"God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," Equals Science And Literary Sense Versus Dogma.
Pros:
An Eloquent description of the negatives that religion at times has brought on humanity.
Cons:
He comes across at times as overly angry & there are some factual errors.
The Bottom Line:
This book shows the negative impact religious zealotry has often had on history. However, the author does not defend the secular persecutions of the religious folks either.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
First, I'm an agnostic who is too humble to dogmatically agree with the secualr atheists completely. However, this terse book does truly slap the religiously dogmatic and fanatical in the face with a cold fish of undeniable historical facts!
Mr. Hitchen's is a literary man and this is written mainly for those who have not been conditioned to believe blindly. To his credit, {something his critics ignore} the author is always poignantly on the side of the suffering folks, regardless of whether they are religious or secular. He roots for the true moral underdogs no matter what their beliefs or situations are.
I would read the works of Deepak Chopra and Will Durant to balance this book with those who point out that organized religions have done some positive things in history.
Chapters 2, 13, and 19 are the heart of this work. They are "Religion Kills, Does Religion Make People Behave Better, and The Need For A New Enlightment" respectively. I would read the latter chapter first, then the book in its entirety.
Chapter 2, is factual and it could have been the size of the phonebook when one considers how horrid many of the faithful have been to each other and non-believers. Moslem atrocities against Hindu's and Buddhists before the crusades, the thirty years war, & Oliver Cromwell's persecution of the Catholics in the British Isles in the 17th century are glaring examples that come to mind.
Chapter 3, a good defense of Porky was almost amusing. Chapter 4, on health: can be summed up in three words, misogyny, ignorance, and paranoia. Chapter 5, the top of page 65 can't be disputed by the faithful no matter how they try.
Chapter 6, on page 96 the quote from Sam Harris' The End Of Faith," sums up how reason should triumph. Chapter 7, on page 101 is a sad testament on how the old testament buried reason for centuries. Chapter 8, what is the Christian response to the term "Almah, and the many contradictions that fill the new testament?"
Chapter 9, once again faith is choking free inquiry. Chapters 10 and 11: "Oh yee faithful cling onto very weak roots." Chapter 12, the servility of the herd lives on dangerously. Does Iraq come to mind? Chapter 13, pages 178 and 181 say it all.
Chapter 14, one of the milder chapters, yet the eastern world is also devoid of answers. Chapters 15 and 16 are just as gut wrenching and depressing as chapter 2. Chapter 17, "The Case Against Secularism," is still very thin.
Chapter 18, Sigmund Freud's quote - "The voice of reason was{is} small, but {thankfully} very persistent," can give us a glimmer of hope. Pages 17, 48, 102-3, 110-11, 203-4, 219, 261, 267, and 271 should get any readers attention as to how dangerous the fanatically faithful can be.
Lastly, I bought this book because I believe in the following quote. "That they in turn leave me alone," if the faithful would leave each other and non-believers alone, books like this would not be so needed. Can anyone deny that???
