I rather think you miss the whole point of GING, which you might not have done had you taken into account the rest of the title: 'How Religion Poisons Everything'.
Hitchens isn't attempt to disprove religion, or conduct a 'rational analysis' to prove atheism, or even to validate the scientific perspective. Hitchens' main goal is to demonstrate that religious belief is, in and of itself, a bad thing for human beings. He cites sufficient examples of this in order to present what is a very strong case that he's right.
Additionally, the book isn't intended to give a fair shake to the religious viewpoint. It is a polemic, and Hitchens' purpose is to present his viewpoint, and no other: he isn't debating whether religion is good or bad. He is starting with the assumption that religion is bad, and then provides a sort of a case file to show why.
Essentially, I think, your review attempts to take Hitchens to task for writing a polemic, rather than a debate. But when the author intends to write a polemic, a review should be conducted on how well he's done that, not that (as has been said) the author wrote the book you didn't want.
Boru
Hitchens isn't attempt to disprove religion, or conduct a 'rational analysis' to prove atheism, or even to validate the scientific perspective. Hitchens' main goal is to demonstrate that religious belief is, in and of itself, a bad thing for human beings. He cites sufficient examples of this in order to present what is a very strong case that he's right.
Additionally, the book isn't intended to give a fair shake to the religious viewpoint. It is a polemic, and Hitchens' purpose is to present his viewpoint, and no other: he isn't debating whether religion is good or bad. He is starting with the assumption that religion is bad, and then provides a sort of a case file to show why.
Essentially, I think, your review attempts to take Hitchens to task for writing a polemic, rather than a debate. But when the author intends to write a polemic, a review should be conducted on how well he's done that, not that (as has been said) the author wrote the book you didn't want.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
