纽约时报曾经畅销书：上帝并不伟大 （简介） yzout2020-12-05 17:17:56

上帝不是伟大的：宗教如何毒化一切（2007年）是英国作家克里斯托弗·希钦斯（Christopher Hitchens）的辩论性文章。作者认为宗教是一种文化构造，它压制人民而不是解放人民。他研究了宗教在性，科学和人类尊严中的作用，并提出有组织的宗教很少（如果有的话）对整个人类有益。希钦斯是著名的专栏作家，也是《名利场》杂志的特约编辑。

它的主题包括：妄想，大多数有组织的宗教的厌女症以及宗教作为过去的遗物。

在第一章“温和地放入”中，希钦斯讲述了他九岁时的记忆。他善良的老师告诉全班同学，上帝使草绿色，因为它使人眼平静。在他对光合作用一无所知之前，希钦斯就认为这种解释是完全错误的。小时候，他开始问一些问题，例如，如果他（或她）真的很棒，为什么需要不断地赞美上帝。后来，在13岁时，当一位教官告诉他，一旦亲人去世，他会理解宗教的时候，他笨拙了。从情感上和逻辑上看来，道德体系只有在mortality折之后才有意义。

 他指出，大多数像他这样的无神论者都认为宗教对于道德生活不是必需的。在评估任何事物的真实性时，他们倾向于科学和理性，但他们并不拘泥于科学。

许多无神论者通过他们的思想清晰的思维来达到自己的信念。正如宣传所相信的那样，他们并没有被一个人或一本书误入歧途。希钦斯看着一个中世纪的女人，她告诉调查官，没有人给她“异端”的想法。她想到了有组织的宗教，并认为这是错误的。希钦人认为，成千上万人对宗教感到不安，因为他们认为宗教是人为的。希钦斯写道：“即使做出决定的人也无法就他们的先知，救赎主或宗师的实际言行达成一致。”有组织的宗教常常被操纵以获得政治权力。希钦斯认为，有组织的宗教很少（如果有的话）满足于让不信的人安全和独自拥有自己的信仰体系。

从历史上看，有组织的宗教并不是要接受他人，而是要把自己的思想强加给他人。因此，宗教便是对人类的威胁。它“毒化了一切”，并且正如作者在第二章“宗教杀戮”中探讨的那样，使非道德罪行永存。

有组织的宗教往往是一种沉默其他声音的力量。希钦斯引用了作家萨勒曼·拉什迪（Salman Rushdie），他于1988年出版了《撒旦诗篇》，是伊朗官员发出的要求其死亡的法特瓦（法律裁决）的受害者。拉什迪不得不躲藏了十几年。希钦斯以令人信服的细节看待9/11并考虑了真诚信仰的信徒们如何摧毁双子塔；领导led葬服务的美国大型教堂福音派牧师相信与劫机者完全相同的东西：这里有一个永恒的天堂；可以用零证据得出有力的结论；世界的问题可以完全归咎于特定群体。

希钦斯着眼于全世界宗教对饮食和健康的限制实际上对个人有害。他看着尼日利亚北部的穆斯林极端分子，他们散布谣言说天花疫苗是联合国推翻土地的一种手段。村民拒绝了疫苗。因此，曾经没有天花的地区随后看到了致命疾病的复发。

作者认为，许多宗教提供的来世图像显然是错误的。许多人认为自己在地球上的举动无关紧要，成千上万（甚至数十亿）的人过着平淡无奇的生活，或者害怕虚构的未来地狱，以至于他们拒绝沉迷于此。

希钦斯（Hitchens）回顾了全世界有关如何创建世界的报道。他认为，这些故事曾经在科学方法之前曾起到过令人安慰和有用的目的，但自那时以来，它们通过鼓励人们在神话中建立自己的生活而弊大于利。

希钦斯认为，圣经中的“新”约比“旧”约更有害。这是因为毫无疑问，许多年龄段的人都改变了《新约》。尽管当代宣称相反，但《新约》中没有证据或目击者。

在讨论《古兰经》时，希钦斯考虑了该传统如何更多地是口头而非书面传统，以及如何将犹太教和基督教的各种神话结合起来以形成新的混合体。希钦斯（Hitchchens）指出，《古兰经》很可能以阿拉姆语开始，但是今天的坚定穆斯林对有人建议说《古兰经》是用阿拉姆语而不是阿拉伯语来发怒的。这是宗教和“信仰”禁止宗教基础的自由，学术探索的另一个例子。

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007) is a polemical text by English writer Christopher Hitchens. The author argues that religion is a cultural construct that represses people more than it liberates them. He examines religion’s role in sexuality, science, and human dignity and posits that organized religion rarely (if ever) benefits humanity at large. Hitchens was a noted columnist and contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine.

Its themes include mass delusions, the misogyny of most organized religions, and religion as a relic from the past.

In chapter one, “Putting it Mildly,” Hitchens relates a memory from when he was nine. His kind teacher told the class that God made grass green because it was calming to human eyes. Before he knew anything about photosynthesis, Hitchens felt this explanation was radically wrong. As a child, he started asking questions like why God would need to be praised incessantly if he (or she) truly were great. Later, at 13, when an instructor told him he would understand religion once a loved one died, he baulked; it seemed wrong, emotionally and logically, that a system of morality could only make sense after a brush with mortality.

 He notes that most atheists like him believe that religion is not necessary for an ethical life. They lean toward science and reason when evaluating the veracity of anything, but they aren’t dogmatic about it.

Many atheists arrive at their beliefs through their temperament for clear thinking; they were not, as much propaganda would have one believe, led astray by a single person or book. Hitchens looks at a medieval woman who told her inquisitors that no one gave her “heretical” ideas; she thought about organized religion and judged it to be false. Hitchens posits that millions of people feel uneasy about religion because they sense that it is man-made. “Even the men who made it cannot agree on what their prophets or redeemers or gurus actually said or did,” Hitchens writes. Organized religion is often manipulated for political power. Hitchens argues that organized religion is rarely (if ever) content to leave unbelievers safe and alone with their own belief systems.

Historically, organized religion has not been about accepting others, but imposing one’s ideas on others. Consequently, religion then is a threat to humanity. It “poisons everything” and, as the author explores in chapter two, “Religion Kills,” perpetuates amoral crimes.

Organized religion is often a force that silences other voices. Hitchens references the writer Salman Rushdie, who in 1988 published The Satanic Verses, was the victim of a Fatwa (legal ruling) issued by Iranian officials that called for his death; Rushdie had to go into hiding for more than a dozen years. In compelling detail, Hitchens looks at 9/11 and considers how the Twin Towers were destroyed by sincere believers in their faith; the mega-church evangelical pastors in the U.S. who led some funeral services believe in the same exact things as the hijackers: there’s an eternal paradise; forceful conclusions can be made with zero evidence; the problems of the world can be solely blamed on specific groups.

Hitchens looks at how the dietary and health restrictions imposed by religions throughout the world are actually detrimental to individuals. He looks at Muslim extremists in Northern Nigeria who spread the rumor that the smallpox vaccine was a ploy by the United Nations to overthrow the land. Villagers refused the vaccine. So an area once free of smallpox then saw the return of the deadly disease.

The author posits that many religions offer an image of the afterlife that is patently false. With so many people believing that their actions on this earth don’t matter, millions (if not billions) lead lackluster lives or are so fearful of a fictional, future hell that they refuse to indulge in any pleasure.

Hitchens reviews world-wide accounts of how the world was created. He argues that these stories once served a comforting and useful purpose before the scientific method, but since then, they do more harm than good by encouraging people to establish their lives on myths.

Hitchens argues that the “new” Testament in the Bible is more harmful than the “old” Testament. This is because the New Testament has without a doubt been changed by many men through the ages; despite contemporary claims to the contrary, there is no evidence or eyewitnesses to the events in the New Testament.

Discussing the Koran (Quran), Hitchens considers how the tradition has more of an oral rather than a written tradition, and how it combined various myths from Judaism and Christianity to arrive at a new hybrid. Hitchens notes that the Koran likely started with an Aramaic language, yet adamant Muslims today would be outraged by the suggestion that the Koran was delivered in Aramaic rather than Arabic. This is another example of religion and “faith” prohibiting the free, scholarly explorations of religious foundations.

Organized religion rarely shows an understanding of humanity. Rather than teaching how to embrace and manage one’s sexual impulses, it induces guilt. Hitchens concludes that religion no longer serves any purpose; in fact, nowadays, it only constrains human knowledge. Hitchens proposes a new sort of renaissance that focuses on the study of humanity. To “transcend our prehistory” will require much effort, especially when faced against religious zealots who encourage servile attitudes and feelings of self-hatred.