God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Hitchens anticipates that some who aim to refute his claims in God Is Not Great will point to the horrific crimes carried out by secular organizations such as the Nazis and the Soviet Union. He admits that, just as good people exist in religious circles, evil exists among atheists. To him, this is a pointless argument, as advocates for religion should aim higher—if religion can only manage to be equally as evil as secularism, then there is no point in its existence.

Hitchens argues that although totalitarian regimes have been both religious and secular, totalitarianism itself is inherently tied to religious belief. The earliest absolute monarchies and dictators, from the Aztecs to the Egyptian Pharaohs, were almost always deified, and were usually religious as well as political leaders. Throughout the early history of the Christian church, the absolute power of God and the absolute power of human leaders went hand-in-hand. In the modern era, the government in Iran and groups like the Taliban claim complete political power while also demanding devotion to their specific beliefs.

Hitchens believes that the relationship between religion and dictatorships is so strong that even non-religious regimes become quasi-religious. He provides Stalinism as a major example.