--- product_id: 1692857 title: "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" price: "126 zł" currency: PLN in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.pl/products/1692857-god-is-not-great-how-religion-poisons-everything store_origin: PL region: Poland --- # God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything **Price:** 126 zł **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything - **How much does it cost?** 126 zł with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pl](https://www.desertcart.pl/products/1692857-god-is-not-great-how-religion-poisons-everything) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith , Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in 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. Review: Seeking to explain, not to argue - [Repeated from my blog at geoffarnold.com] Over the last year, there have been three important books published on belief and non-belief : * Dan Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon * Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion * Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything I've already written - appreciatively - about the Dennett and Dawkins books, and I must admit that I approached Hitchens with some trepidation. After all, people have been lambasting Dawkins and others for their "intemperate" and "disrespectful" attacks on religion, and that's the kind of thing that seems likely to get Hitchens' juices flowing (metaphorically and literally). But I needn't have worried. First, let me say directly and unambiguously: this is a really good book. Hitchens is a mercurial toper, and he may be (nay, he is) dead wrong on Iraq, but he is a great writer. I find myself reading all of the book reviews that he writes, even if I have no interest whatsoever in the book, just for the pleasure of his prose. He is a literate writer, and he assumes that his readers will recognize quotations and literary allusions without having to be spoon-fed. And he achieves this in an utterly contemporary voice, without retreating into anachronism. So please buy this book, to keep the author well supplied with the vodka which seems to fuel his muse. We need more of his work. Enough of the style: what of the substance? I think that I can best describe my reaction to this book by considering the different uses to which I would put it and its two companions. If a committed theist asked me why she should pay attention to the "new atheism", I would give her Dennett's book. I would hope that she would realize that the modern world provides clear evidence of the diversity of beliefs and non-beliefs, and that perhaps she would agree that this was a subject worth studying, worth considering from outside her (probably exclusive) world-view. What explains belief? Why has belief changed over the years? I wouldn't expect to change her beliefs, but perhaps she could accept that belief and non-belief were legitimate subjects of inquiry. If I met a curious man, embedded in a religious tradition but uncertain of whether (or what) he believed, or if he might actually be losing his faith, I would give him Dawkins' The God Delusion. I'd be hoping that he could appreciate the role of science (and its stepchild, technology) in both understanding and creating the world in which he lives. It's not just iPods and cruise missiles, but also polio vaccine, and clean water, and instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope that help us understand our universe, and DNA sequencing that allows us to diagnose disease but also to see our place in the web of life on this planet. And I would hope that he might come to realize, with Carl Sagan, that the realities of the universe are far more majestic and beautiful than the myths of religion. But suppose that an old friend came to me and asked, "Why are you so fired up about atheism and religion these days? I remember you 15 years ago, and back then you were posting on alt.atheism, and having fun roasting creationists on talk.origins, and reading books on the philosophy of religion. But you didn't talk - and write - about it all the time, and you certainly didn't publically define yourself by your disbelief. So what happened?" Instead of trying to explain all of my reasons, I think I'd simply give them Hitchens' new book and say, "Read this. He puts it better than I ever could. I merely experience the occasional (but increasingly frequent) feelings of frustration, impatience, outrage, and even anger. Hitchens is an unequalled exponent of the art of the rant: he says what I feel, with passion, intensity and wit." This is not a book that seeks to convert. Its purpose is, first and foremost, to explain. To explain why atheists are no longer willing to sit meekly on our hands when the President of the United States says that I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens", or when the Archbishop of Canterbury excuses the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, or when Catholic cardinals and archbishops preach that condoms transmit AIDS. Yes, Hitchens also explains why he is an atheist, and the things that he finds mad, bad, or ridiculous about religion. Individual believers will naturally snort, and say that he's not talking about their belief, but that's not the point. He's not seeking to win a debate, or persuade the uncertain: he's laying out facts about the world and his opinions of those facts. And I agree with most of what he says. Perhaps because he is a student of history, and a former Marxist Trotskyite, Hitchens pays particular attention to what he calls An Objection Anticipated: The Last-Ditch "Case" Against Secularism. He's talking (p.230) about the charge that "secular totalitarianism has actually provided us with the summa of human evil." Hitchens' response is lengthy and detailed, and rejects the simplistic lumping-together of the various dictators of the 20th century. He describes how fascism and National Socialism co-opted religious institutions, which responded with unseemly enthusiasm. On the other hand, Communism in Russia and China had more in common with the anticlericalism of the French Revolution. Obviously Communists wished to eliminate any competing source of ideology or loyalty; beyond this, their secularism was less an expression of ontological atheism than of hatred towards the religious institutions which had supported the previous autocracies or imperialists. In fact, Communists were not trying to negate religion, but to replace it, complete with saints, heretics, mummies and icons. It's a complex topic that could fill an entire book, and Hitchens handles it very well. As you may have gathered by now, I really like this book. I really think that it's my favourite of the three, mostly because I learned more from it than the other two, and because it caught my mood so well. Of course there are many things to learn from Dennett and Dawkins, but I've been steeped in their works for the last twenty years, and I think I understand the world from their perspective. With his literary and historical bent, Hitchens provided an intriguingly different point of view. And, as I think I mentioned, the writing is simply superb. Review: Brilliant - Christopher Hitchens' "god is not GREAT: How Religion Poisons Everything," is resoundingly superior to what one might expect from a guy who is a bit untidy, chain-smoking, not far from a bottle, and prompt in interviews with a line of epithets. You might expect the writing to be weighty and dense, sloppy and poorly edited, smoke-screeny and obfuscatory, drunkenly weird, and vilely profane. You'll not find it. Hitchens is clear, a straight talker, courageous, unpretentious, and egalitarian. He writes precisely and as simply as the subjects permit. He is brilliant, thoroughly grounded in the breadth and history of his topics. Add to that, yes, a basic humility, with much humor. Three cheers. Do I promise you will like Christopher Hitchens? No. Not if you have taken the Leap of Faith, not if you are content with your religion, never conflicted about your beliefs, need the worship service to get through the week, value the social contacts of the fine, loving people in your congregation, and believe your own revealed book is sacrosanct. You and your fellows will not like him, might even approach disdaining, if not hating, and surely pitying him. He is fine with that. Peace. Stay with it. All he asks is that the faithful leave him alone, though he doubts they can, will instead try to "save" him, pray for him, convert him or, if not, ultimately consign him to the hell they think he deserves. Hitchens denies the metaphysical, denies any supernatural entity who creates and personally sustains each and every believer, denies an afterlife, heaven or hell, and rejects the heavy guilt engendered by clerics who profit and attain power by keeping followers in need of present and eternal forgiveness. He believes religions intentionally keep members subservient emotionally and mentally, subjugate women, repress sexuality, brainwash everyone, especially children, and destroy real happiness. Religions seek to enslave. And not succeeding, will do their godly best to ostracize, shun, and righteously obliterate the outsider, the infidel. Hitchens is a voice of reason, loving freedom, not intending harm, seeking to enjoy brief life's moments. Joy to him and to the world. * * * As a title, "god is not GREAT" is more of a sales grab than "Religion Is Not Great," which would be more applicable. "How Religion Poisons Everything" shares some of the title's hyperbole, although "poisons everything" appears close to Hitchens' true evaluation. It almost goes without saying that Hitchens attempts no definitive proof or disproof of any god's existence, whether ancient Greek, Roman, Pagan, or Yahweh, which he knows has forever been beyond human capacity. My read is that Gertrude Stein's lovely statement stands: "There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer." Hitchens' immediate and continuing focus is on religion, all religions. Where is a person to turn for help in this life of ups and downs and ultimate demise? Not vertically to any god, but horizontally to those sharing our time and space. The vertical impulse is deception, a false hope, empty. Interdependence, with complementary skills, talents, and knowledge, is our only practical and valid answer. Caution. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #16,948 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in Atheism (Books) #11 in Religion & Philosophy (Books) #22 in Religious Philosophy (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 10,029 Reviews | ## Images ![God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71-7dFLrE5L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Seeking to explain, not to argue *by G***D on May 13, 2007* [Repeated from my blog at geoffarnold.com] Over the last year, there have been three important books published on belief and non-belief : * Dan Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon * Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion * Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything I've already written - appreciatively - about the Dennett and Dawkins books, and I must admit that I approached Hitchens with some trepidation. After all, people have been lambasting Dawkins and others for their "intemperate" and "disrespectful" attacks on religion, and that's the kind of thing that seems likely to get Hitchens' juices flowing (metaphorically and literally). But I needn't have worried. First, let me say directly and unambiguously: this is a really good book. Hitchens is a mercurial toper, and he may be (nay, he is) dead wrong on Iraq, but he is a great writer. I find myself reading all of the book reviews that he writes, even if I have no interest whatsoever in the book, just for the pleasure of his prose. He is a literate writer, and he assumes that his readers will recognize quotations and literary allusions without having to be spoon-fed. And he achieves this in an utterly contemporary voice, without retreating into anachronism. So please buy this book, to keep the author well supplied with the vodka which seems to fuel his muse. We need more of his work. Enough of the style: what of the substance? I think that I can best describe my reaction to this book by considering the different uses to which I would put it and its two companions. If a committed theist asked me why she should pay attention to the "new atheism", I would give her Dennett's book. I would hope that she would realize that the modern world provides clear evidence of the diversity of beliefs and non-beliefs, and that perhaps she would agree that this was a subject worth studying, worth considering from outside her (probably exclusive) world-view. What explains belief? Why has belief changed over the years? I wouldn't expect to change her beliefs, but perhaps she could accept that belief and non-belief were legitimate subjects of inquiry. If I met a curious man, embedded in a religious tradition but uncertain of whether (or what) he believed, or if he might actually be losing his faith, I would give him Dawkins' The God Delusion. I'd be hoping that he could appreciate the role of science (and its stepchild, technology) in both understanding and creating the world in which he lives. It's not just iPods and cruise missiles, but also polio vaccine, and clean water, and instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope that help us understand our universe, and DNA sequencing that allows us to diagnose disease but also to see our place in the web of life on this planet. And I would hope that he might come to realize, with Carl Sagan, that the realities of the universe are far more majestic and beautiful than the myths of religion. But suppose that an old friend came to me and asked, "Why are you so fired up about atheism and religion these days? I remember you 15 years ago, and back then you were posting on alt.atheism, and having fun roasting creationists on talk.origins, and reading books on the philosophy of religion. But you didn't talk - and write - about it all the time, and you certainly didn't publically define yourself by your disbelief. So what happened?" Instead of trying to explain all of my reasons, I think I'd simply give them Hitchens' new book and say, "Read this. He puts it better than I ever could. I merely experience the occasional (but increasingly frequent) feelings of frustration, impatience, outrage, and even anger. Hitchens is an unequalled exponent of the art of the rant: he says what I feel, with passion, intensity and wit." This is not a book that seeks to convert. Its purpose is, first and foremost, to explain. To explain why atheists are no longer willing to sit meekly on our hands when the President of the United States says that I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens", or when the Archbishop of Canterbury excuses the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, or when Catholic cardinals and archbishops preach that condoms transmit AIDS. Yes, Hitchens also explains why he is an atheist, and the things that he finds mad, bad, or ridiculous about religion. Individual believers will naturally snort, and say that he's not talking about their belief, but that's not the point. He's not seeking to win a debate, or persuade the uncertain: he's laying out facts about the world and his opinions of those facts. And I agree with most of what he says. Perhaps because he is a student of history, and a former Marxist Trotskyite, Hitchens pays particular attention to what he calls An Objection Anticipated: The Last-Ditch "Case" Against Secularism. He's talking (p.230) about the charge that "secular totalitarianism has actually provided us with the summa of human evil." Hitchens' response is lengthy and detailed, and rejects the simplistic lumping-together of the various dictators of the 20th century. He describes how fascism and National Socialism co-opted religious institutions, which responded with unseemly enthusiasm. On the other hand, Communism in Russia and China had more in common with the anticlericalism of the French Revolution. Obviously Communists wished to eliminate any competing source of ideology or loyalty; beyond this, their secularism was less an expression of ontological atheism than of hatred towards the religious institutions which had supported the previous autocracies or imperialists. In fact, Communists were not trying to negate religion, but to replace it, complete with saints, heretics, mummies and icons. It's a complex topic that could fill an entire book, and Hitchens handles it very well. As you may have gathered by now, I really like this book. I really think that it's my favourite of the three, mostly because I learned more from it than the other two, and because it caught my mood so well. Of course there are many things to learn from Dennett and Dawkins, but I've been steeped in their works for the last twenty years, and I think I understand the world from their perspective. With his literary and historical bent, Hitchens provided an intriguingly different point of view. And, as I think I mentioned, the writing is simply superb. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Brilliant *by N***O on October 17, 2007* Christopher Hitchens' "god is not GREAT: How Religion Poisons Everything," is resoundingly superior to what one might expect from a guy who is a bit untidy, chain-smoking, not far from a bottle, and prompt in interviews with a line of epithets. You might expect the writing to be weighty and dense, sloppy and poorly edited, smoke-screeny and obfuscatory, drunkenly weird, and vilely profane. You'll not find it. Hitchens is clear, a straight talker, courageous, unpretentious, and egalitarian. He writes precisely and as simply as the subjects permit. He is brilliant, thoroughly grounded in the breadth and history of his topics. Add to that, yes, a basic humility, with much humor. Three cheers. Do I promise you will like Christopher Hitchens? No. Not if you have taken the Leap of Faith, not if you are content with your religion, never conflicted about your beliefs, need the worship service to get through the week, value the social contacts of the fine, loving people in your congregation, and believe your own revealed book is sacrosanct. You and your fellows will not like him, might even approach disdaining, if not hating, and surely pitying him. He is fine with that. Peace. Stay with it. All he asks is that the faithful leave him alone, though he doubts they can, will instead try to "save" him, pray for him, convert him or, if not, ultimately consign him to the hell they think he deserves. Hitchens denies the metaphysical, denies any supernatural entity who creates and personally sustains each and every believer, denies an afterlife, heaven or hell, and rejects the heavy guilt engendered by clerics who profit and attain power by keeping followers in need of present and eternal forgiveness. He believes religions intentionally keep members subservient emotionally and mentally, subjugate women, repress sexuality, brainwash everyone, especially children, and destroy real happiness. Religions seek to enslave. And not succeeding, will do their godly best to ostracize, shun, and righteously obliterate the outsider, the infidel. Hitchens is a voice of reason, loving freedom, not intending harm, seeking to enjoy brief life's moments. Joy to him and to the world. * * * As a title, "god is not GREAT" is more of a sales grab than "Religion Is Not Great," which would be more applicable. "How Religion Poisons Everything" shares some of the title's hyperbole, although "poisons everything" appears close to Hitchens' true evaluation. It almost goes without saying that Hitchens attempts no definitive proof or disproof of any god's existence, whether ancient Greek, Roman, Pagan, or Yahweh, which he knows has forever been beyond human capacity. My read is that Gertrude Stein's lovely statement stands: "There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer." Hitchens' immediate and continuing focus is on religion, all religions. Where is a person to turn for help in this life of ups and downs and ultimate demise? Not vertically to any god, but horizontally to those sharing our time and space. The vertical impulse is deception, a false hope, empty. Interdependence, with complementary skills, talents, and knowledge, is our only practical and valid answer. Caution. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ There is no God *by L***E on April 12, 2026* I felt it hit all the marks and reaffirms my decision to become an atheist after being brought up Catholic and then free Methodist Christian. It puts Christian apologetics to shame and exposes them for the hypocrists that they are. ## Frequently Bought Together - God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything - The God Delusion - The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.pl/products/1692857-god-is-not-great-how-religion-poisons-everything](https://www.desertcart.pl/products/1692857-god-is-not-great-how-religion-poisons-everything) --- *Product available on Desertcart Poland* *Store origin: PL* *Last updated: 2026-05-27*