God is Not Great. Really?

The first time I ever paid any attention to Christopher Hitchens was via a podcast.

He was the lone atheist on a panel discussion with four other theologians discussing the existence of God. I was impressed. He was funny, approachable and incredibly intelligent. This podcast experience led me to pick up his 2007 book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

Yes, I am late to the whole New Atheist movement, but I was surprised by the vitriol and downright hatred that emanated from this book. Don’t get me wrong. It is extremely well written. It is intelligent. It makes terrific points. I actually think it should be required reading for any mature Christian. What better way to strengthen your faith than to come face to face with someone who absolutely disagrees with everything you think or believe?

In case you get any notion that Chris distinguishes between man-made “religion” and God, forget it. The essential theme of the book is that the belief in God has led to virtually all of the evil that has occurred in this world since the beginning of time. Oh, and there is no discrimination here. He excoriates every belief system – Judaism, Islam, Hindu, etc.

Here is an excerpt from the chapter entitled “Putting it Mildly”. . .

“Why, if god was the creator of all things, were we supposed to ‘praise’ him so incessantly for doing what came to him naturally? This seemed servile, apart from anything else. If Jesus could heal a blind person he happened to meet, then why not heal blindness? What was so wonderful about his casting out devils, so that the devils would enter a herd of pigs instead? That seemed sinister: more like black magic. With all this continual prayer, why no result? Why did I have to keep saying, in public, that I was a miserable sinner? Why was the subject of sex considered so toxic?”

Other chapters are entitled. . . “Religion Kills,” “A Short Digression on the Pig; or, Why Heaven Hates Ham,” “Revelation: The Nightmare of the ‘Old’ Testament,” “The ‘New’ Testament Exceeds the Evil of the ‘Old’ One.” Anyway, you get the idea.

And that’s what surprised me about this book. I’ve conversed and argued with non-believers. I have been a non-believer for a period of time, but, generally speaking, non-believers have always allowed you to think what you want. Believe what you want. Not Chris. He believes fervently that the very idea of belief or faith leads to evil.

He does an excellent job of listing every conceivable tragic or evil event in the history of the world that can be even remotely attributed to religious belief or a belief in a higher power.

And, if we’re honest, in a way, he's right. We Christians have done and continue to do a lot in the name of the Lord that is wrong. Every time we attribute natural disasters to God’s wrath. Every time we try to legislate our beliefs. Every time we deny equal rights to all of God’s creatures. Every time we protect child molesters. Every time denigrate science.

It’s ugly, and he is maddeningly good at illustrating all of religion’s sins.

And therein lies the flaw of the book.

That’s all Chris does – writes about the bad. There is absolutely no room in his book for even the remote suggestion that religion or belief in God has brought any good to the world. None.

Any good that could possibly be attributed to God or a belief system is argued away as coincidence. In many cases, the “good” was done in spite of – not because of – belief. Slavery. Segregation. Mission work. Feeding the homeless. Showing kindness to widows or orphans. All of this would have happened whether we believed in God or not.

Chris’ problem is that he finds the negative in everything related to religion – as such this blinds him to acknowledging the possibility that religion has brought some good to this world.

His strawman challenge? “Name an ethical statement or action, made or performed by a person of faith, that could not have been made or performed by a nonbeliever.” It’s a re-statement of the old theological question: Can a person be good and not believe in God?

Well, of course they can.

The difference? My belief in God and my confidence in my salvation through Christ Jesus make me want to do good. They make me want to be a better person. They make me want to be Jesus’ hands and feet on this earth.

A better question would be: Why would a non-believer want to do good? What drives the non-believer to want to do good? What is the point?

I offer Mr. Hitchens the final word:

“To all those who I do not know, and who live in the worlds where superstition and barbarism are still dominant, and into whose hands I hope this little book may fall, I offer the modest encouragement of an older wisdom. It is in fact this, and not any arrogant preaching, that comes to us out of the whirlwind: Die Stimme der Vernunft ist leise. Yes, 'The Voice of Reason is soft.' But it is very persistent. In this, and in the lives and minds of combatants known and unknown, we repose our chief hope.”

To my more mature Christian and religious friends, I recommend that you do pick up this book. It will convict you and strengthen your faith.