"God Is Not Great:  How Religion Spoils Everything"
 Christopher Hitchens

 Reviewed: Jim Abbott Novermber, 07

 

     Are all atheists funny and smart…and nasty and conceited? That might be the verdict if Hitchens is treated like he treats religion.  Hitchens comes to this book with superlative references: “One of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time,” and he comes out swinging. His target—all religion and all conceptions of god—is remorselessly attacked in a style that shifts between humorous paradox to savage criticism to an ostentatious superiority.  This is a “Cause-driven” work that’s (mostly) entertaining. 

      I was steered to God is not Great through a quasi Internet book club, which over-lapped to a prison pen pal correspondence (no internet available). The inmate, who is the firmest self-avowed atheist of the group, wrote the best analysis:  “Hitchens is right, of course, in my view, but he is so pedantic in the way he loves to exhibit his intellectual training that often his arguments or points are lost in the maze of his supporting data. Plus, he does make one want to bitchslap him, does he not?”  Read and see.

      And Hitchens is right about the monstrous crimes against humanity done in the name of religion. War, child molestation, witch burning, and  body mutilation are all accurately—and often graphically—described.  Hitchens’ historical context is deep, his religious association and world experience is broad, and his reading list and his vocabulary is huge.

      Shortcomings, however, remain. Famous intellectual AND spiritual persons cited by Hitchens (e.g. Newton, Darwin, Paine and Jefferson) have their spirituality dismissed because of child like absence of knowledge. Einstein, Hoyle (big bang), and Karen Armstrong are glossed over, citing only the gods they don’t believe in. Hitchens’ “No Eastern Solution” chapter (all of 9 pages) attempts an “all world” outlook but is obviously not an in-depth area for Hitchens and his faults with the monotheisms are inaccurately applied.

      It does allow for a good joke though.  The Buddhist asks the hot-dog vendor to “Make me One with Everything.”…And more, when he wants change back from his $20, he’s told, “Change only comes from within.”

      Highs and lows from Hitchens.  Definitely worth a look, but keep your dictionary handy, you solipsistic human.