More Ungodly Goodness

If you prefer not to have your theological debates from Nightline, check out an every-so-slightly higher-brow source–excepts from Christopher Hitchens' new book, which Slate offers under the subtle billing: "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything."

Some choice bits:

We [atheists] 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.)

And some sideways snark at C.S. Lewis and Aztecs here:

While some religious apology is magnificent in its limited way—one might cite Pascal—and some of it is dreary and absurd—here one cannot avoid naming C. S. Lewis—both styles have something in common, namely the appalling load of strain that they have to bear. How much effort it takes to affirm the incredible! The Aztecs had to tear open a human chest cavity every day just to make sure that the sun would rise.