God Is Not Great How Religion Poisons Everything

First Line:

If the intended reader of this book should want to go beyond disagreement with its author and try to identify the sins and deformities that animated him to write it (and I have certainly noticed that those who publicly affirm charity and compassion and forgiveness are often inclined to take this course), then he or she will not just be quarreling with the unknowable and ineffable creator who--presumably--opted to make me this way. They will be defiling the memory of a good, sincere, simple woman, of stable and decent faith, named Mrs. Jean Watts.

Description:

Poses a case against organized religion that draws on an erudite reading of major religious texts, documenting the myriad ways in which religion reflects human agendas and distorts sexuality and the perception of the origins of the universe, in a science-based analysis that considers the benefits of a secular world.

Selected Reviews:

"[Christopher Hitchens] has written, with tremendous brio and great wit, but also with an underlying genuine anger, an all-out attack on all aspects of religion....[A] serious and deeply felt book, totally consistent with his beliefs of a lifetime."

--Michael Kinsley, New York Times Book Review