God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything– Christopher Hitchens (2007)
Christopher Hitchens’ blistering polemic is a full-throated assault on organized religion, arguing that faith is not just irrational but inherently harmful to human progress. With his trademark wit, erudition, and rhetorical firepower, Hitchens dissects the Bible, Quran, and other sacred texts to expose contradictions, while cataloging religion’s crimes—from the Inquisition to 9/11.
Chapters like “The Metaphysical Claims of Religion Are False” and “Religion Kills” deploy historical examples (the Catholic Church’s cover-up of abuse, Islamic jihadism) and scientific rebuttals (evolution vs. creationism) to dismantle divine authority. Hitchens champions secular humanism, insisting ethics need no supernatural basis.
“A celestial dictatorship enforced by guilt, ignorance, and fear.”
A manifesto of the New Atheism movement (alongside Dawkins and Harris), it remains controversial—praised for intellectual rigor, criticized for its sweeping condemnations.
“What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”
