God is not great: How religion poisons everything. AND kissing with bad breath...

I have reading a fascinating book over the last few weeks.  It is entitled "God is not great:  How religion poisons everything" by Christopher Hitchens.  I started reading it out of curiosity and have enjoyed reading it a great deal.  In short, I do NOT share the author's view!  Hitchens describes himself as an anti-theist, rather than an atheist.  Richard Dawkins could be considered an atheist in the popular usage of the term (i.e., he does not believe that God exists).  Hitchens however takes this a step further, not only does he not believe that God exists, but he believes that the belief in God is bad for society and individuals (hence the sub-title of his book 'How religion poisons everything').

Hitchens' book is filled with whit, it is well researched and the argument is largely sound (I would not say that it is valid, but simply that it is sound i.e., it is in keeping with his prejudice and within that context it is carefully pieced together to make his point).  Hitchens sites a number of examples of how religious belief harms freedom of choice and enslaves people to abusive systems of authority and power (whether it be a form of religious belief in a transcendent deity, such as that in Christianity, Islam or Judaism; or some form of 'emperor' worship, such as that in North Korea).  This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest weaknesses of the book - it is devoid of all wonder, mystery and grace.  It assumes that the human intellect is the most noble of all realities, and that everything else in society can somehow be quantified, explained, and reasoned out of the realm of the mysterious.

What makes the book so enjoyable is that Hitchens has put together an admirable collection of injustices on which we would both agree!  I frequently nodded my head, smirked, and thought 'how true' when I read of his accurate and articulate deconstruction of abusive religious practices and inconsistencies between faith and reason.  Hitches is correct, in this point at least, there are so many elements of our human nature that destroy, debase, and denigrate the majesty, beauty and wonder of creation!  In this sense I would carefully venture that I would hope that such a destructive God is indeed dead!

However, I would venture that these are not elements of true faith, rather these are perversions of true faith.  Neither is the god about whom he writes, the true God.  The loving God I have come to know in Christ, the One that I have experienced through the grace of other persons, whom I have marveled over in nature, is not the God of Hitchens' book.  Christ would probably also agree with much of the underlying concern that Hitchens expresses about abusive and destructive religious practices he lists.  I'm sure that God's heart is broken daily by the abuses that we perpetrate in God's loving name!

So, I enjoyed what I have read of the book so far, because it confirmed for me that my experience of the loving God, that experience that is most real in the loving community of the Church, is not the god about whom Hitchens writes.  I hope this doesn't sound smug...  But, the God who lovingly grasped me is NOT dead!  That God is lovingly alive in Jesus Christ.

Should you read this book? Sure!  Why not?  But, don't get caught in the hype - it is entertaining, but that's about all.   If you do read it, do not read it as a dialogue, or to try and disprove Hitchens' argument, since I would venture that his argument is not about true religion, rather it is about the worst of human nature, our capacity to take the most beautiful, life giving, and gracious of all realities and abuse it to divide, discourage, enslave, and destroy.  In conclusion this has been an interesting book that has made me appreciate the glorious love and grace of Christ, and the wonder of his love, even more.  It has also challenged me to think much more carefully about Christian community, what we get right, and the many things that we get wrong.

I long for a Church that attracts people!  A Church that lives the reality of Christ's love!

Ed Silvoso commented in his book 'Transformation' - Preaching the good news without tangible acts of love is like giving someone a kiss when you have bad breath.  No matter how good the kiss is, all the person will remember is that you had bad breath!

Perhaps my faith, and our Church, needs a loving breath mint?