Monday, April 30, 2007

Hitchens' religion series

For those who haven't already noticed, Slate is running excerpts from Christopher Hitchen's new anti-religion book.

Of course, I don't agree with his thesis, but he at least promises to be a wittier and less irritating writer on the topic than the likes of Dawkins. (His preconceptions clearly influence even his literary judgement though; in the first extract he dismisses CS Lewis as a "dreary" apologist! Lewis may have flaws in some of his arguments, but a "dreary" writer he surely isn't.)

A couple of the extracts are already interesting: those summarising the foundation of Islam and Mormonism (and looking at the similarities between the two.)

Given our proximity in time to the founding of Mormonism, it is remarkable how that church is successful in light of the (relative) ease of investigation into the circumstances of its creation. (Of course, the Church of Scientology is an even more puzzling success.)

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