God Is Not Great

"Religion poisons everything." With this piercing assertion, Christopher Hitchens challenges the role of religion in morality, society, and the progress of human understanding.

1. Religion as a Human Invention

Religious beliefs were crafted by humans during a time when scientific knowledge was non-existent. People relied on religion to explain the causes of natural phenomena and to alleviate their fears of the unknown. Since these early societies lacked scientific understanding, stories and mythologies arose as the first attempts to answer fundamental questions about the world.

As humanity advanced, these religious stories remained, but they were riddled with historical inaccuracies and contradictions. For example, the Bible cherry-picked select gospels to support its narrative, while excluding others like the Gospel of Judas that questioned traditional interpretations. This demonstrates how religion evolved not as a divine truth but as a human construct modified to fit particular agendas.

Religious texts themselves exhibit signs of their human origins. Events such as the Jews' flight from Egypt lack corroboration in historical records, making them unreliable. Additionally, early oral storytelling led to distorted narratives, leaving us with texts that mix metaphor, myth, and skewed history.

Examples

• The Gospel of Judas was suppressed because it didn’t support the Church’s perspective.
• The story of Jesus’s birth inaccurately ties different historical events together.
• The Bible fails to corroborate significant events like the exodus from Egypt in historical archives.

2. Questioning Miracles

Miracles often aren’t as extraordinary as they may seem. In the past, people attributed unexplained phenomena to divine intervention. What were once seen as acts of gods are now understood through science.

For instance, while Jesus is said to have healed a blind man, critics point out that he didn’t cure blindness on a global scale. Such miracles often appear selective and, upon scrutiny, show weaknesses in their supposed divine origins. This suggests that ancient accounts of miracles reflect the misunderstandings or magical thinking of their time.

Furthermore, modern-day claims of miracles show how human imagination continues to inflate the ordinary. Some people celebrate seeing divine faces in food or statues “weeping,” yet these observations could easily be explained through natural causes or pareidolia (seeing patterns where none exist).

Examples

• Jesus healing a single man but not all blind people raises questions about omnipotence.
• Misunderstood natural wonders, such as solar eclipses and earthquakes, attributed to gods in ancient times.
• Modern “miracles” like a bleeding statue or divine faces in toast rely on confirmation bias rather than evidence.

3. Moral Failures in Religious Teachings

Despite claiming to guide humanity along moral paths, religions have often encouraged or condoned immoral practices. They include leniency or outright support for acts like slavery, genocide, and even sexual violence. For example, the Bible recounts God permitting mass death, such as in the story of the Egyptian plagues.

Religious texts frequently demand impossible standards of behavior, especially related to sexuality, framing natural impulses as sinful. These punishments for thoughts or minor “offenses” involve eternal damnation—a concept that inflicts unnecessary guilt and fear among believers.

Additionally, oppressive religious interpretations have been used to justify violence against non-believers, heretics, and others throughout history.

Examples

• Slavery is not condemned but regulated in biblical texts.
• The firstborn of Egypt were killed in the story of the plagues, supposedly by God’s decree.
• Eternal punishment for minor or thought-based “sins” burdens millions with unnecessary guilt.

4. Religion as Totalitarianism

Religious belief functions like a dictatorship, demanding total submission. Just as authoritarian regimes impose unquestionable loyalty, religions expect their followers to obey their deity's laws absolutely, without room for dissent.

This parallel becomes clear in theocracies where the government enforces religious ideologies, controlling personal actions down to dress codes, sexual behavior, and freedom of speech. In these states, deviation often results in harsh punishment or death, much like in oppressive governments.

Even outside theocratic regimes, religion imposes lifelong surveillance under the guise of divine judgment. This metaphorical “big brother” strips individuals of liberty, making them voluntary slaves to their beliefs.

Examples

• The Islamic regime in Iran issued a death sentence for author Salman Rushdie over perceived blasphemy.
• Religious laws in Saudi Arabia enforce punishments like stoning or public beheadings.
• The “all-seeing, all-knowing” God mirrors the surveillance methods of oppressive governments.

5. Harmful Teachings for Children

Religious indoctrination of children often starts early, instilling fear rather than allowing natural curiosity. Threats of eternal damnation serve as a coercive method to enforce religious loyalty, leaving many young minds anxious about their own salvation—or that of friends and family.

Additionally, physical acts like circumcision are permitted under the veil of ritual but otherwise might be seen as abuse. Religion’s exemption from scrutiny results in the acceptance of potentially harmful practices that society would usually reject.

Children raised in highly religious environments also face mental strain, as questioning authority may lead to ostracism or family tension.

Examples

• Circumcision is described as genital mutilation when stripped of its religious context.
• Fear of “hell” indoctrinates children to obey out of anxiety, not understanding.
• Children are often told their non-religious friends or relatives are condemned to eternal punishment.

6. Religious Conflict and Intolerance

Religions frequently fight to dominate societal norms, resisting alternative viewpoints. By claiming exclusive access to truth, religious systems create hostilities between believers of different faiths as well as against non-believers or skeptics.

This intolerance fuels large-scale conflicts. Cities like Belfast and Beirut have faced ongoing tensions directly tied to religious divides. Moreover, rather than respecting free expression, religions often react violently to critiques of their beliefs, as shown in the protests over depictions of Prophet Muhammad.

Such behavior emphasizes religion's insecurity rather than confidence in its claims.

Examples

• Historical religious wars, such as the Crusades, caused widespread death.
• Modern conflicts like those between Sunni and Shia Muslims continue to divide communities.
• The Salman Rushdie fatwa underscored risks associated with religious intolerance.

7. Conflict Between Religion and Science

Religious beliefs often contradict or resist science. For centuries, discoveries that undermined their dogma were met with hostility—a struggle that persists in some communities.

Creationism’s ongoing campaign against evolutionary biology highlights how religion distorts objective facts to protect its teachings. Groups demand equal legitimacy for creation stories despite overwhelming evidence supporting evolution.

Religious interference also hampers practical advances, such as the resistance to contraception promoted by the Catholic Church, contributing directly to public health crises like the AIDS epidemic.

Examples

• Creationist groups attempt to delegitimize evolution in education.
• Galileo’s persecution for his heliocentric theory serves as an early example of church-science conflict.
• The Catholic Church’s stance against condoms exacerbates diseases instead of combating them.

8. Freethinkers as Progress Catalysts

Throughout history, doubters of religion have advanced knowledge under great personal risk. Figures like Socrates, Charles Darwin, and countless unnamed skeptics challenged orthodoxy, moving humanity toward more accurate understandings of the world.

By questioning stagnant beliefs, these individuals broke through ignorance, making possible groundbreaking ideas like evolution or the scientific method itself. Their courage paved ways to freer, more informed societies.

At the same time, religions often executed or silenced these challengers.

Examples

• Socrates faced execution for his philosophical challenges.
• Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution altered our understanding of life’s origins.
• Many freethinkers throughout history operated in secrecy to avoid persecution.

9. The Ongoing Need to Confront Religion

While religion may have once soothed fears of early civilizations, it has outgrown its usefulness. Today, it leverages humanity’s fear of the unknown, including death, to persist despite being repeatedly discredited by science.

The key to progress lies in questioning religious beliefs continually. Rationality and skepticism enable societies to evolve responsibly, reducing tribalism, conflict, and stagnation. The fight isn’t one of hate but one of critical thinking against blind acceptance.

Examples

• The protests over Muhammad cartoons in 2005 revealed how religion exploits fear.
• Enlightenment-era thinkers demonstrated the value of secular reasoning.
• Modern organizations promote secularism to counter religious interference.

Takeaways

1. Encourage open questioning of all beliefs, both yours and others’, to avoid falling into blind faith.
2. Support education that prioritizes evidence-based learning, discouraging religious interference in schools.
3. Advocate for secular policies that prevent religious dogma from influencing public decision-making.