Welcome to Litsy!

I can‘t believe it‘s already APRIL! I am so sorry, #deadphilosopherssociety! I‘m not sure how many of your have read God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens and God is Not One by Stephen Prothero, but I was thinking these would make great conversations for our group (we tend to go in these directions occasionally anyway). Determined by Robert Saplosky about free will is also out now. We talked about reading that when it came out.

I greatly enjoyed this book. Some of this information was absolutely revolutionary to me. Some of it I already knew, but he took those a step or more - further than I dared take them previously - to their logical end. There is nothing shocking about this book, honestly.
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Sad but true.
#GodIsNotGreat #ChristopherHitchens #ireland #sectarianism #catholic #protestant #religion #atheism #belfast

And yet, those with the greatest faith never realise they are NOT part of any group reasonably and logically referred to as “men and women of real conscience.”
#GodIsNotGreat #ChristopherHitchens #conscience #faith #religion #philosophy #humanism

This sounds like us!
#GodIsNotGreat #ChristopherHitchens #religion #philosophy
#DeadPhilosophersSociety
@TheBookHippie @ravenlee @JaclynW @RavenLovelyReads @AlaSkaat @Chrissyreadit @kspenmoll @bnp

This is, of course, assuming organized religion HAS a conscience, which we all know they do not.
#GodIsNotGreat #ChristopherHitchens #religion #conscience #women #children #criticalthinking #freeinquiry #tribalism #racism #bigotry #ignorance #contempt #coercive

Is there ANY religion that protects children?!
#ChristopherHitchens #GodIsNotGreat #religion #children #logic #ethics

“We do not believe in heaven or hell, yet no statistic will ever find that without these blandishments and threats we commit more crimes of greed or violence than the faithful. (In fact, if a proper statistical inquiry could ever be made, I am sure the evidence would be the other way).”

Excellent & thought-provoking. As a very low intensity Christian it was interesting get this atheist perspective. Hitchens was really talented. Gone too soon.

My husband has been on me to read this book. It has interesting facts, but the agnostic in me still has some hope is something else is there.

#notatall

Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.

“What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.”

I don‘t need to be convinced that “religion is man-made” - I‘m the target audience. But I can‘t think many Christians would pick this up and have some revelation. The sensationalized title alone is enough to turn folks off. Hitchens quickly shows that he‘s an angry atheist and that‘s just not who I am. I‘m glad I read it (I guess), but glad it‘s over.

Although I do not completely agree with Mr Hitchens, this book is worth reading. I only completed two books this weekend; Hitch 22 and god is not Great. I highly recommend both even if you are not of the same mindset. Expanding the mind is always a good thing. Hitch has given me much to ponder. I‘ve finished the challenge, now for sleep. #24in48

So close to finishing!!! Spending the weekend with Hitch. #24in48

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#fridaynight #booksandbrew #cheers #readharder

Hitchens is at his most charmingly arrogant here, & damn it all if he doesn‘t make sense. He insults every religion with equal fervor, & that is my favorite thing about him. He‘s an equal opportunity offender. I am growing to like his stuff more than Sam Harris‘s - Harris has a laser focus on the harm that Islam causes, & it feels racist. Hitchens can see the harm in all dogma, & hell if he doesn‘t call it out. I kind of like the old bastard.

#riotgrams Day 2! #librarylove

A brutal title for a good book. #Dontbelieveanymore #marchintooz

Started reading God is not Great on the same weekend my wee girl fell and broke her arm. Back to work and my colleague has broken up with his girlfriend, and is now on a Smiths bender.....

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Hitchens is such a necessary voice for our world. Religion needs to hold up to some questioning and it often refuses to. Though I hardly agree with 100% of Hitchens writings (that's what it means to be a free thinker, I'm sure he'd agree) his inquiries and thesis are thought provoking. Largely, he makes a lot of sense..Why tolerate oppression just because it's tradition?

For today's #thoughtprovoking tag, I've decided to go with the most controversial book on my bookshelf. In this book, Hitchens is at his argumentative best - against religion. And describes his own experiences and his 'intellectual journey toward a secular view of life'. This book was clearly out of my comfort zone but it was one of the most thought provoking books I've read! #aprilbookshowers

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

In dark ages, people are best guided by religion, as in a pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind old men as guides.
--Henrich Heine

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

"The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals."

An interesting book. Challenged me to think about faith and mortality in a new way. I like questions, especially existential ones. If you do too, you should read this.