Aktion	Zweigstelle	Standorte	Status	Frist	Vorbestellungen
Vorbestellen	Zweigstelle: 05., Pannaschg. 6	Standorte: PR.AI FS.E Hitc / Nonfiction	Status: Entliehen	Frist: 19.10.2026	Vorbestellungen: 0

Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. In a series of acute readings of the major religious texts, he demonstrates the ways in which religion is man-made, dangerously sexually repressive and distorts the very origin of the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix. God is Not Great marvels at the possibility of society without religion, arguing that the concept of an omniscient God has profoundly damaged humanity. Hitchens proposes instead that the world might be a great deal better off without ’Him’. (Verlagstext)

 

Table of contents

 

Putting It Mildly 1

Religion Kills 15

A Short Digression on the Pig; or, Why Heaven Hates Ham 37

A Note on Health, to Which Religion Can Be Hazardous 43

The Metaphysical Claims of Religion Are False 63

Arguments from Design 73

Revelation: The Nightmare of the "Old" Testament 97

The "New" Testament Exceeds the Evil of the "Old" One 109

The Koran Is Borrowed from Both Jewish and Christian Myths 123

The Tawdriness of the Miraculous and the Decline of Hell 139

"The Lowly Stamp of Their Origin": Religion's Corrupt Beginnings 155

A Coda: How Religions End 169

Does Religion Make People Behave Better? 173

There Is No "Eastern" Solution 195

Religion as an Original Sin 205

Is Religion Child Abuse? 217

An Objection Anticipated: The Last-Ditch "Case" Against Secularism 229

A Finer Tradition: The Resistance of the Rational 253

In Conclusion: The Need for a New Enlightenment 277

Acknowledgments 285

References 287

Index 295