Christopher Hitchens' new one,
god is not Great, or however you capitalize it, is, according to the
LA Times, "An atheistic rant that is, well, just preaching to the choir."
The Washington Post called it "an unrelenting enumeration of religion's sins and wickedness, written with much of the rhetorical pomp and all of the imperial condescension of a Vatican encyclical" and went on to state that "Hitchens... writes about religious people the way northern racists used to talk about 'Negroes' -- with feigned knowing and a sneer.
God Is Not Great assumes a childish definition of religion and then criticizes religious people for believing such foolery."
Despite these not-so-positive reviews, the book seems to be selling well, due to Hitchens' being, well, Hitchens.
Here's Hitch describing the dangers of Islam in a New York magazine interview:
"If you ask specifically what is wrong with Islam, it makes the same mistakes as the preceding religions, but it makes another mistake, which is that it's unalterable. You notice how liberals keep saying, 'If only Islam would have a Reformation'--it
can't have one. It says it can't. It's extremely dangerous in that way.
"
And, when asked if he's ever prayed before:
"I probably once did pray for an erection, but not addressed to anyone in particular. Nor completely addressed to my cock."
See, we're all religious in our own ways.
Read some excerpts from God is Not Great at Slate.
Read Hitchens' 2002 interview at Identity Theory.Purchase God is Not Great at Powell's.
posted by Matt Borondy on 5/08/2007 
