God Is Not Great By Christopher Hitchens - 1591 Words

In his engaging book, god Is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens is on a mission to combat, what he views as, the â€Å"malignant force of religion.† Hitchens considers religion a scourge of society that is responsible for much of what is wrong in the world. â€Å"Violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children: organized religion ought to have a great deal on its conscience.† Ultimately, Hitchens makes the case for a secular approach to life and seeks to engage the reader with his central thesis: religion is â€Å"manmade† and â€Å"poisons everything.† As a well-accomplished writer and journalist, Hitchens displays his plethora†¦show more content†¦Unfortunately, many of these arguments are used as blanket statements that lack proper background evidence. It is, however, important that Christians reading Hitchens†™ work seek to understand his arguments and objectively seek truth. Hitchens makes several valid arguments that point, not to the non-existence of God, but to the failings and corruption of the Church at times in history. Hitchens refers to Frederick Douglas, the famed abolitionist who witnessed firsthand the misuse of religion to justify racism and slavery. â€Å"Douglas was somewhat ambivalent about religion, noting in his Autiobiograpy that the most devout Christians made the most savage slaveholders. The obvious truth of this was underlined when secession really did come and the Confederacy adopted the Latin motto ‘Deo Vindice’ or, in effect, ‘God on Our Side.† This racist ideology continues into the 19th and 20th centuries. â€Å"The southern churches returned to their old ways after Reconstruction and blessed the new institutions of segregation and discrimination†¦The late Senator Eugene McCarthy told me that he had once urged Senator Pat Ro bertson---father of the present television prophet---to support some mild civil rights legislation. ‘I’d sure like to help the colored,’ came the response, ‘but the BibleShow MoreRelatedGod is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens1301 Words   |  6 Pagesseen in the many debates between Atheistic and religious individuals about the implications of religious belief on morality. One of the most famous Atheists, Christopher Hitchens, asserts that religion is not only unnecessary for morality, but actually impedes it. In his work God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens challenges religious believers to â€Å"name an ethical statement or action, made or performed by a person of faith that could not have been made or performed byRead MoreEssay about God Is Not Great1024 Words   |  5 PagesIn his book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens dissects and criticizes the various claims of religions an d the tragic events that have been caused by various religions. The title of the book sums up the arguments of Hitchens in this book in the fact that he makes many arguments of why â€Å"religion poisons everything.† The majority of the chapters in this book discuss why he believes religion to be a manmade notion that has led to more trouble than anything else inRead MoreThe Christian Religion / Holy Bible And The Bible1751 Words   |  8 PagesTelling stories in great detail, whether verbally, or written down, has always been a part of human civilization among various cultures. Thus by knowing what our ancestors honored or thought to be entertaining, while passing down cultural values, we too are able to learn from them and put such knowledge into a modern context. Particularly dealing with the Christian religion/holy bible that was forcibly spread throughout the world with colonialization, many stories interpreted from it produces variousRead MoreOther Critical Thinkers Li ke Salman Rushdie1696 Words   |  7 PagesOther critical thinkers like Salman Rushdie, Christopher Hitchens and Michael Jordan have openly questioned this approval of violence by the bible and Jesus himself. According to Jordan religion has been used as an excuse for numerous acts of bloodshed and devastation in the world as evident in the prevalence of crusades and jihads from ancient times to present . He concludes that people feel justified to use violence from a religious standpoint and this is one of the reasons why religion is increasinglyRead MoreDoes Science Make The Belief? God Obsolete? Essay2124 Words   |  9 Pages1) â€Å"Does Science Make the Belief in God Obsolete?† by Kenneth Miller and Christopher Hitchens debate with no date of the discussion. 2) Biology professor Kenneth Miller’s central argument is that science should not undermine one’s faith in God. â€Å"Science itself does not contradict the hypothesis of God.† He makes this argument by stating that science explains the things that God has made and in doing so, trying to prove the existence of God through natural or scientific means does notRead MoreGod Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything2031 Words   |  8 Pages Christopher Hitchens the author of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything uses his own personal experiences with religions and gives us an insight as to why he feels that religion is flawed. Throughout his book he uses arguments that is justified by modern science and social issues that uses religion as an excuse to execute unreasonable actions. His arguments are from the consumption of certain meats to the war against nations just for defending the righteousness of each religion. HitchensRead MoreObser vations On The s I Have A Dream Speech By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.881 Words   |  4 Pageshappened 5 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream Speech on the Washington Mall 47 years ago, and Mother Teresa was born a century ago. Monday: Katrina; Tuesday: I Have a Dream; Today: Mother Teresa After spending a great deal of time on and devoting a good deal of space to the two previous subjects in this series on recent anniversaries, 2005 s devastating Hurricane Katrina and the world-changing 1963 I Have a Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I had lookedRead MoreHuman Nature And Human Diversity2568 Words   |  11 Pagesdirect opposition with science and is a set-back in progress, and religion is a dangerous utility in the hands of influential fundamentalist groups and extremists. (The Root of All Evil- The God Delusion) Additionally, many other critical thinkers such as Sam Harris, Stephen Jay Gould, and Christopher Hitchens support and contribute to Dawkins’ ideas. Dawkins has made a clear and convincing case that religion truly does more harm than good, and the costs of religion greatly outweigh the benefits.Read MoreReligious Superiority Of The Middle East879 Words   |  4 PagesOn pages 198 through 200, there are six claims that seemingly pander to r eligion. All of these claims are false because they all assume God exists. Ignoring this, however, I will attempt to give an honest, open-minded response to the best of my ability. Claim one, that, if there is a God, good will win out over evil. If this is true to religious people, fantastic. I see nothing wrong with that. However, I believe it to be false. It encourages things like missions from Christian leaders. TheseRead MoreA Transformational and Servant Leader: Mother Teresa of Calcutta3634 Words   |  15 Pagesan annual retreat, she felt a tugging inside of her. She describes is as a â€Å"call within a call†. She says that the spirit told her that she was to leave the convent and â€Å"help the poor while living among them†. She treated it as a direct order from God saying that â€Å"to fail would have been to break her faith†. She began her missionary work in 1948 by venturing out into the slums and tending to the needs of the impoverished and starving. Her good works gained the attention of many quickly and even