Why God is not great: A review

Its good to be home. The jet lag is gone. The paruppu usli has been had. Rendezvous with old friends set up. A much needed pedicure awaits. Its all good.
On the flight back home I started to read Christopher Hitchens' God is not great: How religion poisons everything. It was on my to-read list since it came out in May. Its a bit like reading a Michael Moore movie. A point is made. Its a good point. Its made in 11 different ways. And its rammed down your throat so hard your insides hurt. So, my beef with Michael Moore is that he corrupts the basic premise of some of his documentaries with unnecessary railing. And he takes refuge in sarcasm. Sarcasm is all very well, but I personally don't enjoy it in a serious argument.

So, Hitchens writes well. Some of the chapters are really illuminating. I especially enjoyed reading about the complicity of the church in shaping regional politics to their advantage in Nazi germany, in Mussolini's Italy and Stalin's Russia. The chapter on the effect of religion on health care was pretty good too. Its when he starts trying to dissect the Old and New Testaments and the Koran that I lost patience. A non-believer can find something laughable in every line of religious books. To find discrepancies in logic in these texts( No archaeologists ever found evidence of events in Exodus and suchlike) and be shocked at their blood-thirstyness is not new. Further, he spends a whole chapter explaining that Islam is a derivative of Christianity, and the Koran is essentially a plagiarism of Jewish and Christian texts. Again...well-known facts. Not worth an entire chapter.

An interesting chapter is the one asking the question whether religion makes people behave. Events in India and abroad have convinced me that the answer is a thumping no. He puts an interesting spin on things. While he seems to be a big fan of Martin Luther King, he makes the argument that he was a great humanist and leader inspite of being a pastor, rather than because of it. He even talks about MLK's unalloyed enjoyment of booze and women, and seems to rather relish the fact that he was morally "corrupt", but still stood on high ground due to his belief and work on behalf of civil liberty. I've always thought peoples' personal lives are just that. Personal. But I guess if you are a pastor you have a responsibility, no? I don't know much about MLK, so I won't speculate on this. Its an interesting paradox though.

He also chops Eastern religions to bits. Of course there is the usual 1 and a half page on the Rajneesh ashram in Pune. He doesn't seem to have anything much to say about Hinduism,(I'm guessing he doesn't know as much about it as he does the others), except to evince contempt for the sacred cow concept. And wrongly state that Krishna was born to a virgin named Devaka! He does spew vitriol against Buddhism. The chapter is titled "There is no Eastern solution." I guess he's trying to come full circle and make sure there are no loose ends. His reasearch leaves much to be desired. A shocking blooper is when he writes that the LTTE murdered an elected Indian President! How did that one slip through the editors?

Also, he seems to have the old Brit dislike for Gandhi. 2 pages are devoted to calling him obscurantist, and other names. And he thanks goodness we had Nehru to lead us! I don't think he has any insight into Indian politics or the struggle for independence at all. Its just unbelievably naive. Besides, the MLK of whom he purports to be such a big fan of, was an ardent follower of Gandhian principles.

On the whole I enjoyed the book. He makes several good points, not the least of which is that atheists should be free to think what they think, and not have to constantly defend their POV. That people have been abused in the name of religion. That religion has stood in the way of progress, and has been used effectively to frighten people into submission. Nothing that we didn't know. But lots of interesting history and facts. And mostly well written and easy to read. Plus, it had the effect of scandalising my patti, when I told her what I was reading. So, yeah...definitely worth a read.