上帝不是偉大的：宗教如何毒化一切（2007年）是英國作家克裏斯托弗·希欽斯（Christopher Hitchens）的辯論性文章。作者認為宗教是一種文化構造，它壓製人民而不是解放人民。他研究了宗教在性，科學和人類尊嚴中的作用，並提出有組織的宗教很少（如果有的話）對整個人類有益。希欽斯是著名的專欄作家，也是《名利場》雜誌的特約編輯。
它的主題包括：妄想，大多數有組織的宗教的厭女症以及宗教作為過去的遺物。
在第一章“溫和地放入”中，希欽斯講述了他九歲時的記憶。他善良的老師告訴全班同學，上帝使草綠色，因為它使人眼平靜。在他對光合作用一無所知之前，希欽斯就認為這種解釋是完全錯誤的。小時候，他開始問一些問題，例如，如果他（或她）真的很棒，為什麽需要不斷地讚美上帝。後來，在13歲時，當一位教官告訴他，一旦親人去世，他會理解宗教的時候，他笨拙了。從情感上和邏輯上看來，道德體係隻有在mortality折之後才有意義。
他指出，大多數像他這樣的無神論者都認為宗教對於道德生活不是必需的。在評估任何事物的真實性時，他們傾向於科學和理性，但他們並不拘泥於科學。
許多無神論者通過他們的思想清晰的思維來達到自己的信念。正如宣傳所相信的那樣，他們並沒有被一個人或一本書誤入歧途。希欽斯看著一個中世紀的女人，她告訴調查官，沒有人給她“異端”的想法。她想到了有組織的宗教，並認為這是錯誤的。希欽人認為，成千上萬人對宗教感到不安，因為他們認為宗教是人為的。希欽斯寫道：“即使做出決定的人也無法就他們的先知，救贖主或宗師的實際言行達成一致。”有組織的宗教常常被操縱以獲得政治權力。希欽斯認為，有組織的宗教很少（如果有的話）滿足於讓不信的人安全和獨自擁有自己的信仰體係。
從曆史上看，有組織的宗教並不是要接受他人，而是要把自己的思想強加給他人。因此，宗教便是對人類的威脅。它“毒化了一切”，並且正如作者在第二章“宗教殺戮”中探討的那樣，使非道德罪行永存。
有組織的宗教往往是一種沉默其他聲音的力量。希欽斯引用了作家薩勒曼·拉什迪（Salman Rushdie），他於1988年出版了《撒旦詩篇》，是伊朗官員發出的要求其死亡的法特瓦（法律裁決）的受害者。拉什迪不得不躲藏了十幾年。希欽斯以令人信服的細節看待9/11並考慮了真誠信仰的信徒們如何摧毀雙子塔；領導led葬服務的美國大型教堂福音派牧師相信與劫機者完全相同的東西：這裏有一個永恒的天堂；可以用零證據得出有力的結論；世界的問題可以完全歸咎於特定群體。
希欽斯著眼於全世界宗教對飲食和健康的限製實際上對個人有害。他看著尼日利亞北部的穆斯林極端分子，他們散布謠言說天花疫苗是聯合國推翻土地的一種手段。村民拒絕了疫苗。因此，曾經沒有天花的地區隨後看到了致命疾病的複發。
作者認為，許多宗教提供的來世圖像顯然是錯誤的。許多人認為自己在地球上的舉動無關緊要，成千上萬（甚至數十億）的人過著平淡無奇的生活，或者害怕虛構的未來地獄，以至於他們拒絕沉迷於此。
希欽斯（Hitchens）回顧了全世界有關如何創建世界的報道。他認為，這些故事曾經在科學方法之前曾起到過令人安慰和有用的目的，但自那時以來，它們通過鼓勵人們在神話中建立自己的生活而弊大於利。
希欽斯認為，聖經中的“新”約比“舊”約更有害。這是因為毫無疑問，許多年齡段的人都改變了《新約》。盡管當代宣稱相反，但《新約》中沒有證據或目擊者。
在討論《古蘭經》時，希欽斯考慮了該傳統如何更多地是口頭而非書麵傳統，以及如何將猶太教和基督教的各種神話結合起來以形成新的混合體。希欽斯（Hitchchens）指出，《古蘭經》很可能以阿拉姆語開始，但是今天的堅定穆斯林對有人建議說《古蘭經》是用阿拉姆語而不是阿拉伯語來發怒的。這是宗教和“信仰”禁止宗教基礎的自由，學術探索的另一個例子。
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007) is a polemical text by English writer Christopher Hitchens. The author argues that religion is a cultural construct that represses people more than it liberates them. He examines religion’s role in sexuality, science, and human dignity and posits that organized religion rarely (if ever) benefits humanity at large. Hitchens was a noted columnist and contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine.
Its themes include mass delusions, the misogyny of most organized religions, and religion as a relic from the past.
In chapter one, “Putting it Mildly,” Hitchens relates a memory from when he was nine. His kind teacher told the class that God made grass green because it was calming to human eyes. Before he knew anything about photosynthesis, Hitchens felt this explanation was radically wrong. As a child, he started asking questions like why God would need to be praised incessantly if he (or she) truly were great. Later, at 13, when an instructor told him he would understand religion once a loved one died, he baulked; it seemed wrong, emotionally and logically, that a system of morality could only make sense after a brush with mortality.
He notes that most atheists like him believe that religion is not necessary for an ethical life. They lean toward science and reason when evaluating the veracity of anything, but they aren’t dogmatic about it.
Many atheists arrive at their beliefs through their temperament for clear thinking; they were not, as much propaganda would have one believe, led astray by a single person or book. Hitchens looks at a medieval woman who told her inquisitors that no one gave her “heretical” ideas; she thought about organized religion and judged it to be false. Hitchens posits that millions of people feel uneasy about religion because they sense that it is man-made. “Even the men who made it cannot agree on what their prophets or redeemers or gurus actually said or did,” Hitchens writes. Organized religion is often manipulated for political power. Hitchens argues that organized religion is rarely (if ever) content to leave unbelievers safe and alone with their own belief systems.
Historically, organized religion has not been about accepting others, but imposing one’s ideas on others. Consequently, religion then is a threat to humanity. It “poisons everything” and, as the author explores in chapter two, “Religion Kills,” perpetuates amoral crimes.
Organized religion is often a force that silences other voices. Hitchens references the writer Salman Rushdie, who in 1988 published The Satanic Verses, was the victim of a Fatwa (legal ruling) issued by Iranian officials that called for his death; Rushdie had to go into hiding for more than a dozen years. In compelling detail, Hitchens looks at 9/11 and considers how the Twin Towers were destroyed by sincere believers in their faith; the mega-church evangelical pastors in the U.S. who led some funeral services believe in the same exact things as the hijackers: there’s an eternal paradise; forceful conclusions can be made with zero evidence; the problems of the world can be solely blamed on specific groups.
Hitchens looks at how the dietary and health restrictions imposed by religions throughout the world are actually detrimental to individuals. He looks at Muslim extremists in Northern Nigeria who spread the rumor that the smallpox vaccine was a ploy by the United Nations to overthrow the land. Villagers refused the vaccine. So an area once free of smallpox then saw the return of the deadly disease.
The author posits that many religions offer an image of the afterlife that is patently false. With so many people believing that their actions on this earth don’t matter, millions (if not billions) lead lackluster lives or are so fearful of a fictional, future hell that they refuse to indulge in any pleasure.
Hitchens reviews world-wide accounts of how the world was created. He argues that these stories once served a comforting and useful purpose before the scientific method, but since then, they do more harm than good by encouraging people to establish their lives on myths.
Hitchens argues that the “new” Testament in the Bible is more harmful than the “old” Testament. This is because the New Testament has without a doubt been changed by many men through the ages; despite contemporary claims to the contrary, there is no evidence or eyewitnesses to the events in the New Testament.
Discussing the Koran (Quran), Hitchens considers how the tradition has more of an oral rather than a written tradition, and how it combined various myths from Judaism and Christianity to arrive at a new hybrid. Hitchens notes that the Koran likely started with an Aramaic language, yet adamant Muslims today would be outraged by the suggestion that the Koran was delivered in Aramaic rather than Arabic. This is another example of religion and “faith” prohibiting the free, scholarly explorations of religious foundations.
Organized religion rarely shows an understanding of humanity. Rather than teaching how to embrace and manage one’s sexual impulses, it induces guilt. Hitchens concludes that religion no longer serves any purpose; in fact, nowadays, it only constrains human knowledge. Hitchens proposes a new sort of renaissance that focuses on the study of humanity. To “transcend our prehistory” will require much effort, especially when faced against religious zealots who encourage servile attitudes and feelings of self-hatred.
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