God Is Not Great

Having finished reading this book the first thing I would point out to a potential reader is that the subtitle provides a better description than the main title. Hitchens goes to great length to point out the many and varied crimes of institutionalized religion. This is something that not even the most devout Catholic would deny. The crusades, the inquisitions, burning people alive and other horrible and immoral acts fill the history of religion like a syringe filled with poison. Hitchens' main point, and also something that I thing most people of any religion would agree with, is that these acts shouldn't be forgotten or forgiven simply because they were done in the name of any particular religion. Immoral acts are immoral no matter who does them. Indeed in the varied reviews that people have given of this book, critical reviews nearly always forget to even mention these crimes and immoral acts. They might get caught up with something as pedantic as the wording of a scriptural quote. To me this seems like a rather pathetic argument. It's much like a murderer in court saying "Look, forget about him saying I killed all those people - he said I wore brown shoes when I was clearly wearing black!". It picks at minute details to distract from the larger ones. That's not to say that reasonable religious readers will agree with this book wholeheartedly. Hitchens makes no attempts to hide the fact that he does not believe in God, and feels there is absolutely no compelling reason to do so. He even goes on to point out that if you were to practice your religion and beliefs in the comfort of your own home, he wouldn't have the slightest problem with it. He does, however, object to the god described in the old testament as an immoral monster. Overall there is a lot to take from this book, regardless of your personal views on the matter. Its focus is perhaps less controversial than The God Delusion in that the crimes detailed are a matter of historical record and considered horrific mistakes even by the most conservative of church-goers. If I had to make only one complaint about this book it would be that I didn't always feel that the examples given fell exactly in the subject of the particular chapter where they were placed. The examples were compelling and important to know about, but sometimes I feel they would have been better used at different points in the book to support some other argument. I would recommend this book to anybody regardless of their beliefs if only so that they can be aware of the wrong that can be done in the name of religion and do their best to avoid it ever happening again.

Enlightening. Hitch gives a formidable argument against organized religion. A must read for secular humanists and theists alike.

I advice you to buy both of God Dellusion book for Richard Dawkins and this book "God is not Great". both of them are very interesting for those who like philosophy.

きちんとした論理と証拠で神様の無さ、宗教の無意味さを見せる本。是非読んで下さい。

本作品は2007年に上梓された「問題作」であり、Abrahamic Religions=キリスト・ユダヤ・イスラム教の三大宗教の神は偉大ではないと強く主張する強烈な作品である。 英国生まれで２０数年前からに米国に居を構えるジャーナリスト・評論家であり、歯に衣着せぬ表現で宗教の理不尽と論理破綻、倫理的矛盾等を批判することで有名。著作活動の他に、テレビやラジオの討論でも1人異光を放つ存在である。 ヒッチェンズはリチャード・ドーキンズ（生物学者）、サム・ハリス（哲学者・脳科学者）、ダニエル・デネット（哲学者）と共に最も著名でな無神論者と捉えられている。この４者はそれぞれのスタイルで科学的・論理的根拠を礎に強く宗教の克服を提唱する点で共通している。 ヒッチェンズはイラク・アフガン・イスラエル・ベルファスト・ボンベイ、ベオグラード等多数の紛争地でのジャーナリズム経験と宗教が理由で引き起こされた殺戮・虐殺・分断等を目の当たりにしてきた経験を持ち、政治的・歴史的事実を元に宗教を糾弾する。 また、新旧聖書、コーラン他の聖典の知識はそこらの神父やムッラーでは太刀打ちできないレベルの把握力を持つ。 あまりにも辛辣な批判をするため、敬遠する人々は多いが、その批判は事実と圧倒的な知識量に裏打ちされているため、強固な説得力を持つ。討論で論理破綻に追い込まれ、口をつぐんだ有神論者は数知れない。 一例だけ拙訳であるが氏の発言を載せたい。アブラハムが神に対し実の子を殺して捧げようとした逸話に関して 「神が服従の証として、実子を殺して生贄として捧げる事を強要するならば、私は"F**K YOU!"と答えてやる。」 無宗教が根付いている日本では、宗教批判が欧米でこれほど物議を醸す事に馴染みがない者が多いと思われるが、ヒッチェンズの明快かつ憤怒溢れる表現と説明に、宗教問題がいかに重要な事柄であるか、痛感できる一書だと思う。 間違いなく良書。ちなみに世界では数百万部のベストセラーとなっている事実は、宗教問題への関心の高さを裏付けてもいる。 日本語訳で出版されていない事に少し驚いた。

Months before his death to cancer, Christopher Hitchens in an interview with Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman reiterated his contention that religion will not be a last minute part of his ailing life. No death-bed conversions for Hitch, and it's pretty certain he kept his word. Christopher Hitchens was one of the most able and brilliant writers to tackle any subject, be it politics or religion. Here, in this fine book published in 2009, he cuts to the point about religion and its damning influences. More importantly, he posits two main ideas: the first is pretty much self-explanatory in the title; and the second is that in no way does religion make one a better or moral person. While citing examples of religious figures throughout history to fairly contend they were capable of good, if not great, things (Martin Luther King is a shining example, although Hitch assures us he had his flaws in drink and women; not so kind is he to Mother Theresa, Ghandi or even the untouchable Dalai Lama, all of whom may have done charitable deeds in their time, but certainly fall well short of perfect), Hitchens balances these observations with examples of Atheism doing good, and the three great monotheistic religions doing plenty of horrid stuff all in the name of faith. The Catholic Church gets a particular grilling, thanks to its history of Inquisitions and dalliances with the Nazis. But so does Judaism, which in some of its more extreme manifestations is still mired in truly dark ages; Islam gets its equal dose, not least because of how it's been used to drive young men to fly air planes into buildings, but also for its often backward ways--or its outright theft of scripture from the Bible! Furthermore, Hitchens takes on cults of personality as pretty much religion by rote: North Korea is a good example, in which we find that its late leader Kim Jong Il was not in fact leader of his country any more than his portly son of a successor; the father Kim is still considered the actual leader even in death, while his successors merely run the party! Even Eastern faiths come under fire. Let's just say Hitch is fair in his critique! What is most engrossing is the exhaustive footwork Hitchens put into this book. He provides plenty of examples of scriptural and historical facts to present his case, and in the end the reader is both mesmerized and thankful that Christopher Hitchens did all of the work! The detail is amazing, as he provides example after example of damning evidence to prove his argument. And prove it he does. For its sheer volume and detail alone, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is impossible to put down. Of course another feature of Hitchens is his way with the English language. Possibly nobody comes close at least from the last century in terms of his way with words, or his cutting humour. It's the sort of skill, coupled with the extensive detail, that begs the reader to have another go. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is that good. Like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens was a towering intellect and excellent spokesperson for the atheist movement. It is sad Hitch is gone, but he leaves behind his brilliant work. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a must-read for any struggling atheist who feels alone or afraid to come out. It's an empowering read.

神の名のもとに組織が築かれるとき、いろんな宗教の弊害が出るような気がする。個人が他人を介さず一対一で神と向き合おうとすれば、いろんな人間のよい面が引き出されるかもしれない。神からのお告げや命令も、人を介したものではなく、ほんとうに自分が個人的に聞いたならば、それはすごい衝撃を受けるだろうし、他人がとやかくいえることではないのかもしれない。一対一で神と向かい合うとき、そこには宗教とは違う奥深い世界が開かれるのではなかろうか。

Review: God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens The title of the book did not appeal to me but Hitchens' reputation had already filtered down to me long before the time I began to read his books. I found Hitchens' style of writing easy and relaxed and to the point especially on a topic that is normally heavy and dull. Hitchens soon showed why the God of Moses, the God of Jesus, the God of the Jews and Christians (and Islam) is not great although most Jews and Christians (and Muslims) consider that their God who created the Universe as well as man must be omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent which is in accordance with the stories in the Torah, the Bible and the Quran. But with the benefit of modern science, freedom of expression, and liberated concepts, Hitchens slowly dismantles the pillars of faith in his book. The religious misrepresentation of the origins of man and the cosmos is still maintained by fundamentalists (of all three Abrahamic faiths) who manage to keep the maximum of solipsism grounded on wishful thinking or some other convoluted reinterpretation of words. Fundamentalists will not concede that when religion was first conceived in the dark ages, the only source of information was derived from the limited knowledge of the clergy of religion, but as the light of knowledge appeared it was foolish to still use such a blind man as guide. But faith will still use the familiar guides of old for fear of upsetting the memes he was groomed with from childhood. The Abrahamic faiths as organised religion has a doctrine, and history of violent, irrational, intolerant tribalism and bigotry invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children, has a lot to answer for. The reality that religion and churches, temples, and mosques were manufactured by man is totally ignored in order to mystify the gullible ignorant people to accept some mystical ethereal figure that there is some supernatural power who controls their destiny. This ethereal figure painted as some omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent spiritual figure who created and rules over us, but strangely is never present when you need him most when disaster strikes, led to challenges whether he is actually omnipotent, or simply unwilling, or even a malevolent in his intent. This has led to the next logical conclusion: "The absence of evidence is the evidence of absence." It is a Must read for those with and those without faith. ............................................................................................................................................. As a tribute to this great author I would like to quote this from his wife, Carol Blue: CAROL BLUE: Yes. Freedom of speech was everything to Christopher. He believed in an absolute First Amendment. His voice, both written and spoken, was everything to him and he writes in the article that you referred to - or in the snippet that appears in Mortality - about the - how the spoken word and the written word dovetail and are kind of synergetic. And so it was very odd for this man with the most perfect voice who could command the attention of anyone, any time, anywhere suddenly sitting at the dinner table surrounded by children and relatives trying to cut into the conversation. It was very odd. Luckily, it didn't last for very long. His voice popped back in just as he was filing that Vanity Fair piece that became part of the essay of Mortality.

What can I write that hasn't already been said about the character that is Christopher Hitchens. Yes he is a contrarian, his humor can be dark, incisive, and cutting to those who agree with him and mean-spirited and strident to those who don't. But this book isn't written to gain new converts, it is mostly candy for atheists. Mr Hitchens says in the book that he doesn't think religious belief will ever end and he isn't in the business of telling people what to think. He is looking for the rational crowd to be more outspoken to ensure that this voice is heard. A book like this shouldn't have to be written. To most rational people, a book on this subject is directly equivalent to a dense treatise on whether Santa Claus can plausibly deliver all those presents in one night. But this book does provide a place for us all to vent our frustration at the dominant role that ludicrous beliefs have had in the public square. But while I don't think he will gain many converts, the New Atheists have definitely initiated a call-to-arms to be more vocal about our ridicule of religion. This may be the lasting impact of books such as this. The fact that Christopher Hitchens won't gain new converts isn't a discredit to his arguments, it is merely a statement on the inertia of changing peoples minds on a topic they hold near and dear. Most people are taught from their impressionable years onwards that religious claims are true. Religion provides false but comforting answers to questions of death, suffering, meaning and justice. The atheist can't exactly go door to door to say, 'surprise there is no god', 'when you die, you are gone for eternity', or other not-made-for-Hallmark statements. But like the author, I prefer the reality we find ourselves in. We only have one chance in this world. Each kiss to your wife, kind word to a friend, good deed done, every sunset on the beach, could be your last. As William Burroughs once said, 'Life is a vacation from two eternities, who wants to waste those precious years worrying about what happens when you get back to forever". I find the description of reality and the creation myths of the world's religions to be boring and uninspired. I side with the Reverend Carl Sagan in a spirit of wonder and awe at the true nature of our universe and our evolution. If only religions had tapped in to the true magnificence of our universe, instead of the narrow path they had chosen. But our hopes about the reality of the universe have no bearing on their truth. I believe that there are two options, either god is evil or he doesn't exist. Thankfully the latter is true and we are spared an oppressive god who disproportionately starves poor African children, sends tsunamis after poor villages and decides who wins football games. I can hear the grumbles already, that god gives suffering to test our faith, to break us down so we can come to believe in him. Aren't there more subtle ways for an all-powerful deity to teach us lessons, isn't this method of inflicting suffering on the world to get a point across a bit barbaric and why does god disproportionately teach lessons to those who are poor and dark-skinned. Either way, I could go on and on but this topic kind of bores me. There are no good arguments for a belief in god. But this is a very entertaining book about a great writers favorite topic, you can't go wrong. You should be thoroughly entertained by this therapeutic romp at the expense of the absurdities that have dominated the social sphere underneath the domain of religion. But most rationalists won't get anything new from it.

Todas las religiones merecen análisis y justo escrutinio sin nublarlo con sentimentalismos o posturas dogmáticas, exactamente fue lo que hizo Christopher Hitchens en este excelente libro, fue un erudito preocupado y ocupado por una mejor humanidad, llevando en alto la razón y la verdad.

Um grande estudo mostrando porque religião não tem nada de divino ou sobrenatural, tendo sido contruida por seres humanos. E que causou e continua causando um mal imenso!

Not an easy read. Almost every chapter needs re reading to understand fully the depth of the authors knowledge and understanding of the subject. Loving every page, a truly amazing book.