God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Hitchens argues that God is not real. How are his following arguments affected if the reader does not accept this proposition? Are any of his points still effective? Why or why not?

Pick one or more religions discussed in God Is Not Great, and examine how Hitchens characterizes this faith. How do other scholars characterize this religion? What nuances does Hitchens overlook, and what unique perspectives does he offer?

Hitchens argues that religion is inherently totalitarian. Choose an influential historical figure who was publicly religious and who is not considered in Hitchens’s book, and explore whether they fit Hitchens’s theory that piety undermines the pursuit of social justice.