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God Is Not Great
God Is Not Great
God Is Not Great
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God Is Not Great (sometimes stylized as god is not Great)[1] is a 2007 book[2] by journalist Christopher Hitchens in which he makes a case against organized religion. It was originally published in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Books as God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion and in the United States by Twelve as God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, but in 2017 Atlantic Books republished it with no subtitle.

Key Information

Hitchens posited that organized religion is "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children" and sectarian, and that accordingly it "ought to have a great deal on its conscience". He supports his position with a mixture of personal stories, documented historical anecdotes and critical analysis of religious texts. His commentary focuses mainly on the Abrahamic religions, although it also touches on other religions, such as Eastern religions. The book sold well and received mixed reviews, with some critics finding historical inaccuracies in the text and some finding the book highly important.

The title of the book negates the Muslim affirmation Allahu akbar, which translates as "God is great".[3][4]

Summary

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Hitchens begins by describing his early scepticism toward religion and argues that faith persists due to human fear of mortality (ch. 1). He claims religion imposes itself on others and frequently incites violence, citing his experiences in cities like Belfast and Beirut and the reaction to Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses (ch. 2). He discusses religious prohibitions against pork. He critiques religious interference in public health, referring to the Catholic Church's stance on condoms in Africa, resistance to vaccines in some Islamic groups, religious circumcision and religious female genital mutilation (ch. 4).

He argues that religious metaphysics are false and that advances in science make leaps of faith increasingly redundant (ch. 5). He challenges the argument from design, claiming religion promotes both human inferiority and self-importance while failing to explain natural flaws (ch. 6). He describes the Old Testament as violent and inconsistent, with laws that contradict its own commandments (ch. 7), and presents the New Testament as derivative and historically unreliable, marked by contradictions and retrofitted narratives (ch. 8). He argues that Islam borrows myths from Judaism and Christianity and is shaped by political motives and linguistic control. He criticises Islam's resistance to reform, suppression of dissent, and claims of divine authority as signs of insecurity rather than truth (ch. 9).

Hitchens contends that all reported miracles are unverified and that belief in them relies on fabricated or unreliable testimony (ch. 10). He argues that many religions originated in fraud or delusion, citing Mormonism and cargo cults as examples (ch. 11), and asserts that religions do die out over time despite claims of permanence (ch. 12). He disputes the notion that religion improves morality, pointing to the abolitionist movement as an example of secular virtue (ch. 13), and critiques Eastern religions for encouraging mental submission and failing to offer consistent spiritual insight (ch. 14).

He argues that religion promotes doctrines such as eternal punishment, blood sacrifice, and sexual repression, which he views as ""positively immoral" (ch. 15), and says it harms children through fear and physical abuse (ch. 16). Responding to claims that atheists like Stalin committed worse crimes than the religious, he contends that totalitarianism is political rather than a result of atheism (ch. 17). He concludes that humanity is likely to outgrow religion, comparing its end to other abandoned practices (ch. 18), and suggests that meaning and community can be found through secular, non-coercive means (ch. 19).

Critical reception

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Positive critique

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Michael Kinsley, in The New York Times Book Review, lauded Hitchens's "logical flourishes and conundrums, many of them entertaining to the nonbeliever". He concluded that "Hitchens has outfoxed the Hitchens watchers by writing a serious and deeply felt book, totally consistent with his beliefs of a lifetime".[5]

Bruce DeSilva considered the book to be the best piece of atheist writing since Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian (1927), with Hitchens using "elegant yet biting prose". He concludes that "Hitchens has nothing new to say, although it must be acknowledged that he says it exceptionally well".[6][7]

The book was praised in Kirkus Reviews as a "pleasingly intemperate assault on organized religion" that "like-minded readers will enjoy".[8]

In The Sydney Morning Herald, Matt Buchanan dubbed it "a thundering 300-page cannonade; a thrillingly fearless, impressively wide-ranging, thoroughly bilious and angry book against the idea of God"; Buchanan found the work to be "easily the most impressive of the present crop of atheistic and anti-theistic books: clever, broad, witty and brilliantly argued".[9]

Jason Cowley in the Financial Times called the book "elegant but derivative".[10]

Negative critique

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David Bentley Hart, reviewing the book in the Christian journal First Things, interpreted the book as a "rollicking burlesque, without so much as a pretense of logical order or scholarly rigor".[11] Hart says "On matters of simple historical and textual fact, moreover, Hitchens' book is so extraordinarily crowded with errors that one soon gives up counting them." Hart claims that Hitchens conflates the histories of the 1st and 4th crusades, restates the discredited assertion that the early church destroyed ancient pagan texts, and asserts that Myles Coverdale and John Wycliffe were burned alive when both men died of old age.[11]

Stephen Prothero of The Washington Post considered Hitchens correct on many points but found the book "maddeningly dogmatic" and criticized Hitchens's condemnation of religion altogether, writing that "If this is religion, then by all means we should have less of it. But the only people who believe that religion is about believing blindly in a God who blesses and curses on demand and sees science and reason as spawns of Satan are unlettered fundamentalists and their atheistic doppelgängers."[12]

Responding to Hitchens's claim that "all attempts to reconcile faith with science and reason are consigned to failure and ridicule", Peter Berkowitz of the Hoover Institution quotes paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. Referencing a number of scientists with religious faith, Gould wrote, "Either half my colleagues are enormously stupid, or else the science of Darwinism is fully compatible with conventional religious beliefs—and equally compatible with atheism."[13]

William J. Hamblin of the FARMS Review criticized Hitchens for implying unanimity among biblical scholars on controversial points and overlooking alternative scholarly positions, and felt that Hitchens's understanding of biblical studies was "flawed at best." "[F]or Hitchens, it is sufficient to dismiss the most extreme, literalistic, and inerrantist interpretations of the Bible to demonstrate not only that the Bible itself is thoroughly flawed, false, and poisonous but that God does not exist." Hamblin felt that he misrepresented the Bible "at the level of a confused undergraduate", failing to contextualise it. Hamblin concluded that the book "should certainly not be seen as reasonable grounds for rejecting belief in God".[14]

Daniel C. Peterson attacked the accuracy of Hitchens's claims in a lengthy essay, describing it as "crammed to the bursting point with errors, and the striking thing about this is that the errors are always, always, in Hitchens's favor. ... In many cases, Hitchens is 180 degrees wrong. He is so far wrong that, if he moved at all, he would be coming back toward right."[15]

Curtis White, writing in Salon, criticized the book as "intellectually shameful". White, an atheist critic of religion, asserted that "one enormous problem with Hitchens's book is that it reduces religion to a series of criminal anecdotes. In the process, however, virtually all of the real history of religious thought, as well as historical and textual scholarship, is simply ignored as if it never existed."[16]

Sales history

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The book was published on May 1, 2007, and within a week had reached No. 2 on the Amazon bestsellers list,[citation needed] and reached No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list in its third week.[17]

Notes

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God Is Not Great

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God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a 2007 book by British-American author and journalist in which he systematically critiques as a man-made construct that fosters division, immorality, and opposition to empirical inquiry. Published by Twelve Books, an imprint of , the work draws on historical evidence of religious wars, scriptural endorsements of violence, and institutional suppression of scientific progress to argue that faith-based systems distort human origins and ethical reasoning. Hitchens, a prominent public intellectual known for his polemical style, structures the book around chapters examining religion's role in promoting , justifying tyranny, and hindering societal advancement, asserting that aligns more closely with observable reality and moral autonomy. The book emerged amid the post-9/11 resurgence of debates on faith's societal impact and became a cornerstone of the so-called movement alongside works by authors like and . It achieved commercial success as a New York Times #1 bestseller and was nominated for the 2007 in , reflecting its provocative appeal to skeptics while drawing rebuttals from religious apologists who contested Hitchens' selective historical interpretations and causal attributions to faith over other human factors. Critics noted the text's rhetorical force and from Hitchens' global experiences, though some highlighted factual disputes in specific claims about religious doctrines and events. Overall, God Is Not Great encapsulates Hitchens' lifelong contrarianism, prioritizing reason and against supernatural claims, and continues to influence discussions on and the compatibility of with modern ethics.

Publication and Background

Author Context

(13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American journalist, author, and public intellectual renowned for his contrarian essays, debates, and critiques spanning politics, history, and culture. Born in , , to a father and a mother of Jewish descent who later died by , Hitchens grew up in a nominally Christian household but rejected religious belief early, declaring himself an atheist around age fifteen amid exposure to scientific and Marxist thought. He pursued higher education at , earning a degree in in 1970, where he engaged with socialist circles and honed his rhetorical skills through and writing for campus publications. Hitchens's professional career began in as a contributor to left-wing outlets like the and , where he established himself as a Trotskyist polemicist defending internationalism and free speech while lambasting authoritarian regimes and religious . In 1981, he relocated to the , becoming a U.S. citizen in 2007, and expanded his reach through columns in Vanity Fair, Atlantic Monthly, and , authoring over a dozen books including polemics against (The Trial of Henry Kissinger, 2001) and (The Missionary Position, 1995), which exposed her ties to corrupt regimes and questionable financial practices. His support for the 2003 —framed as a necessary confrontation with Ba'athist and —marked a decisive break from orthodox leftism, alienating former allies and earning him labels as a neoconservative fellow traveler, though he consistently identified as a Marxist internationalist opposed to both and . By the mid-2000s, Hitchens had emerged as a leading voice in the "New Atheism" movement, galvanized by the September 11, 2001, attacks, which he attributed partly to religious fanaticism's totalitarian impulses rather than mere geopolitical grievances—a view that drew fire from pacifist and multiculturalist quarters for its unsparing causal attribution to faith-based ideologies. Diagnosed with stage-four esophageal cancer in June 2010, likely exacerbated by his lifelong smoking and drinking habits, Hitchens continued writing and debating until his death in Houston, Texas, producing reflections on mortality that reaffirmed his materialist worldview without concession to theism. His oeuvre, including eighteen books on diverse subjects, emphasized empirical skepticism, anti-clericalism, and the primacy of reason over revelation, influencing subsequent secularist discourse despite criticisms of selective historical sourcing in his religious critiques.

Writing and Release Details

Christopher Hitchens wrote God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything over approximately five months, drawing on lifelong reflections against while composing the manuscript intensively. The book consists of 307 pages in its initial edition. The work was published by Twelve, an imprint of under , with the first American edition released on May 1, 2007. It featured an initial printing in format, identified by 978-0-446-57980-3. A paperback edition followed in 2009, expanding accessibility, but the original release capitalized on Hitchens' public debates and lectures on religion during that period.

Core Thesis

Central Claim: Religion Poisons Everything

In God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, posits that exerts a corrupting influence on every domain it enters, from personal conduct to global affairs, by substituting unprovable for and rational deliberation. He defines this "poison" as the promotion of over , obedience to celestial authority over human , and tribal exclusivity over universal , which collectively stifle progress and invite exploitation. Hitchens illustrates this through 's historical role in endorsing practices like among ancient Carthaginians or ritual circumcision without anesthesia in , arguing that such customs persist not despite but because of sacred sanction, detached from verifiable harm-benefit analysis. The thesis extends to religion's distortion of morality, where Hitchens contends it derives ethics from arbitrary divine commands—evident in biblical endorsements of adulterers (Deuteronomy 22:22) or Quranic prescriptions for execution (Sahih al-Bukhari 9:84:57)—rather than innate human reciprocity or consequentialist reasoning. This leads, he argues, to masked as absolutism, permitting atrocities like the ' estimated 1-3 million deaths between 1095 and 1291 or the Inquisition's of thousands from 1478 onward, justified as divine will. In politics and society, religion poisons governance by fueling theocracies, such as Iran's post-1979 clerical regime with its 1988 mass execution of 4,000-5,000 political prisoners, or by infiltrating secular states to oppose reforms like India's 2018 , delayed by faith-based resistance. Hitchens further applies the claim to science and culture, asserting religion's antagonism toward inquiry—exemplified by the Catholic Church's 1633 condemnation of Galileo for or evangelical campaigns against Darwinian , with 40% of Americans rejecting it per 2004 Gallup polls—impedes knowledge accumulation. On personal levels, he highlights religion's inculcation of guilt over natural sexuality, citing virginity cults or celibacy vows that, per studies like the 2004 on 4,392 U.S. Catholic clergy abuse cases from 1950-2002, correlate with institutional cover-ups. While acknowledging that not every ill stems solely from religion, Hitchens insists its net effect is deleterious, as it amplifies human flaws under the guise of transcendence, contrasting with secular frameworks that have driven advancements like the Enlightenment's abolitionist movements or modern human rights declarations without prerequisites.

Methodological Approach

Hitchens structures his critique in God Is Not Great as a series of interconnected essays that systematically dismantle religious claims through a combination of historical analysis, scriptural examination, and empirical observation of religion's societal effects. Rather than engaging in formal philosophical proofs for God's non-existence, he adopts a journalistic and polemical method, prioritizing vivid case studies of religious-induced harms—such as inquisitions, holy wars, and doctrinal absurdities—over abstract metaphysics. This approach posits that religion's "poisonous" influence can be demonstrated by tracing causal links from faith-based doctrines to tangible atrocities and ethical failures, without conceding the validity of unfalsifiable theological assertions. Central to his methodology is the rejection of faith as a reliable epistemology, contrasting it with reason, evidence, and skepticism derived from secular humanism. Hitchens argues that religious texts and traditions must be evaluated like any human artifact, subjecting them to critical scrutiny for internal contradictions, historical inaccuracies, and moral repugnance; for instance, he dissects passages from the , , and other scriptures to highlight endorsements of violence or , claiming these reveal religion's man-made origins rather than divine inspiration. He supplements this with personal anecdotes from his upbringing and travels, such as encounters with clerical hypocrisy in or theocratic excesses in the , to illustrate religion's pervasive role in perpetuating division and dogma. While eschewing statistical aggregates or in favor of qualitative narratives, Hitchens maintains that the cumulative weight of these examples suffices to indict broadly, asserting that no net benefits accrue from that could not arise from rational inquiry. Critics have noted this selective emphasis on negative instances potentially overlooks counterexamples, but Hitchens contends his method aligns with by favoring simpler, evidence-based explanations over supernatural ones. This evidentiary strategy underscores his broader contention that impedes human progress by insulating itself from refutation.

Key Arguments Presented

Critiques of Religious Origins and Texts

Hitchens argues that religious scriptures fundamentally distort humanity's origins and the universe's development, positing mythological narratives in place of evidence-based accounts from cosmology and , such as the 13.8 billion-year-old universe emerging from the and life's gradual adaptation over billions of years. He contends these texts emerged from prehistoric ignorance and cultural borrowing, evolving as human constructs rather than timeless revelations, with monotheistic faiths particularly derivative of earlier polytheistic traditions. In examining the , or , Hitchens describes its portrayal of as a parochial presiding over the "tyranny of ," issuing commands for the extermination of entire populations, such as the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15, and regulating and bride-price without moral condemnation. He highlights textual inconsistencies, including multiple creation accounts in Genesis that conflict on sequence and details, and traces elements like the story to antecedent Mesopotamian myths predating Hebrew composition around the 6th century BCE. Turning to the , Hitchens claims its origins lie in anonymous gospels composed decades after ' death circa 30 CE, with no contemporaneous Roman or Jewish records verifying miracles or resurrection, and evident contradictions such as differing genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke. He asserts the text escalates severity by institutionalizing eternal torment in hell for unbelievers, as in Mark 16:16, while promoting through unverified wonders and subordinating reason to . Hitchens devotes a chapter to the Quran, arguing its content derives from Muhammad's exposure to Jewish and Christian communities in Medina after 622 CE, incorporating altered retellings of biblical figures like Abraham's near-sacrifice of (recast with ) and apocryphal tales of speaking as an infant. Compiled after Muhammad's death in 632 CE under Caliph around 650 CE, with variant recitations reportedly burned to enforce uniformity, the text exhibits borrowings from Rabbinic sayings, Greek philosophy, and Persian maxims, rendering it "a rather obvious and ill-arranged set of plagiarisms." Contradictions abound, such as the abrogation of tolerant verses like "no compulsion in religion" (Quran 2:256) by later calls to , alongside endorsements of practices including Muhammad's marriage to at age nine and distribution of war spoils. Across these texts, Hitchens emphasizes their role in perpetuating factual errors, such as geocentric cosmologies and young-earth timelines, which clash with archaeological and genetic evidence dating human civilization to at least 12,000 years ago and Homo sapiens origins to approximately 300,000 years. He views such scriptures not as divine but as artifacts of power-seeking priesthoods, traceable to tribalism rather than transcendent truth.

Religion's Role in Morality and Society

Hitchens contends that undermines by prioritizing unprovable doctrines over and human empathy, leading adherents to justify atrocities under the guise of divine sanction. He challenges the notion that is a prerequisite for , asserting that moral intuitions—such as prohibitions against or —arise from and social cooperation predating organized , and that no ethical principle requires endorsement. In the book, he cites religious endorsements of in biblical texts and honor killings in Islamic traditions as evidence that faith-based often codifies harm, contrasting this with secular advancements in derived from reason. Regarding societal impact, Hitchens argues that religion fosters division and regression by demanding conformity to archaic laws, stifling inquiry, and promoting theocratic governance that curtails individual freedoms. He points to historical conflicts, such as the and the in 1947 which displaced 14 million and killed up to 2 million due to Hindu-Muslim enmity, as direct consequences of faith-driven tribalism rather than innate human aggression. In contemporary terms, he critiques theocratic states like those under rule in post-1996, where religious edicts banned education for girls and enforced public executions, illustrating how faith impedes and scientific literacy. Hitchens further maintains that religion's opposition to contraception and secular education perpetuates poverty and overpopulation in developing regions, as seen in high fertility rates correlating with religious conservatism in and the . Hitchens posits that a secular society, unburdened by supernatural claims, would advance through rational discourse and , citing the relative tolerance and innovation in post-Enlightenment as empirical support. He dismisses counterclaims of 's civilizing role by attributing moral progress—like the abolition of slavery in Britain in 1833—to freethinkers such as rather than church doctrine, which initially defended the practice. This view frames not as a societal stabilizer but as a vector for , where eschatological beliefs encourage apocalyptic violence over sustainable .

Specific Denominational Criticisms

Hitchens directs pointed critiques at Catholicism, portraying the as an institution perpetuating authoritarianism and moral hypocrisy. He argues that the Church's doctrinal opposition to contraception and has contributed to demographic crises and the spread of in regions like , where clerical and interference in policy exacerbate human suffering. Furthermore, Hitchens accuses the Vatican of complicity in historical atrocities, including the Inquisition's torture methods and tacit support for fascist regimes during under , whom he claims prioritized institutional preservation over opposition to . In examining Protestantism, particularly its evangelical strains, Hitchens contends that these denominations promote a literalist interpretation of scripture that fosters anti-scientific attitudes, such as young-earth , which he views as an assault on empirical and progress. He cites examples of Protestant fundamentalists' involvement in violence, including bombings of abortion clinics in the United States during the and , as evidence of faith-driven extremism mirroring that of other sects. Hitchens also lambasts Protestant reliance on personal revelation and , dismissing practices like and glossolalia as delusions that discourage medical intervention, with documented cases of child deaths attributable to parental refusal of treatment in favor of prayer. Hitchens reserves some of his harshest rhetoric for , asserting that its core texts and traditions embody a totalitarian incompatible with . He claims the Koran endorses warfare against unbelievers through doctrines like and prescribes severe punishments, including death for , as seen in historical and contemporary enforcement in countries like and as of the early 2000s. Hitchens highlights Islam's systemic subjugation of women, citing practices such as forced veiling, honor killings, and female genital in Muslim-majority societies, which he attributes directly to religious sanction rather than cultural variance. Regarding Judaism, Hitchens critiques the Hebrew Bible's narratives as sanctioning and , pointing to the Book of Joshua's accounts of Canaanite conquests—dated by biblical scholars to around 1200 BCE—as divine endorsements of genocide that underpin later tribal exclusivism. He argues that Orthodox Jewish customs, such as ritual and kosher laws, represent archaic impositions that prioritize ritual over reason, while dismissing variants as diluted attempts to evade the faith's inherent irrationality. Hitchens extends his analysis to non-Abrahamic faiths, targeting for its caste system, codified in texts like the around 200 BCE–200 CE, which he describes as a religiously justified hierarchy enforcing hereditary discrimination and . He condemns practices like sati (widow immolation), banned in in 1829 but persisting in isolated cases into the 1980s, as manifestations of religion's tolerance for brutality against women.

Evidence and Examples in the Book

Historical Atrocities Linked to Faith

In God Is Not Great, contends that religious faith has repeatedly served as the catalyst for systematic violence and persecution, enabling acts that secular motives alone might not sustain, by promising divine approval or eternal reward to perpetrators. He illustrates this through historical episodes where doctrinal imperatives intertwined with human aggression, arguing that the absolutism of belief systems—claiming monopoly on truth—escalates conflicts beyond rational bounds. A prominent example Hitchens invokes is the , initiated by Pope Urban II's call at the on November 27, 1095, to reclaim from Muslim control, framing the campaign as a holy war with indulgences for participants. The culminated in the 1099 siege of Jerusalem, where crusader forces massacred an estimated 10,000 to 70,000 inhabitants, including Muslims, Jews, and even Eastern Christians, in a justified as fulfilling God's will. Hitchens portrays these expeditions, spanning 1095 to 1291 and involving multiple waves, as emblematic of religion's capacity to mobilize , with overall casualties numbering in the millions from battles, disease, and reprisals, though he emphasizes the ideological fervor over logistical factors. Hitchens also cites the , particularly the (1618–1648), as evidence of intra-Christian doctrinal strife devolving into carnage, where Protestant-Catholic rivalries ravaged the , causing 4.5 to 8 million deaths through combat, famine, and plague—roughly 20% of the German population. He argues that confessional zeal, enshrined in texts like the Bible's calls to orthodoxy, precluded compromise, contrasting this with secular disputes that might de-escalate via negotiation. Similarly, the , formalized by in 1231 and peaking in the Spanish variant under Ferdinand and Isabella from 1478 to 1834, exemplifies faith-driven coercion, with tribunals executing around 3,000 to 5,000 heretics via torture and auto-da-fé rituals, while suppressing scientific inquiry and enforcing uniformity. Hitchens links these to religion's intolerance of dissent, positing that without theological stakes, such institutionalized terror would lack justification. Further, Hitchens references witch hunts across and colonial America from the late 15th to 18th centuries, fueled by scriptural interpretations of sorcery (e.g., Exodus 22:18), resulting in 40,000 to 60,000 executions, predominantly women, through and communal hysteria sanctioned by clergy. He frames these as religion exploiting fear of the to consolidate power, distinct from mere by their doctrinal mandate. While acknowledging political dimensions in many cases, Hitchens maintains that faith's claims provided the indispensable moral cover, rendering participants convinced of cosmic righteousness. This causal attribution, however, faces scrutiny from historians who contend that socioeconomic stressors and often predominated, with religion as rather than root cause.

Contemporary Harms Attributed to Religion

Hitchens devotes significant attention to religiously motivated terrorism as a contemporary peril, particularly citing the September 11, 2001, attacks on the by operatives, which he attributes directly to Islamist ideology derived from interpretations of the and hadiths endorsing martyrdom and holy war. He argues that such violence stems from faith-based absolutism rather than mere political , contrasting it with secular motivations and noting the perpetrators' explicit religious justifications in videos and manifestos. In discussions of institutional religion, Hitchens highlights systemic within the , linking it to doctrines of and hierarchical cover-ups that prioritized ecclesiastical authority over victim protection, with scandals emerging prominently in the early 2000s across , the , and elsewhere. He contends that and insulation from civil accountability exacerbate such predation, citing cases where bishops reassigned offending , thereby enabling further assaults on minors. On , the book critiques religious opposition to contraception and vaccination, exemplified by Catholic and evangelical leaders' condemnation of condom distribution amid the crisis in during the 1980s and 1990s, which Hitchens claims contributed to millions of preventable deaths by promoting abstinence-only approaches deemed ineffective by epidemiological data. Similarly, he points to Muslim clerical fatwas in northern and in the early 2000s rejecting the as a Western sterilizing , resulting in resurgences of the disease and setbacks in global eradication efforts. Hitchens also addresses religiously inspired insurgencies, such as the in , led by since the late 1980s, which he portrays as blending Christian with tribal mysticism to justify child abductions, forced into combat, and mutilations, with over 20,000 children reportedly kidnapped by 2005 for use as soldiers and sex slaves. These examples, per Hitchens, illustrate how religious narratives sanctify atrocities that secular ethics would universally condemn. Further harms include genital mutilation practices rationalized through religious or cultural traditions tied to and animist faiths in parts of and the , which Hitchens equates with ritualized violence against female autonomy, citing estimates of over 200 million affected women by the 2000s. He extends this to mandatory male in Jewish and Muslim communities, framing it as non-consensual bodily alteration imposed in infancy for doctrinal reasons, potentially inflicting lifelong psychological and physical trauma. Throughout, Hitchens maintains that these contemporary manifestations ethical progress by subordinating evidence-based reasoning to scriptural fiat.

Criticisms of the Book's Claims

Empirical Counter-Evidence on Religion's Benefits

Numerous meta-analyses have identified positive associations between religiosity or spirituality and life satisfaction. A 2022 meta-analysis of 206 samples encompassing over 85,000 participants found that religiosity correlated with life satisfaction at r = .16 (95% CI .14–.17), while spirituality showed a stronger link at r = .21 (95% CI .17–.25); religious attendance and practices also yielded significant positive effects. Another meta-analysis confirmed these patterns across dimensions of religious involvement, attributing potential mechanisms to social support, purpose, and coping strategies fostered by faith communities. Longitudinal data further supports within-person benefits, with higher religiosity predicting subsequent increases in life satisfaction over time. In physical health and longevity, empirical reviews link religious participation to reduced mortality risk. A 2024 narrative review of cohort studies concluded that spirituality and religiosity correlate with extended lifespan, potentially through behavioral factors like lower substance abuse and healthier lifestyles. Pre-2000 meta-analyses of religiousness and health outcomes reported decreased risks for conditions such as depression and divorce, with attendance at services showing protective effects against overall morbidity. Prospective studies reinforce this, with 10 of 12 cohorts in one synthesis demonstrating greater religiousness tied to enhanced well-being and survival. Religiosity also associates with lower criminality and stronger social cohesion. A of 60 studies found a moderate inverse relationship between religious measures and delinquency or . Systematic analyses indicate that 75% of examined reveals religion's beneficial impact on reducing delinquency, via moral guidance and community ties. Macro-level data from counties show higher religious adherence linked to lower rates, suggesting ecological effects beyond individual belief. On philanthropy, religious individuals exhibit higher rates of giving and volunteering. Surveys report that religiously affiliated Americans donate several times more annually than secular counterparts, with practicing Christians 40% more likely to contribute to charity. Religious households give at rates of 62% versus 46% for non-religious ones, extending to secular causes; religious people are 25 percentage points more likely to donate and 7 points more likely to volunteer than secularists. These patterns hold across demographics, with highly religious donors contributing more frequently.

Methodological and Logical Flaws

Critics have identified several methodological shortcomings in Hitchens' approach, primarily his reliance on anecdotal and selective historical examples to substantiate broad claims about religion's inherent harms, without engaging systematic empirical data or comparative analysis across secular and religious societies. For instance, Hitchens extrapolates from specific instances of or doctrinal inconsistencies to assert that religion universally "poisons everything," but omits quantitative studies on societal outcomes, such as correlations between and metrics like rates or social cohesion in diverse populations. This cherry-picking fosters a driven by rather than falsifiable hypotheses, as evidenced by his treatment of scriptural texts where he highlights problematic passages while disregarding interpretive traditions or contextual that mitigate apparent contradictions. Logically, Hitchens frequently employs sweeping generalizations, extending observations from particular sects or historical episodes—such as inquisitorial abuses—to indict all religious as irrational or immoral, without justifying the inductive leap. A related flaw is the of applying empirical standards of evidence, suited to natural phenomena, to claims, thereby against theism by presupposing materialism as the default framework for validation. Straw man arguments appear in his dismissal of theistic proofs, such as those from or personal experience, by caricaturing them as naive rather than addressing sophisticated formulations in . Non sequiturs abound, including the assertion that religion's occasional interference with nonbelievers proves its universal intolerance, or that divine commands exempt believers from , which does not logically entail the falsehood of religious doctrines. Hitchens also exhibits presentism by evaluating ancient religious practices through contemporary ethical lenses, ignoring the of moral standards across eras and the role of evolving secular norms in similar critiques. Self-contradictions emerge when he rejects faith-based reasoning for theists while grounding his own moral intuitions in unproven naturalistic assumptions about human or , without providing evidential support equivalent to what he demands of opponents. These patterns, drawn from analyses of the text, undermine the book's argumentative rigor, prioritizing polemical force over deductive or probabilistic validity.

Oversights on Secular Tyrannies

Critics of God Is Not Great have argued that the book selectively emphasizes religious violence while underemphasizing or rationalizing atrocities perpetrated by explicitly atheistic regimes, thereby presenting an incomplete causal analysis of human evil. For instance, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, who promoted state atheism and suppressed religious institutions, is estimated to have caused 20 to 62 million deaths through purges, famines, and gulags between 1917 and 1987. Similarly, Mao Zedong's China, which waged campaigns against religion as part of its communist ideology, resulted in 40 to 70 million deaths from the Great Leap Forward famine (1958–1962) and Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). In Cambodia, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, rooted in agrarian atheism and the eradication of traditional beliefs, exterminated approximately 2 million people—about one-quarter of the population—between 1975 and 1979. Aggregate estimates from scholars like R. J. Rummel attribute over 110 million deaths (government-sponsored killings excluding war) to 20th-century communist regimes worldwide, exceeding religious conflicts in scale and occurring in explicitly secular contexts that rejected as superstitious. The (1997), compiled by historians including Stéphane Courtois, documents around 94 million victims across these systems, attributing the carnage to ideological fanaticism unmoored from religious restraint. Hitchens addressed such examples briefly, contending that Marxist-Leninist states aped religious dogmatism by substituting the party or leader for God, and that their crimes stemmed from rather than itself; he dismissed direct blame on non-belief by noting that these rulers often invoked quasi-mystical narratives of historical . Detractors, including theologian , counter that this framing constitutes , as the regimes' official actively dismantled moral counterweights provided by faith traditions, enabling unchecked power without fear of —a dynamic absent in most religious wars. Author has critiqued New Atheists like Hitchens for ignoring how atheistic ideologies, by denying transcendent accountability, fueled the century's deadliest tyrannies, with communist death tolls surpassing those of the , , or witch hunts combined by orders of magnitude. This selective focus, critics maintain, overlooks empirical evidence that secular utopianism—divorced from first-principles limits on state authority—has proven at least as lethal as theocratic excesses, challenging the book's thesis that religion uniquely "poisons everything." While some left-leaning academics dispute the exact figures in works like the Black Book as inflated by including deaths, the orders-of-magnitude disparity persists across conservative and centrist tallies, underscoring a pattern of institutional reluctance to equate secular ideologies with religious ones in moral accounting.

Reception

Positive Responses from Secular Perspectives

, a and leading New Atheist author, described God Is Not Great as a "remarkable book" shortly after its May 2007 publication, praising Hitchens' lucid and witty articulation of its anti-religious arguments during early promotional events, including a panel discussion. Harris highlighted the book's role in galvanizing secular critiques, encountering enthusiastic responses from audiences on his own speaking tours who referenced Hitchens' work favorably. The volume was embraced within secular humanist circles as a polemical urging rationalists to actively challenge religious doctrines rather than tolerate them passively. A review in The Humanist, published by the , framed it as an urgent "" against religion's perceived doomsaying influence on humanity, commending its emphasis on empirical harms over abstract . Secular skeptics and freethinkers lauded the book's rhetorical style and historical case studies, with a review on the Infidels site—maintained by the Secular Web—affirming Hitchens' persuasive appeal to reason in questioning incessant praise for a supposed divine creator. Similarly, the Canadian Skeptics Society noted that while the titular claim understated the case against religion, Hitchens' text itself excelled in exposing faith's societal undercurrents among educated nonbelievers. As a cornerstone of the New Atheism surge, the book was interviewed positively on the Center for Inquiry's Point of Inquiry podcast in July 2007, where Hitchens elaborated its thesis to an audience of skeptics, reinforcing its status as a key text in elevating outspoken atheism.

Negative Critiques from Religious and Conservative Viewpoints

Religious critics, such as theologian Neil Shenvi, contended that God Is Not Great relies on subjective objections to divine character and doctrines like sexual repression, which fail as objective critiques since they reflect personal preferences rather than logical necessities. Shenvi further argued that Hitchens' portrayal of religion as mere "wish fulfillment" undermines itself, as atheistic worldviews could equally be dismissed on the same grounds, rendering the objection non-unique to faith. Christian apologist Douglas Groothuis criticized the book's one-sided emphasis on religious harms, such as selective examples of Nazi-era complicity, while omitting counterexamples like Dietrich Bonhoeffer's resistance to Hitler or the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon's sheltering of Jews during the Holocaust. Groothuis noted that Hitchens dismisses Christianity's historical role in fostering the scientific revolution and ignores rational defenses of faith by figures like Augustine and C.S. Lewis, instead misrepresenting Thomas Aquinas as opposed to reason. He also faulted the work for thin arguments against God's existence, overlooking doctrines like the Fall to explain human and natural imperfections. Catholic philosopher described Hitchens' approach as anecdotal and superficial, cataloging alleged religious crimes without rigorously engaging the intrinsic nature of religiosity or contested philosophical ground. McInerny rebutted claims of religion's unique role in violence by pointing to non-religious drivers like in Rwanda's , where ethnic conflicts predated Marian apparitions cited by Hitchens. He cited empirical showing correlates with higher marital stability and charitable giving, countering assertions of religion's moral corrosion, and disputed the link between Catholic teachings on contraception and AIDS prevalence in , noting higher rates in Protestant-majority regions. Pastor and scholar Mark Roberts documented 15 factual errors in Hitchens' handling of the , including misdating Jesus' birth to AD 4 despite scholarly consensus for 6 BC or earlier, incorrectly claiming the Gospels disagree on core events like the when they converge on essentials, and asserting the " underpins all four Gospels when it pertains only to the Synoptics. Roberts identified 16 distortions, such as exaggerating Gospel variances on the virgin birth while ignoring agreements, and misinterpreting ' teachings on anxiety as promoting irresponsibility rather than trust in providence. These inaccuracies, Roberts argued, stem from Hitchens' reliance on outdated or selective scholarship without addressing manuscript evidence attesting to textual reliability. Conservative commentator , in What's So Great About Christianity published in 2007 shortly after Hitchens' book, challenged the New Atheist narrative by arguing that secular regimes like those under and Mao—responsible for over 100 million deaths in the —demonstrate atheism's vulnerability to and tyranny absent religious anchors. D'Souza contended that Hitchens overlooks 's foundational contributions to , such as the abolition of led by evangelicals like in Britain by 1833, and Western values like equality derived from biblical imago Dei doctrine.

Balanced or Academic Assessments

Scholars in and have acknowledged that God Is Not Great compellingly documents particular instances of religiously motivated harm, including the Catholic Church's historical suppression of scientific inquiry and the role of Islamic doctrines in contemporary , thereby contributing to post-9/11 debates on faith's societal costs. However, they critique Hitchens for methodological shortcomings, such as selective historical interpretation that attributes causality to religion without sufficient counterfactual analysis, as seen in his linkage of the primarily to theological zeal rather than intertwined geopolitical factors. Wesley Wildman, a professor of and , notes that while the book raises valid challenges to dogmatic practices, its attacks on believers undermine its analytical rigor, reducing complex ethical traditions to caricature. Literary critic , in assessing New Atheist polemics including Hitchens', argues that the book erects a straw-man version of as simplistic literalism or authoritarian control, neglecting nuanced interpretations like Christianity's emphasis on kenotic self-emptying or prophetic critique of power structures. Eagleton contends this approach evades deeper philosophical engagement, such as responses to the via defenses or theistic accounts of morality grounded in divine nature, rendering Hitchens' more rhetorical than demonstrative. Similarly, sociological analyses highlight the work's oversight of empirical data on 's prosocial effects, like community cohesion in stable societies, where correlates with lower crime rates in certain longitudinal studies, though Hitchens dismisses such without disaggregating causal variables. Balanced evaluations position the book as a catalyst for public discourse on , praising its exposure of theocratic threats in regions like the , where implementations have led to documented violations affecting over 1.8 billion Muslims as of 2009 estimates. Yet, academics caution against its absolutism, noting factual inaccuracies—such as misrepresentations of biblical scholarship or exaggerated claims about religion's —that weaken its case, particularly given comparable secular death tolls under 20th-century regimes totaling over 100 million victims, which Hitchens attributes to residual religiosity rather than ideological fervor alone. Overall, while influential in popularizing , the text is deemed more journalistic provocation than systematic critique, with its enduring value lying in prompting rigorous rebuttals that clarify religion's multifaceted role in human affairs.

Commercial Success and Legacy

Sales Figures and Awards

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything achieved substantial commercial success following its release on May 1, 2007, by Twelve Books in the United States. The book quickly ascended to the number one position on the bestseller list, reflecting strong initial demand amid heightened public interest in critiques of . Its performance was described as phenomenal in early sales reports, contributing to its status as a surprise hit of the spring publishing season. Projections indicated that author would earn more than $1 million in royalties from the title, underscoring its robust sales trajectory in the nonfiction market. In terms of formal recognition, the book was nominated for the 2007 in the nonfiction category on October 10, 2007, and advanced to finalist status, though it did not win. Additionally, Hitchens received the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Emperor Has No Clothes Award in 2007 specifically for God Is Not Great, honoring its contributions to secular advocacy. No major literary prizes were awarded to the book beyond these distinctions.

Influence on New Atheism and Broader Debates

"God Is Not Great," published on May 1, 2007, emerged as a cornerstone of the movement, which sought to actively challenge religious belief through public argumentation rather than passive . Alongside works like Richard Dawkins's (2006) and Sam Harris's (2004), Hitchens's book articulated a militant anti-theism, contending that inherently corrupts human affairs by promoting division, superstition, and authoritarianism. Hitchens's distinctive rhetorical flair—marked by erudite historical references and unyielding critique—helped elevate from academic discourse to mainstream provocation, as evidenced by the viral 2007 discussion among Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris, and , dubbed the "Four Horsemen," which amassed millions of views and crystallized the movement's collective assault on faith-based worldviews. The book's influence extended to galvanizing atheist activism and public intellectual engagement, fostering organizations like the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, which drew on Hitchens's emphasis on religion's societal costs to advocate for secular policies. It provided a framework for critiquing religion's role in conflicts, from Middle Eastern theocracies to Western cultural debates, thereby shifting atheist arguments toward consequentialist harms over purely epistemological ones. This approach inspired a wave of polemical literature and speakers who prioritized empirical scrutiny of religious doctrines' real-world effects, contributing to increased visibility for in media and academia during the late 2000s. In broader debates, "God Is Not Great" fueled high-profile confrontations, such as Hitchens's exchanges with on God's existence and on religion's merits, where he deployed the book's thesis to argue against faith's moral authority. These encounters amplified discussions on secular governance versus religious influence, particularly in the post-9/11 context, prompting responses from theologians and philosophers who defended religion's contributions to ethics and science. While later faced criticism for oversimplifying complex cultural dynamics, Hitchens's work enduringly underscored causal links between doctrinal absolutism and historical atrocities, influencing ongoing skeptic circles to prioritize evidence-based rebuttals in policy arenas like education and bioethics.

Enduring Controversies and Modern Relevance

The central thesis of God Is Not Great—that poisons everything—persists as a flashpoint in s over 's societal impact, with proponents invoking it to critique doctrinal rigidity amid ongoing global conflicts, such as Islamist extremism and sectarian violence in the . Critics, including apologists like , contend in their 2009 that Hitchens conflates religious abuses with theology's core, failing to engage philosophical arguments for God's existence or of -based , such as charitable giving rates among religious adherents exceeding secular averages in studies from the early 2000s onward. This contention endures, as evidenced by theological reviews highlighting the book's selective emphasis on 's harms while sidelining comparable secular ideologies' roles in 20th-century atrocities, though Hitchens differentiated the two by arguing uniquely demands unprovable absolutes. Factual disputes over the book's historical assertions, including interpretations of biblical violence and religious figures like , continue to fuel scholarly rebuttals; for instance, analyses post-2007 have challenged Hitchens' portrayal of the as exceeding the Old in ethical failings, citing contextual that mitigates apparent endorsements of . In apologetic circles, these critiques argue the work exemplifies polemical overreach, prioritizing rhetorical flourish over nuanced , a view echoed in responses from figures like during their 2009 exchange, where Hitchens' was deemed insufficiently grounded in probabilistic reasoning against divine causality. In contemporary discourse as of 2024, the book's relevance manifests in renewed anti-theist arguments against resurgent cloaked in religious garb, such as theocratic tendencies in parts of and Asia, prompting revisitations that affirm its warnings on faith's potential to stifle inquiry amid technological advancement. However, detractors note its limited prescience on secular institutions' own dogmas, like state-enforced ideologies in or , which replicate religious without supernatural claims, underscoring debates on whether inherently mitigates such risks—Hitchens maintained it fosters evidence-based ethics, yet post-publication data on moral behaviors in secular vs. religious societies show mixed outcomes, with no clear causal dominance. These tensions keep the text cited in public forums, from podcasts to policy discussions on religious liberty, balancing its role in galvanizing against faith's enduring cultural entrenchment.

References

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