God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a strongly-worded criticism of religion written by the outspoken and controversial journalist, Christopher Hitchens.
Summary Of The Book
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is Christopher Hitchens' fierce attempt to logically define and prove the validity of his strong, anti-religious views. The book is divided into 19 chapters. Hitchens begins the book with his childhood encounters with religious beliefs, providing accounts of instances where he found the religious principles he was taught to be logically inconsistent.
In subsequent chapters, he discusses the influence of different religions on each other and on the world as a whole. He explores what he considers fallacious reasoning, misleading doctrines, and negative practices of various religions, such as the Jewish practice of circumcision and the Islamic prohibition on the consumption of pigs. He also details various types of atheists and the manner in which an atheist is generally perceived by the world.
Hitchens also discusses how religions begin and end, and explores the common belief that religious people are more virtuous than their non-religious counterparts. He dismisses claims that the Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism have more holistic solutions to people's problems. He also dissects the role played by prominent individuals like Voltaire, Socrates, Sir Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin in fighting what they considered the negative, downright harmful influences of religion. Through his writing, Hitchens attempts to highlight logical inconsistencies in world religions and encourages people to question their religious beliefs. He writes in favor of reason over religion, in favor of logic over God.
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything was published in 2007. Given the strongly sensitive subject it tackled, the book courted controversy and received mixed reviews.
About Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens was an English-American political journalist, author, columnist, literary critic, and public speaker.
He wrote several literary pieces, including five essay collections and twelve books. Some of his works include Letters To A Young Contrarian, Why Orwell Matters, Everyday Drinking, Love, Poverty And War: Journeys And Essays, and Thomas Jefferson: Author Of America.
His writing was particularly marked by his anti-theist views and criticism of religion. It highlighted his admiration for some famous personalities like Thomas Jefferson and George Orwell. It also brought forth his strong disapproval of public figures like Henry Kissinger, Bill Clinton, and Mother Teresa.
Hitchens was born on April 13, 1949. He attended the Mount House School in Devon and later the Leys School in Cambridge. He then studied at the Balliol College in Oxford. Hitchens joined politics in the 1960s and began his journalistic career in 1970. He moved to the United States in 1981. He was married to Eleni Meleagrou, and the couple had a daughter, Sophia, and a son, Alexander. Hitchens later divorced Meleagrou to marry Carol Blue. He had a daughter named Antonia from his second marriage. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and passed away on December 15, 2011, due to pneumonia arising from cancer complications.
