did anyone read this yet? it's amazing and confirmed my dislike of religions in general but with far more details and far more reasons to give up on them. religion poisons everything.

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"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. "

-from the goddess that is Anaïs Nin

to me its just common sense, i dont need to waste money on a book to confirm the shittiness of religion

I am no expert on God and religion; I would never imply that I had any relationship with the divine any greater than anyone else could have, even though I enjoy improving the deeper personal connection I pursue. I don't do group introspection and group self-revelation. I do think that religions do assist the group-minded needs of those who otherwise are not re-charged in solitude.

Religion is different than religiousness. An example could be if we looked at music and musicians. Some people worship their favorite celebrity idols; others simply enjoy playing music at home and learning new songs. It would be bizarre and short-sighted to condemn the music business because you discover they create idols for the purpose of making a profit while providing entertainment. This is simply what they do. Religion uses prophets to make music also--and money; people just like to call it something else. If you can't separate the industry with the inspiration and expression of artistic works, then I can see why you confuse the issue by placing them all in one basket called "music"--or--"religion".

I prefer the indies!

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Marerophilia:
A depth of love that youth can seldom appreciate or communicate;
A love that never can die for it is a wild seed living inside us, and it is what it is;
Love: that which bonds the reality of one's being to the mystery of the unknown;
Wildflowers: evidence revealed."
~~carefulcarpenter

God is not great: how religion poisons everything?

It seems like these books just cater to those who already dislike religion and want to see something in writing to confirm their feelings. I'll admit I just read the review on amazon, that was enough I found even that annoying. Frankly how can anyone say that ALL religion is bad, there's far too many, not to mention that even though some religions may right off women or depict violence in their books, many followers don't take that into their everyday life.

You could put fifty Christians in a room and the odd of finding two that worshiped or took the bible in the same way is very slim. So why write about a religion as if everyone follows it verbatim? In actuallity there are many people who have turned to religion as an aid for spiritualism, or to find community support, and guess what it actually helps them, and their peace of mind. To say that religion is poison is a simple objective statement, and writing a book about it and publishing in hardcover is just an exploitive way to make money.

Atheists can be more annoying than vegans

then go to the library and read it for free. Hitchens is amazing and absolutely hilarious.

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"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. "

-from the goddess that is Anaïs Nin

Heh, you read a review and that was enough? The review is not the book. Perhaps you should read it. Because your comments would all be answered if you did. It's not about people following it verbatim. It's about how it's all a bunch of lies made up by human beings in order to exert their control over others and to help get over their fear of the unknown and death. It's about the arrogance of the human race to assume they know anything about who or what is the "almighty." It's about the countless wars started and which continue in their name. It's about how religions are nothing more than an accent philosophy that the human race has outgrown, thanks to science, but people are too stupid to give up on it.

Really, read it. A review will never do it justice. It confirmed the feelings I had regarding the contradictions and corruptness of religion, but it presents things that had never even occurred to me. Frankly, I wasn't even willing to give up on the idea of "god" altogether. But by the end of it, I simply felt like an idiot for holding on to a made up being. Sticking with Christianity at the moment, by the end of it you will realize that god is simply a bipolar egomaniac with insecurity and anger issues. Why the fuck would you worship that?!

btw-it's hard to put a bunch of christians in a room to see if they took the bible in the same way...because ya know, there are HOW many version of the bible? this is one of the many problems with christianity right there. how can you claim that this is the book of the lord...i mean, which one is the book of the lord?

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"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. "

-from the goddess that is Anaïs Nin

never read it, but i always assumed from the title (a negation of the takbir allahu akbar, meaning god is great) that it was an attack on islam

Nah, since christians have a prayer that says "god is great, god is good..." It mainly "attacks" the major monotheisms, so that's christianity, islam and judaism. It also covers hinduism, and slightly buddhism (and Hitchens has not convinced me on that one, I would like to pry his brain to have him go further). Also, he makes reference to more ancient religions. It's like a very well written history book. And if you know anything about the author, he makes it very entertaining and educational at the same time. His main gripe appears to be the arrogance of some. Who are they to think they know the creator and the creator's wishes? Further, how can they constantly justify the killings, mutilations (circumcision anyone?), and restriction of freedom of others based on what the creator wants? How can any of us lowly humans claim to have such knowledge? Further, how did we get so many damn prophets to create these different religions? How does christianity justify the use of pagan traditions and basically plagiarizing judaism? How does islam justify plagerizing both christianity AND judaism while claiming to be better than both? I could go on and on but it's best to read it because he is far more educated on this topic and much more articulate.

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"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. "

-from the goddess that is Anaïs Nin

not read it, but presumed knowledge of the creator's wishes is pretty obviously more than just arrogance: the need for the world to make sense, the need to bolster ones own beliefs by interpreting sacred texts to suit them, the need for purpose are all satiated by "knowledge" of god. and all make believers ripe for manipulation by those seeking power through claiming to possess that knowledge; whether it's the large scale political power of a theocracy or the small day-to-day power exerted through social pressure

the justifications for christians "plagiarising" judaism and islam plagiarising them both are pretty good: their founders told them to

We have science for that now, which is why religion is archaic.

Nah uh, GOD told them too.

__________________
"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. "

-from the goddess that is Anaïs Nin

science/philosophy has completely failed to explain consciousness and apparent free-will and only partly succeeded with morality. more importantly science isn't very accessible and the layman relies on belief in science almost as much as the religious rely on belief of god

So, because all things can not be explained all at once, one should rely on fairy tale stories to tide them over? And once something is successfully proven by science, one should continue to believe in those said fairy tale stories? Um, ok.

I (as I'm sure others do) rely on science ONLY in areas where it can be proven. It's what a rational and logical mind does. I believe there is plenty that we have yet to learn and I believe access to knowledge (something religion suppresses) is the key to learning more.

__________________
"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. "

-from the goddess that is Anaïs Nin

but science can not make a mother who has lost a child feel better about it or help someone with their fear of death. I should think this kind of thing would be obvious.

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and again, I ask, do you think it's best to have fairy tales in order to make people feel better? even if those fairy tales justify murder and brutality? it seems like a very weak justification.

some very smart people have played on humans need to be consoled and their fear of the unknown and used it to control them. but that's suppose to be a good thing?

__________________
"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. "

-from the goddess that is Anaïs Nin

no, it's not a good thing, but it explains why religion isn't going anywhere. and it also shows the weakness of human understanding in hitchens' and other's worldview. try telling a mother who has lost her child and clings to a belief that god did it for a reason that her belief is illogical and will be used to control other people. not only is that kind of cruel imo, it's not going to do a damn thing to change her opinion. nor should it, because it provides no comforting alternative.

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^ thats because she's a dumbass in the first place to believe in that crap like so many people.