion is "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, tribalism
Tribalism
The social structure of a tribe can vary greatly from case to case, but, due to the small size of tribes, it is always a relatively simple role structure, with few significant social distinctions between individuals....
, and bigotry
Bigotry
A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs...
, invested in ignorance
Ignorance
Ignorance is a state of being uninformed . The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult...
and hostile to free inquiry
Freethought
Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...
, contemptuous of women and coercive
Coercion
Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
toward children" and sectarian
Sectarianism
Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
, and that accordingly it "ought to have a great deal on its conscience." Hitchens supports his position with a mixture of personal stories, documented historical anecdotes and critical analysis of religious texts. His commentary focuses mainly on the Abrahamic religions
Abrahamic religions
Abrahamic religions are the monotheistic faiths emphasizing and tracing their common origin to Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him...
, although it also touches on other religions, such as Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
.
Chapter One: Putting It Mildly
Hitchens writes that, at the age of nine, he began to question the teachings of his BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
instructor, and began to see critical flaws in apologetic arguments, most notably the argument from design. He goes on to discuss people who become atheists, saying that some are people who have never believed, whereas others are those who have separately discarded religious traditions. He also asserts that atheists who disagree with each other will eventually side together on whatever the evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
most strongly supports. He briefly discusses why human beings have a tendency towards being "faithful" and argues that religion will remain entrenched in the human consciousness as long as human beings cannot overcome their primitive fears, particularly that of their own mortality
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
. He ends by saying that he would not want to eradicate religion if the faithful would "leave him alone", but, ultimately, that they are incapable of this.
Chapter Two: Religion Kills
In this chapter, Hitchens addresses a hypothetical question he was asked on a panel with radio host Dennis PragerDennis Prager
Dennis Prager is an American syndicated radio talk show host, syndicated columnist, author, and public speaker. He is noted for his conservative political and social views emanating from conservative Judeo-Christian values. He holds that there is an "American Trinity" of essential principles,...
: if he were alone in an unfamiliar city at night, and a group of strangers began to approach him, would he feel safer, or less safe, knowing that these men had just come from a prayer meeting? Hitchens answers, He gave detailed descriptions of the tense social and political situations within these cities, which he attributes to religion. He has thus "not found it a prudent rule to seek help as the prayer meeting breaks up."
Next he discusses the 1989 fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
issued on author and friend Salman Rushdie by the Ayatollah Khomeini because of the contents of his book The Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters...
. He goes on to criticise several public figures for laying the blame for the incident on Rushdie himself. He also writes about the events following the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, describing how religion, particularly major religious figures, allowed matters to "deteriorate in the interval between the removal of the Taliban and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
."
Chapter Three: A Short Digression On The Pig
Chapter three's full title is "A Short Digression On The Pig; or, Why Heaven Hates Ham". Hitchens discusses the prohibition on eating pigsReligious restrictions on the consumption of pork
Religious restrictions on the consumption of pork are a tradition in the Ancient Near East. Swine were prohibited in ancient Syria and Phoenicia, and the pig and its flesh represented a taboo observed, Strabo noted, at Comana in Pontus A lost poem of Hermesianax, reported centuries later by the...
("porcophobia" as Hitchens calls it) in Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, also adopted by Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. Hitchens writes that this proscription is not just Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
or dietary
Diet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...
. He reports that even today, Muslim zealots demand that the Three Little Pigs
Three Little Pigs
Three Little Pigs is a fairy tale featuring anthropomorphic animals. Printed versions date back to the 1840s, but the story itself is thought to be much older...
, Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
, Piglet
Piglet (Winnie the Pooh)
Piglet is a fictional character from A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh books. Piglet is Winnie-the-Pooh's closest friend amongst all the toys/animals featured in the stories...
from Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic bear created by A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh , and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner...
and other traditional pets and characters be "removed from the innocent gaze of their children." Hitchens proposes that the prohibition against pork found in Semitic religions may be based in the proscription of human sacrifice, extended to pigs because of the similarities in appearance and flavor between pork and human flesh.
Chapter Four: A Note On Health, To Which Religion May Be Hazardous
In this chapter, Hitchens declares that religions are hostile to treating diseases. He writes that many MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s saw the polio vaccine
Polio vaccine
Two polio vaccines are used throughout the world to combat poliomyelitis . The first was developed by Jonas Salk and first tested in 1952. Announced to the world by Salk on April 12, 1955, it consists of an injected dose of inactivated poliovirus. An oral vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin...
as a conspiracy
Conspiracy (civil)
A civil conspiracy or collusion is an agreement between two or more parties to deprive a third party of legal rights or deceive a third party to obtain an illegal objective....
, and thus allowed polio to spread. He goes on to discuss the Catholic Church's response to the spread of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, telling people that condom
Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
s are ineffective, which, he argues, contributes to the death toll. He notes with examples that some in both the Catholic and the Muslim communities believe irrationally that HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and HPV are punishment for sexual sin—particularly homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. He describes religious leaders as "faith healers", and opines that they are hostile to medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
because it necessarily undermines their position of power.
He then criticises the Jewish ritual of circumcision
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
, especially the Orthodox strain that would have him "take a baby boy
Boy
A boy is a young male human , as contrasted to its female counterpart, girl, or an adult male, a man.The term "boy" is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both...
's penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
in my hand, cut around the prepuce
Foreskin
In male human anatomy, the foreskin is a generally retractable double-layered fold of skin and mucous membrane that covers the glans penis and protects the urinary meatus when the penis is not erect...
, and complete the action by taking his penis in my mouth, sucking off the foreskin
Foreskin
In male human anatomy, the foreskin is a generally retractable double-layered fold of skin and mucous membrane that covers the glans penis and protects the urinary meatus when the penis is not erect...
, and spitting out the amputated flap along with a mouthful of blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
and saliva
Saliva
Saliva , referred to in various contexts as spit, spittle, drivel, drool, or slobber, is the watery substance produced in the mouths of humans and most other animals. Saliva is a component of oral fluid. In mammals, saliva is produced in and secreted from the three pairs of major salivary glands,...
", and denounces the traditional African practice of female genital mutilation. He concludes the chapter writing of the religious "wish for obliteration" — for a death in the form of the day of the Apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
.
Chapter Five: The Metaphysical Claims of Religion Are False
Hitchens begins this chapter by saying that the strong faith that could stand up to any form of reason is long gone. He compares the popular knowledge of the world in Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
' time to what we now know about the world. He uses the example of Laplace — "It works well enough without that [God] hypothesis" — to demonstrate that we do not need God to explain things; he claims that religion becomes obsolete as an explanation when it becomes optional or one among many different beliefs. He concludes by averring that the leap of faith is not just one leap; it is a leap repeatedly made, and a leap that becomes more difficult to take the more it is taken: which is why so many religionists now feel the need to move beyond mere faith and cite evidence for their beliefs.
Chapter Six: Arguments From Design
In this chapter, Hitchens writes that AbrahamAbraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
ic religions are used to make people feel like lowly sinners, encouraging low self-esteem, while at the same time leading them to believe that their creator genuinely cares for them, thus inflating their sense of self-importance. He says that superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
to some extent has a "natural advantage", being that it was contrived many centuries before the modern age of human reason and scientific understanding, and discusses a few examples as well as so-called miracles.
He then discusses the design arguments, using examples such as the human body wearing out in old age as bad design. He writes that if evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
had taken a slightly different course, there would be no guarantee at all that organisms remotely like us would ever have existed.
Chapter Seven: The Nightmare Of The Old Testament
Here Hitchens lists anachronismAnachronism
An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
s and inconsistencies in the Old Testament, and writes that many of the "gruesome, disordered events [...] never took place." He writes that the Pentateuch is "an ill-carpentered fiction, bolted into place well after the non-events that it fails to describe convincingly or even plausibly." He points out, for instance, that when Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
orders parents to have their children stoned to death (see also List of capital crimes in the Torah) for indiscipline (citing Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
) it is probably a violation of at least one of the very commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
Moses brought down from God. He observes that Moses "continually makes demented pronouncements ('He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord')."
Chapter Eight: The "New" Testament Exceeds The Evil Of The "Old" One
Hitchens first connects the Book of IsaiahBook of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
in the Old Testament with its prediction that "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son" (see Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 7:14 is a verse of the Book of Isaiah in which the prophet Isaiah, addressing king Ahaz of Judah , promises the king a sign that his oracle is a true one...
), pointing out where the stories converge, Old Testament to New
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
. Comparing the Testaments, he considers the New Testament "also a work of crude carpentry, hammered together long after its purported events, and full of improvised attempts to make things come out right." He points out that, while H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
considered some of the New Testament events to be historically verifiable, Mencken maintained that "most of them [...] show unmistakable signs of having been tampered with."
Hitchens also outlines the inaccuracy in Luke's attempt to triangulate three world events of the time with Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
's birth (viz, the census ordered by Caesar Augustus of the entire Roman world
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, the reign of King Herod
Herod the Great
Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
in Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
and that of Quirinius
Quirinius
Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, to which the province of Iudaea had been added for the purpose of a census.-Life:Born in the neighborhood...
as governor of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, see the Census of Quirinius
Census of Quirinius
The Census of Quirinius refers to the enrollment of the Roman Provinces of Syria and Iudaea for tax purposes taken in the year 6/7 during the reign of Emperor Augustus , when Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was appointed governor of Syria, after the banishment of Herod Archelaus from the Tetrarchy of...
). He further relates that there is no record by any Roman historian of any Augustan
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
census, and that, although "the Jewish chronicler Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
mentions one that did occur—without the onerous requirement for people to return to their places of birth", it was undertaken "six years after the birth of Jesus is supposed to have taken place." In addition Hitchens notes that Herod died in 4 BC
4 BC
Year 4 BC was a common year starting on Tuesday or Wednesday of the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Monday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...
, and that Quirinius
Quirinius
Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, to which the province of Iudaea had been added for the purpose of a census.-Life:Born in the neighborhood...
was not governor of Syria during his tenure.
Hitchens refers to The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...
as "a soap-opera film about the death of Jesus [...] produced by an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n fascist and ham actor named Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
", who "adheres to a crackpot and schismatic Catholic sect". In Hitchens' view, the film attempts tirelessly to blame the death of Jesus on the Jews. Hitchens claims that Gibson did not realize that the four Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s were not at all historical records, and that they had multiple authors, all being written many decades after the Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
— and, moreover, that they do not agree on anything "of importance" (e.g., the virgin birth and the genealogy of Jesus
Genealogy of Jesus
The genealogy of Jesus is described in two passages of the Gospels: Luke 3:23–38 and Matthew 1:1–17.* Matthew's genealogy commences with Abraham and then from King David's son Solomon follows the legal line of the kings through Jeconiah, the king whose descendants were cursed, to Joseph, legal...
). He cites many contradiction
Contradiction
In classical logic, a contradiction consists of a logical incompatibility between two or more propositions. It occurs when the propositions, taken together, yield two conclusions which form the logical, usually opposite inversions of each other...
s in this area.
He further contends that the many "contradictions and illiteracies" of the New Testament, while written about at great length in other books, have never been explained except as "metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
" and "a Christ of faith." He states that the "feebleness" of the Bible is a result of the fact that until recently, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s faced with arguments against the logic or factualness of the Bible "could simply burn or silence anybody who asked any inconvenient questions."
Hitchens points out the problematic implications of the scriptural proclamation "he that is without sin among you, let him cast a first stone" with regard to the practical legislation of retributive justice: "if only the non-sinners have the right to punish, then how could an imperfect society ever determine how to prosecute offenders?" Of the woman whom Jesus saved from the stoning (she having been charged with adultery), the author contends that Jesus thus forgives her of sheer sexual promiscuity
Fornication
Fornication typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. For many people, the term carries a moral or religious association, but the significance of sexual acts to which the term is applied varies between religions, societies and cultures. The...
, and, if this be the case, that the lesson has ever since been completely misunderstood. Closing the chapter, he suggests that advocates of religion have faith alone to rely on — nothing else — and calls on them to "be brave enough" to admit it.
Chapter Nine: The Koran Is Borrowed From Both Jewish and Christian Myths
Chapter nine assesses the religion of IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, and examines the origin of its holy book, the Koran. Hitchens claims that there is no evidence for any of the "miraculous" claims about Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, and that the Koran's origin was not supernatural. Hitchens contends that the religion was fabricated by Muhammad or his followers and that it was borrowed from other religious texts, and the hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
taken from common maxims and sayings which developed throughout Arabia and Persia at the time.
Chapter Ten: The Tawdriness Of The Miraculous And The Decline Of Hell
Chapter ten discusses miracleMiracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
s. Hitchens claims that no supernatural miracles occur, nor have occurred in history. Hitchens claims that evidence of miracles is fabricated, or based on the unreliable testimony of people who are mistaken or biased. Hitchens points out that no verifiable miracle has been documented since cameras have become commonplace. Hitchens uses a specific purported miracle by Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
to show how miracles can become perceived as true, when in fact they are based in myth or falsehood.
Chapter Eleven: Religion's Corrupt Beginnings
Chapter eleven discusses how religions form, and claims that most religions are founded by corrupt, immoral individuals. The chapter specifically discusses Cargo CultCargo cult
A cargo cult is a religious practice that has appeared in many traditional pre-industrial tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults focus on obtaining the material wealth of the advanced culture through magic and religious rituals and practices...
s, Pentecostal minister Marjoe Gortner
Marjoe Gortner
Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner, generally known as Marjoe Gortner , is a former revivalist who first gained a certain fame in the late 1940s when he became the youngest ordained preacher at the age of four...
, and Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
. Hitchens discusses Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
, the founder of Mormonism, and illustrates negative aspects of his character and history.
Chapter Twelve: A Coda: How Religions End
Chapter twelve discusses the termination of several religions, to illustrate that some religions are not everlasting, as they claim. The religions addressed include Millerism and Sabbatai Sevi.Chapter Thirteen: Does Religion Make People Behave Better?
In chapter thirteen, Hitchens addresses the question of whether religious people behave more virtuously than non-religious people (atheists, agnostics, or freethinkers). Hitchens uses the battle against slavery in the United States, and Martin Luther King Jr. to support his claim that non-religious people battle for moral causes with as much vigor and effect as religious advocates.Chapter Fourteen: There Is No 'Eastern' Solution
Hitchens criticizes the Buddhist and HinduHindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
religions in chapter fourteen, focusing on the Buddhist religion in Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
Chapter Fifteen: Religion As An Original Sin
Chapter 15 discusses five aspects of religions that Hitchens maintains are "positively immoral":- Presenting a false picture of the world to the credulous
- The doctrine of blood sacrifice to appease gods (such as by the Aztecs)
- The doctrine of atonement (harming innocent people to atone for sins)
- The doctrine of eternal rewardHeavenHeaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
or eternal punishmentHellIn many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations... - The imposition of impossible tasks or rules (including unhealthy views of sexSexIn biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
)
Chapter Sixteen: Is Religion Child Abuse?
In chapter sixteen, Hitchens documents how religion has been used to cause harm to childrenChild abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
. He cites examples such as genital mutilation
Genital mutilation
Genital mutilation can refer to:*Clitoridectomy*Female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision*Genital modification and mutilation*Infibulation...
, circumcision
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
, and imposition of fear of healthy sexual activities such as masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
. He also criticizes the way that adults use religion to terrorize children.
Chapter Seventeen: An Objection Anticipated
Chapter seventeen addresses the most common counter-argument that Hitchens says he hears, namely that the most immoral acts in human history were performed by atheists like Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. Hitchens begins by saying "it is interesting that people of faith now seek defensively to say they are no worse than fascists or Nazis or Stalinists". He goes on to analyze those examples of immorality, and shows that although the individual leaders may have been atheist or agnostic, that religion played a key role in these events, and religious people and religious leaders fully participated in the wars and crimes.
Chapter Eighteen: A Finer Tradition: The Resistance Of The Rational
Chapter eighteen discusses several important intellectuals, including SocratesSocrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
, Spinoza, Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
, Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, and Sir Isaac Newton. Hitchens claims that many of these people were atheists, agnostics, or pantheists, except for Socrates and Newton. Hitchens says that religious advocates have attempted to misrepresent some of these icons as religious. Hitchens describes how some of these individuals fought against the negative influences of religion.
Chapter Nineteen: In Conclusion: The Need for a New Enlightenment
Hitchens argues that the human race no longer needs religion to the extent it has in the past. He claims that the time has come for science and reason to take a more prominent role in the life of individuals and larger cultures. He says that de-emphasizing religion will improve the quality of life of individuals, and assist the progress of civilization. It is in effect a rallying call to atheists to fight the theocratic encroachment on free society.Critical reception
Critic Michael KinsleyMichael Kinsley
Michael Kinsley is an American political journalist, commentator, television host, and pundit. Primarily active in print media as both a writer and editor, he also became known to television audiences as a co-host on Crossfire...
, in the New York Times Book Review, lauded Hitchens' "... logical flourishes and conundrums, many of them entertaining to the nonbeliever." He concluded that "Hitchens has outfoxed the Hitchens watchers by writing a serious and deeply felt book, totally consistent with his beliefs of a lifetime."
Bruce DeSilva of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
wrote,
This time he's outdone himself [....] A spate of atheist screeds has arrived in the bookstores lately, but Hitchens' may be the best since Bertrand RussellBertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
's Why I Am Not a ChristianWhy I Am Not a ChristianWhy I Am Not a Christian is a 1927 essay by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell hailed by The Independent as "devastating in its use of cold logic", and listed in the New York Public Library's list of the most influential books of the 20th century....
(1927), laying out the essential arguments with force and precision [....] He makes his case in the elegant yet biting prose we have come to expect from him [....] Hitchens is the reincarnation of H. L. MenckenH. L. MenckenHenry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
, the penultimate social critic of the first half of the 20th century, who used words like gunshots and considered most Americans 'boobs'.
DeSilva goes on to opine that "Hitchens has nothing new to say, although it must be acknowledged that he says it exceptionally well."
Responding to Hitchens's claim that "all attempts to reconcile faith with science and reason are consigned to failure and ridicule", Peter Berkowitz of the Hoover Institution
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
(with which Hitchens has an official affiliation) quotes a paleontologist that Hitchens himself commends—Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
. Referencing a number of scientists with religious faith, Gould wrote, "Either half my colleagues are enormously stupid, or else the science of Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
is fully compatible with conventional religious beliefs—and equally compatible with atheism." For his part, Ross Douthat
Ross Douthat
Ross Gregory Douthat is a conservative American author, blogger and New York Times columnist. He was a senior editor at The Atlantic and is author of Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class and, with Reihan Salam, Grand New Party , which David Brooks called the "best single...
remarked that "Hitchens's argument proceeds principally by anecdote, and at his best he is as convincing as that particular style allows, which is to say not terribly."
In a lengthy critique of the book's treatment of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s, William J. Hamblin
William J. Hamblin
William James Hamblin is a Mormon apologist and associate professor of history at Brigham Young University . He is a former board member of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies at BYU.- Biography :...
, a professor of history at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
, concluded:
Daniel C. Peterson
Daniel C. Peterson
Daniel C. Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University and currently serves as editor-in-chief of BYU's Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. He is a member of the executive council of the Neal A...
, a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU, attacked the accuracy of Hitchens' claims in a lengthy essay, concluding, "The book...is crammed to the bursting point with errors, and the striking thing about this is that the errors are always, always, in Hitchens's favor.... There is not a disputed fact or a fact that struck me as questionable that I've checked in Hitchens's book where it has not turned out that he's wrong. Every single time."
The religious critic Frank Brennan described the book as an affirmation of Hitchens' Marxist origins in contrast to his labeling by some critics as a neoconservative:
Sales history
The book was published on May 1, 2007, and within a week had reached No. 2 on the Amazon.comAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
bestsellers list (behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), and reached No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list in its third week.
See also
External links
- FARMS Review of God is Not Great - FARMS
- Exclusive Excerpts from God Is Not Great - SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...