God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Description

"A case against religion and a description of the ways in which religion is man-made"--Provided by the publisher. Abstract: "A case against religion and a description of the ways in which religion is man-made"--Provided by the publisher Content: Putting it mildly -- Religion kills -- A short digression on the pig or, Why Heaven hates ham -- A note on health, to which religion can be hazardous -- The metaphysical claims of religion are false -- Arguments from design -- Revelation: the nightmare of the "Old" Testament -- The "New" Testament exceeds the evil of the "Old" one -- The Koran is borrowed from both Jewish and Christian myths -- The tawdriness of the miraculous and the decline of Hell -- "The lowly stamp of their origin": religion's corrupt beginnings -- A coda: how religions end -- Does religion make people behave better? -- There is no "Eastern" solution -- Religion as an original sin -- Is religion child abuse? -- An objection anticipated: the last-ditch "case" against secularism -- A finer tradition: the resistance of the rational -- In conclusion: the need for a new enlightenment.