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God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
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| Part No: | 0446579807 |
| Manufacturer: | Twelve Books, Hachette Book Group |
| MFG Part: | |
| Customer Rating: | 3.5 / 5.0 |
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In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case
against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and
reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry
of the double helix.
| A beautifully written masterpiece | 2010-09-01 | 5 / 5 |
| | Even if you don't agree with Christopher's views, it would be refreshing to listen to his sober point of view. By sober, I mean intellectually sober, not free of alcohol. As I am sure he was probably drunk out of his mind during much of the writing and taped reading of the book. Despite the doubtless multitude of his minor character flaws that critics are quick to point out, his command of he English language hovers at the apex of what any human has ever managed to attain. |
| Logical, plain and simple | 2010-08-31 | 5 / 5 |
| | I won't begin to lecture on the valid basis of Hitchens book. I will leave the book to stand for itself as it does very well. I will only go so far as to praise Hitchens, as always, for his common sense view of the pitfalls of religion and the damage it has caused, causes, and looks to continue to cause on our society. I fret that even today as I finish the book, I look to the news and see how religion rears its ugly head in new forms and new leaders to cause pain and fear for many. I can only hope that one day our society will break the bonds of servitude and open our eyes and minds to free thinking and a free life. |
| Cleverly written, but alas it will fade away... | 2010-08-30 | 2 / 5 |
| | Extremely well written; the author makes his points well. But alas, in eight years it will be weeded from library shelves whilst the tomes he loves to hate will remain. |
| Poison, Poison's the Mind it Influences | 2010-08-27 | 1 / 5 |
| There was a time In my life when I would have quite enjoyed this book. Has it come out in say, the early 80's at the height of my days of vanity, I would have brought out the marshmallows to brown them over the roasting Hitchens gives religion. Sunday mornings were made to sleep in and nurse a hangover, let the "prudes" go to their church, if it turns them on. In that department, "Hitch" and I were in the same orbit.
Fortunately for me I like to read and absorb material minus the cat-calling from the cheap seats. I will not accept someone else's conclusions on something if they have a built in bias against it. That would be giving in to their prejudice. So when I read the Bible for myself in 1990 it was without the new atheists, the Jesus seminar, my friends, the Devil, the Discovery channel, (I watched a program on Discovery that said Jesus succeeded because he had "better marketing," Incredi-bull!) Dan Brown, not even the Priest standing over my shoulder telling me what to believe and what to discard. "This is good for a moral analogy," "This is contrary to science," etc. I have a mind of my own and freedom to choose.
At the conclution of that read I "bought out the Christian book store," to quote my wife. I could see why the greatest English author William Shakespeare mined 1500 quotes out of the Bible. I could see why it has been the perennial best seller every year since the inception of the printing press. I could see why Presidents have said a thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth a collage education. In fact I was "choked" that none of my school teachers recommended it to me to read. Maybe they couldn't, maybe the "American Taliban" wouldn't let them say anything about this book because they were not allowed.
Some say the New Testament is "barking mad" and "uncomfortably vicious." They are the same people who tell us it was tampered with and is now unreliable. That's interesting. If you submitted your home made chili in a taste contest, would you inform the judges that you believe the competitions stew was contaminated and altered in between him making it, and them tasting it, if you thought his tastes like dog food and yours was "hero"?
So you think religion is at war with science? Stalin thought so, that is why he wanted to stamp out religion. He thought science would then make Russia superior and unequalled to anything contrary. History shows religion does not threaten science so much as atheistic scientology threatens itself. When the Big Bang model of origins of the universe was being discovered, proponents of it in the Soviet Union were persecuted. Why? Because like Steven Hawkins author of A Brief History in Time said, "It smacks of God." The Russians agreed. If the universe had a beginning then it was "created." That point of view was not allowed and went against their atheistic philosophy.
Astronomer Nikolai Kozyrev was sent to a labour camp in 1937 and sentenced to be executed for continuing to discuss belief in The Big Bang model. Lucky for him they let him out after 10 years unable to drum up a firing squad. Vsevolod Frederiks and Matvei Bronstein also supporters were not as lucky. Frederik died after 6 years of hard labour, while Bronstein was shot after being arrested on trumped up charges of being a spy.
Those humming the communist manifesto song Imagine by John Lennon lost their chance to experience this Russian created Utopian with it's no heaven, hell, possessions when it crashed under it's own baggage in 1989. They could have experienced the quintessential suffering from both sides of the barbed wire surrounding the thousands of Gulags built in it's irrational atheistic paranoia. Just pull out a bible and discuss it with someone in Red Square, and you had your ticket to the other side.
In the west we are much more "liberal." There is a gag order on the terms "irreducibly complex" and "intelligent design." Some day it could be discovered that those structures in the cell (Michael Behe, Darwin's Black Box, Stephen Meyer Signature in the Cell, Fazale Rana The Cells Design, Francis Collins Language of God) actually were designed. In China you can challenge evolution but not the government, here it's the opposite. Even Richard Dawkins concedes science is a shifting dynamic always adapting to new evidence as it comes in. So why rail against these scientists who have made a good point? He said evolution could be unrecognizable in the future to what it is now. But that doesn't mean that at any time soon his bias will allow "a Divine foot in the door." In the mean time. . . .
The Jews have made an oasis of their tiny parcel of land with a population of only about 5 million. It resembles Southern California economically compared to the squalor surrounding it. The Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians have all bit the historical dust, but after 4000 years the Jews are still thriving. Not bad for dragging an "appalling" book tied to them like an anchor through all these centuries. Not bad for a nation brought back to life after a biblically predicted long and terrible dispersion among the nations and then miraculously becoming a nation again as prophesies in Ezekiel chapter 36, and 37 predicted. (1948) And then had war declared on them the very next day. Not too bad indeed. But that book tells us it's God sustaining them, not the fact that Jews enjoy an intellectual, numerical, or any other advantage over anyone else. Maybe that's the sign to you someone omnipotent and present as described in The Bible is sustaining Israel. Could it be jealousy motivating the proud English "scholars" and "professors" to write derogatory books against them because of their disdain for silly religion? Disproportionality Jews have had way more Nobel Prize winning laureates than any other people. A scientific study of them and their history may yield results diametrically opposite to your current world view. My study did.
Everyone knows the United States accounts for one third of the global scientific output despite representing only 4.5 percent of the global population. There is a greater concentration of Christians in the U.S. than any other country in the world. Maybe the two are related. It is in their religious freedom and Christian heritage that have allowed them to flourish surpassing the rest of the world scientifically. Only in Florida have I heard the weather channel anchor say, "It will be a sunny drive on your way to church this morning," while the space shuttle is poised on a launch pad one hour's drive away. Cool.
The list of "sins" of Christianity against science are petty and ended 250 years ago. In these modern times requesting to put stickers on books hardly qualifies as "repression" when everything but material naturalism is disqualified in principal by the rigid rules of the institution running sentinel over free thought. That's repression. The treatment of those who fail to fall into the increasing authoritative political profession of science can be seen as evidence of who the true "science stoppers" really are.
"From nothing nothing comes."
The second law of thermodynamics is a basic scientific premise. Nature moves to randomness and disorganization. I drive by a junk yard of some 200 cars in a farmers field on the way to the in laws every now and then. So far it looks like those cars won't be morphing into space ships any time soon. Actually they'll be part of the land scape in time. I don't believe atoms can self assemble themselves to create life when there is no such thing as simple cells. Something as complex as the infrastructure of a large city needs a mind to design it. I can't turn my back on the laws of probability, another branch of science. That would be irrational. If Darwin lived to the invention of the electron microscope he might have had more reservations himself on a theory that is infused with assumptions needed to make it work.
If you don't like religion fine, enjoy the poison, but if you, "love the truth," there are books out there to lead you to it. Or more accurately, Him. God bless you in your search.
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| Well written and interesting | 2010-08-22 | 5 / 5 |
| | Logical, interesting, witty and well researched journey through human nature and history, philosophy, literature, religious practices and beliefs. A book that leaves you thinking for weeks after you reach the final page. An important read whether one is religious or not, in this day of conflict and unrest. Enabling to decipher the ways religions are used by humans for their own ends and benefits. |
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