"... all the logical sallies don't exactly add up to a sustained argument, because Hitchens thinks a sustained argument shouldn't even be necessary and yet wouldn't be sufficient. To him, it's blindingly obvious: the great religions all began at a time when we knew a tiny fraction of what we know today about the origins of Earth and human life. It's understandable that early humans would develop stories about gods or God to salve their ignorance. But people today have no such excuse. If they continue to believe in the unbelievable, or say they do, they are morons or lunatics or liars."There you go. I'll have to get this book and will report back when I've read it.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
God is Not Great
There is a terrific review in today's New York Times of the new Christopher Hitchens book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. I was reasonably sure from the title that this book would appeal to me, even though I'm not usually a Hitchens fan. The review, by Michael Kinsley, convinced me.
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2 comments:
Hi
I chanced upon this blog while googling about for God is not Great.
I like your running fiscal tally of the Iraq war, and the Bush countdown to the last decimal point.
As an Australian, i'm ashamed that our government got into bed with Bush in the War on Terror.
Our PM, John Howard, a conservative, happened to be in Washington on an official visit on September 11 2001, and so became wrapped up in the whole event.
Howard's support for Bush was so good (and against most public opinion)that on another visit to the USA, and at Bush's Texas Ranch, Bush referred to Howard as a "Man of Steel". If you saw a photo of Howard, you'd think Bush was making fun of our nerdy looking leader.
Keep up the good work Clifford. I look forward to your opinion of the book anyway.
Spokes, thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the Australian perspective. The book hasn't arrived yet, but I'll try to get to it soon when it does.
[By the way, I don't know how you feel about gun laws, but personally I was pleased with your PM's recent comments about our nutty pro-gun mentality here.]
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