God Is Not Great

Christopher Hitchens argues against organized religion in a polemic that treats belief as a human invention born of wishing. His charge is that religion breeds violence, irrationality and intolerance, resists free inquiry, and can feed sexual repression while warping how people understand the universe.

The method combines personal anecdote, history and close readings of scripture. Nineteen chapters cover topics such as dietary taboos, the argument from design, miracles, the beginnings of new faiths, Islam, and the scriptures of the Old and New halves of the Bible. Most of the attention falls on Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Further chapters test the claim that religion makes people more moral, look at Eastern religions, and consider the harm done to children. One chapter takes up the totalitarian regimes that believers cite as atheism's counter-example.

Hitchens ends by sketching a secular alternative that rests on science, reason and the humanities, following the line of Bertrand Russell.

The book appeared from Twelve in May 2007 under two subtitles, one for the US and one for the UK, and reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Reading it means meeting an openly combative voice, one that drew sharp criticism of its tone and its facts as well as strong praise.