Hitchens, an avowed atheist and author of the bestseller God Is Not Great, is a formidable intellectual who finds the notion of belief in God to be utter nonsense. The author is clear in his introduction that religion has caused more than its fair share of world problems. "Religion invents a problem where none exists by describing the wicked as also made in the image of god and the sexually nonconformist as existing in a state of incurable mortal sin that can incidentally cause floods and earthquakes." The readings Hitchens chooses to bolster his atheist argument are indeed engaging and important.

Hitchens, an avowed atheist and author of the bestseller God Is Not Great, is a formidable intellectual who finds the notion of belief in God to be utter nonsense. The author is clear in his introduction that religion has caused more than its fair share of world problems. "Religion invents a problem where none exists by describing the wicked as also made in the image of god and the sexually nonconformist as existing in a state of incurable mortal sin that can incidentally cause floods and earthquakes." The readings Hitchens chooses to bolster his atheist argument are indeed engaging and important. Hobbes, Spinoza, Mill and Marx are some of the heavyweights representing a philosophical viewpoint. From the world of literature the author assembles excerpts from Shelley, Twain, Conrad, Orwell and Updike. All are enjoyable to read and will make even religious believers envious of the talent gathered for this anthology. What these dynamic writers are railing against often enough, however, is a strawman: an immature, fundamentalist, outdated, and even embarrassing style of religion that many intelligent believers have long since cast off. It could be that Hitchens and his cast of nonbelievers are preaching to the choir and their message is tired and spent. However, this remains a fascinating collection of readings from some of the West’s greatest thinkers.

Acknowledgments

Introduction, Christopher Hitcbens

1.LUCRETIUS, from De Return Natura (On the Nature of

Things), Book I, Translated by W.Hannaford Brown

2.OMAR KHAYYAM, from Rubdiydt of Omar Kbayyam:

A Paraphrase from Several Literal Translations by

Richard Le Gallienne

3.THOMAS HOBBES, Of Religion, from Leviathan

4.BENEDICT DE SPINOZA, Theological-Political Treatise

5.DAVID HUME, The Natural History of Religion

Of Miracles

6.JAMES BOSWELL, An Account of My Last Interview

with David Hume, Esq.

7.PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, A Refutation of Deism

8.JOHN STUART MILL, Moral Influences in My Early Youth,

From Autobiography

9.KARL MARX, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's

Philosophy of Right

10.GEORGE ELIOT, Evangelical Teaching

11.CHARLES DARWIN, Autobiography

12.LESLIE STEPHEN, An Agnostic's Apology

13.ANATOLE FRANCE, Miracle

14.MARK TWAIN, Thoughts of God, From Fables of Man

Bible Teaching and Religious Practice, From Europe

and Elsewhere and A Pen Warmed Up In Hell

15.JOSEPH CONRAD, Author's Note to The Shadow Line

16.THOMAS HARDY, God's Funeral

17.EMMA GOLDMAN, The Philosophy of Atheism

18.H.P.LOVECRAFT, A Letter on Religion

19.CARL VAN DOREN, Why I Am An Unbeliever

20.H.L.MENCKEN, Memorial Service

21.SIGMUND FREUD, From The Future of an Illusion,

Translated and edited by James Strachey

22.ALBERT EINSTEIN, Selected Writings on Religion

23.GEORGE ORWELL, From A Clergyman's Daughter

24.JOHN BETJEMAN, In Westminster Abbey

25.CHAPMAN COHEN, Monism and Religion

An Old Story

26.BERTRAND RUSSELL, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish

27.PHILIP LARKIN, Aubade

Church Going

28.MARTIN GARDNER, The Wandering Jew and the

Second Coming

29.CARL SAGAN, The Demon-Haunted World

The God Hypothesis

30.JOHN UPDIKE, From Roger's Version

31.J.L.MACKIE, Conclusions and Implications,

From The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and

against the Existence of God

32.MICHAEL SHERMER, Genesis Revisited:

A Scientific Creation Story

33.A.J.AYER, That Undiscovered Country

34.DANIEL C.DENNETT, Thank Goodness!

35.CHARLES TEMPLETON, From A Farewell to God,

A Personal Word

Questions to Ask Yourself

36.RICHARD DAWKINS, Why There Almost Certainly

Is No God

Gerin Oil

Atheists for Jesus

37.VICTOR STENGER, From God: the Failed Hypothesis,

Cosmic Evidence

38.DANIEL C.DENNETT, A Working Definition of

Religion, From "Breaking Which Spell?"

39.ELIZABETH ANDERSON, If God Is Dead,

Is Everything Permitted?

40.PENN JILLETTE, There Is No God

41.IAN MCEWAN, End of the World Blues

42.STEVEN WEINBERG, What About God?

From Dreams of a Final Theory

43.SALMAN RUSHDIE, "Imagine There's No Heaven":

A Letter to the Six Billionth World Citizen

44.IBN WARRAQ, The Koran

The Totalitarian Nature of Islam

45.SAM HARRIS, In the Shadow of God,

From Tbe End of Faitb

46.A.C.GRAYLING, Can an Athiest Be a Fundamentalist?

From Against All Gods

47.AYAAN HIRSI ALl, How (and Why) I Became an Infidel

Credits and Permissions

Index