It hit me about halfway through reading God is Not Great, that there was a massive problem with the book. I had no qualms with Hitchens arguments, briefly:
- religion kills
- religions are hazardous for your health
- the metaphysical claims of religion are false
- the idea of a universe by design is nonsense
- the Old Testament is a nightmare of Stone Age hatreds
- the New Testament exceeds the evil of the old one
- the Koran is borrowed nonsense cobbled together from the Jewish and Christian myths
- the miracles of religion are tawdry nonsense
- religions are clearly man-made
- religion doesn’t make people behave better
- Eastern religions are no better than Western
- religion is often a form of child abuse
- rationalism is a far finer tradition to adopt
All well and good, but about halfway through, I was struck by the the thought that of course religion was nonsense; no truly rational person could think otherwise. So, who is the book for? Folk who were already atheists like me (preaching to the secular chior, as it were)? The “faithful” who, by definition, would not be swayed by rational argument? So what’s the point of the book? I’m not sure, except to say that Hitchens does put to bed the myth that atheists are humourless.
No. 12 of 12 books I intend to read and review in 2025.
I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly newsletter highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.
Patrick Sherriff 