[Originally posted 5/14/2007]
In an obvious allusion to the well-known phrase, Christopher Hitchens has published his book "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" and joined the team proclaiming the dangers of religion. Fellow "new atheist" Dan Dennett approvingly reviewed the book in yesterday's Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2007/05/13/unbelievable/.
Hitchens provides historical anecdotes of the origins of many esoteric myths and cults that exist. He insists that religions are man-made which seems tautological for someone who doesn't believe that a supernatural deity exists. His assertions are based on identifying numerous examples of ludicrous religious and mystical claims that have been documented over the years. Somehow he feels that the diversity of religious views and the dubious origins of many of them logically extend to the conclusion that all religions are of human origin.
Logically, his argument fails. He has assumed that no supernatural being exists, examined a range of religions, found them to be wanting and concluded that none is genuine. Starting with a different premise that is open to the possibility of the existence of a transcendent creator, one would draw a very different conclusion from his observations. Humankind's quest to find God necessarily entails a large number of deadends and failed attempts. God reaching down to humankind by making his own son a part of creation is a radical approach that Hitchens hasn't begun to grasp. He expects God to act in a way that he would act, if he were God. Therefore he wouldn't just heal a blind person, he would eliminate blindness if he were God. Hence, God doesn't exist. Yet he has missed the essence of Christianity. God has overcome suffering and death not by eliminating it but by sending his son to earth to experience it and to conquer death through resurrection. That is a unique claim among all religions.
Hitchen's presuppositions lead him in a circular path to conclude that if he can explain the origin of religions then there is no God. Focusing only on what he feels are the excesses and failures of religion, he fails to see the real reality behind the mist of nature: the God of Gods and Lord of Lords, the Creator of all things.