“I wasn't a huge fan of Christopher Hitchens's writing style, because to be completely truthful it was a little dry and a little thick, but he was after all carrying a rather heavy and nasty message. The point of this book is that people often make excuses for religion's having spawned terrorism, war, and child abuse while impeding scientific progress, the spread of knowledge, and free thinking . . . and the defenses they put forth in favor of religion are often either a) not actually assets or b) don't actually belong to religion. Hitchens goes around the whole buffet of theism, not just focusing on the big three (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) but also on smaller religions and even Eastern spiritualism. He gives tight, undeniable examples of how religion has influenced (for the worse) politics and held mankind back, claiming lives and riches and power in the name of . . . er, whatever god happened to be in power at that time and place. He did a very good job showing how human nature came through regardless of religion in the past and exactly how "poisonous" religion can be and has been, and while it is in-your-face enough that it will offend believers to the point that they won't read it, he does make some very good points.
In an important chapter in the book, Hitchens points out that religions worldwide are guilty of impressing a false world view on people who can't know any better (most notably children), and that they frequently bring up blood sacrifice to teach followers that their sins can be paid off through something/someone else's suffering, and that they impress a very damaging impression of inherent guilt to make followers scramble for forgiveness, and that they will be eternally punished or rewarded for making their choice, and . . . of course . . . that what God wants of them is IMPOSSIBLE (without the religion's help, of course!). I've always thought it's awfully convenient that religion introduces the idea that you're poisoned with this sinfulness due to how you couldn't help being made, and that of course the only way to get inoculated is with the antidote the religion happens to have. Hence the verse in "Amazing Grace": "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved!" It's like lying to a kid that there's a monster in the closet, then setting yourself up as a hero because you gave him a weapon to protect him from the monster.
The aspect of Hitchens's book that I enjoyed most was how easily it showed the similarity between very different religions. If a believer should read it, it might give him pause to think about why he is nodding along with Hitchens when he debunks other religions, but fights against accepting his logic when it has to do with his own religion. I would basically have to quote most of the book in order to show the many places I am in agreement, but just suffice it to say that love him or hate him, this is an important book and it's worth reading if you want a no-nonsense, non-preachy, straight-up honest book about the many ways belief in God (and the ensuing religions) has affected humanity for the worse.”
swankivy wrote this review Wednesday, September 23 2009.
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