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Title: Hitchens Book Debunking The Deity Is Surprise Hit
Source:
Wall Street Journal
URL Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118 ... html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
Published: Jun 24, 2007
Author: JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG
Post Date: 2007-06-24 00:56:25 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 309
Comments: 20
Hitchens Book Debunking The Deity Is Surprise Hit Summer beach-reading season is just beginning, and already several books have broken out from the pack, such as Walter Isaacson's biography of Albert Einstein, and Conn and Hal Iggulden's "The Dangerous Book for Boys." But the biggest surprise is a blazing attack on God and religion that is flying off bookshelves, even in the Bible Belt. "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," by Christopher Hitchens, wasn't expected to be a blockbuster. Its publisher, Twelve, a fledgling imprint owned by France's Lagardère SCA, initially printed a modest 40,000 copies. Today, seven weeks after the book went on sale, there are 296,000 copies in print. Demand has been so strong that booksellers and wholesalers were unable to get copies a short time after it hit stores, creating what the publishing industry calls a "dark week." One experienced publishing veteran suggests that Mr. Hitchens will likely earn more than $1 million on this book. A spin-off is already in the works. Rival publisher Da Capo Press, which is owned by Perseus Books LLC, got in touch with Mr. Hitchens and signed him up to edit, "The Portable Atheist," a compilation of essays by such writers as Mark Twain and Charles Darwin that will be published in the fall. "This is atheism's moment," says David Steinberger, Perseus's CEO. "Mr. Hitchens has written the category killer, and we're excited about having the next book." Mr. Hitchens, 58 years old, is well-known in media and political circles as an erudite raconteur and essayist; his Vanity Fair columns and frequent TV appearances on political shows have raised his profile. More recently, his loud support for the Iraq war has infuriated many of his former compatriots. His unabashed affection for alcohol and tobacco has been widely chronicled -- sometimes by himself. "I smoke, sure, and I can take a drink when offered," he says. "It's impolite to decline." Now he has turned his caustic gaze on God and organized religion. "A heavenly dictatorship would be like living in a celestial North Korea, except it would be worse because they could read your thoughts even when you were asleep," said Mr. Hitchens in an interview. "At least when you die you get out of North Korea, which is the most religious state I've ever seen." Born in Portsmouth, England, Mr. Hitchens now lives in Washington D.C. and in April, became U.S. citizen. His publisher describes his politics as eclectic. He has written 10 books ranging from "Why Orwell Matters" to "Thomas Jefferson: Author of America." He has also written four collections of essays; four short books, including "The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favorite Fetish" and "The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice," and collaborated on four additional titles. He expounds at great length about Cypriot politics and Marxism and English literature and world history. Still, his writings are often meandering and complex, full of British indirectness. Part of what is driving the sales of "God is Not Great" falls under the concept of know thine enemy. Conservative-minded customers have been snapping up the book because they want to be familiar with its message, says Vivien Jennings, owner of Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kan. "There is a very strong presence of the religious right, and they want to know what's being said and figure out how to move against it." Some of the same forces were at work last fall when Bertelsmann AG's Alfred Knopf had a surprise hit with Sam Harris's "Letter to a Christian Nation," which questioned whether the Bible is the work of God, and Houghton Mifflin Co., a unit of Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group PLC, successfully published "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. Today there are 500,000 hardcover copies of Mr. Dawkins's book in print, and 185,000 hardcover copies of Mr. Harris's book in print. Mr. Hitchens makes a passionate case against organized religion as well as theocratic, fundamentalist states. He writes that "religion is not unlike racism." "Literature is a better source of ethics and a better source of reflection than our holy texts," he says. "People should read George Eliot, Dostoyevsky and Proust for moral leadership." "I'm weary of people cramming religion at me," agrees Duane Kelly, a self-described liberal and retired teacher who lives in Independence, Mo. He says he is reading the book and finds it interesting. "Maybe others feel the same way, and the success of this book is a backlash," he says. Booksellers say Mr. Hitchens has helped his own cause by staging colorful confrontations with religious figures and by making incendiary statements about the late Jerry Falwell. On "Anderson Cooper 360," Mr. Hitchens was asked if he thought Mr. Falwell would go to heaven. His response: "No. And I think it's a pity there isn't a hell for him to go to." Says Barbara Meade, a co-owner of the Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.: "Part of the appeal is that he's a personality; we sold 106 books when he visited our store." When Mr. Hitchens debated Al Sharpton at the New York Public Library recently, the event made national news after the Rev. Sharpton attacked Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith. An estimated 1,000 turned out in Miami to listen to Mr. Hitchens challenge a panel that included an Orthodox Jew and a Buddhist nun. "I now wish I hadn't participated," says Nathan Katz, a professor of religious studies at Florida International University. "He was utterly abusive. It had the intellectual level of the Jerry Springer Show." Mr. Hitchens says he purposely focused his tour on what he describes as "the states of the Old Confederacy," in part because he says that people in the South are more generous-spirited and less religious than generally thought. He also knew that religion was of particular interest. "Everywhere we had to turn hundreds away," he says. "I wouldn't say that I won or lost those the debates, but the audience was much more on my side than people predicted." Some of those who disagree with Mr. Hitchens say it's important to refute him publicly. "We don't accept his arguments. To say religion poisons everything is Christopher at his hyperbolic best," says Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington think tank. Mr. Cromartie, who calls Mr. Hitchens "a friend," will moderate a debate at Georgetown University in October between him and Alister McGrath, a professor of historical theology. Mr. Hitchens says he has received surprisingly little hate mail since his book was published. What does he think readers have learned from "God is Not Great?" "That your life is probably better led after you've outgrown the idea that the universe has a plan for you," he says. "The cosmos isn't designed with you in mind. You might as well just consult an astrological chart." Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
Poster Comment: Hells bells, Hitchens has been a US citizen for 2 months.
June 22, 2007; Page B1![[Christopher Hitchens]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/HC-GK220_Hitche_20070621181006.gif)
![[chart]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AK548_HITCHE_20070621210036.gif)
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#1. To: robin (#0)
First the Religious right destroys the conservative movement. Then, just for laughs, they destroy religion for the vast majority of Americans. I used to see then as dangerous, but I guess they are only dangerous if they are on your side.
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Tell me about it. It's beyond embarrassing to have ever been associated with such followers of Christ. And as I was relating to someone here the other day, my sister, who listens to the pro-Israeli Dennis Prager, is disgusted with her liberal Jewish coworkers who "trash Israel". It appears there is plenty of embarrassment to go around.
Hitchens is a drunken slob. I don't believe in Apollo, but I don't hate him. Hitchens doesn't believe in God, but hates him. He's got a problem, and it's a big one. He hates something that doesn't exist. He is one of those whackjobs who takes it as a personal affront that someone, somewhere, believes in something transcendent. Sure am glad I'm not him.
Freeper motto: I read, but do not understand, I write, but make no sense, I think, but nothing happens.
An iconoclast. How can someone despise Mother Teresa? The same someones who war monger and approve of torture?
My first observation is all the reviewers and commentators are Jewish!! Try expounding the REAL GOD did not stick his finger up the Jewish whatever to create the Supreme Race , publish it and listen toi the anti-Semite wails. Whether you are a Christian or not, a fundamentalist Christian or not, even know a Christian or not, you must admit the Jewish media, that is all media , is hell-bent on destroying Christianity by whatever means possible. This is as per the specific instructions from the Trotsky-ite 100% Jew Frankfurt School, 1935-Present. " Will this serve to destroy once and for all the despised West which keeps us from our status as Ubermenschen ? "
Another poofter "Log Cabin" RepuliKan
"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him." -- Gauttama Sakyamuni - The Buddha
Most of the war mongering Evangelicals don't need any help. The so called Christian Bush/Cheney/Rumsfelds of this world are doing a pretty good job too.
The so called Christian Bush/Cheney/Rumsfelds of this world are doing a pretty good job too. robin, Rumsfeld-Bush-Chertoff-Cheney-Wolfowitz, the whole Bush Cabal is Jew owned, operated, staffed and run !!! You still don't get it! The fundies....only the fundies....are the Zionists staunchest allies.... they have this muslim like fantasy that as soon as they can provoke the ME to nuke the world, the sooner they can all rise out of their graves and claim the universe... or whatever the hell thier flavor of 72 virgins and flying horses is... this suits the Ziuonists to a Tee....war war war war war....knock off my enemies one at a time.... I profit, or they are annihilated piecemeal or all at once depending on their response. Read Lilienthal please.
I get it. My point is that even if MSM reported accurately, my Baptists would still look positively revolting. Dobson & Falwell spent all their time blasting cartoons as being homosexual and not one minute on the atrocities in Iraq.
That is the Rapture doctrine.... total BS in my personal view... but a myth the Zionists latch onto and use to push the mostly ignorant fundies to their nefarious agenda. I love visiting a little white Baptist Church in the countryside. There are no finer people. But deeper, e.g. the rapture nonsense and its natural accommodation of warfare and manipulation by the Totalitarian Theocracy of Zion, is why I could never be a Baptist.
I disagree. I think victimhood is the best way to rally the goobers. Hence, they get a daily dose of he "War on Christmas" or the "War on Christianity" from Hannity, O'Reilly and the cast of AM Radio goob foolers. They get their victimhood along with the message that only the GOP can save the goobers from the boogeymen the GOP controlled media cooks up.
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But deeper, e.g. the rapture nonsense and its natural accommodation of warfare and manipulation by the Totalitarian Theocracy of Zion, is why I could never be a Baptist. They are completely snowed. I have two Scofield Reference Bibles myself, with several ancestors who founded Baptist churches, beginning in 1787 in VA, TN, KY and later in MO and CA. I know how they think, sing, talk, eat and believe. I've posted a couple articles about how Christians in Iraq and Lebanon are murdered by invading forces, but there is barely a peep from the Vatican, certainly not from the Evangelicals. I'm fed up with 'em. The silence on all things evil about the Bush administration and friends is deafening. The hypocrisy mounts daily. I've washed my hands of them. My husband is Catholic, but since the priest/pedophile scandal he has not been to Church. His sisters harass him about it but he has not yet forgiven his Church. He's also greatly perturbed by the lack of any real concern from the Vatican about the Iraqi people who continue to suffer. Words and prayers are just a starting place, but the Christian resistance never goes any further. I have met some Quakers who organize and attend protests. They also have prayer groups that meet specifically about the war. Now they interest me. "...by their fruits..."
Good premise....it is simply wrong. One must have access inside the schools to see what is reality. BTW....the goobers are the ones who will be tossed as cannon fodder first....as they are now being used !! Shakespears's plays centering on Julius Caesar and later the Merchant of Venice are the best way to actually perceive the "Eastern Thoughts" ....unfamiliar to you and me. It is important to differentiate the easetern versus the western thoughts and Shakespeare does this magnificently...particularly in Antony and Cleopatra.
1612 I understand you.
A woman goes to a psychologist and tells him, "Doctor, I've got this problem, and I don't understand it. I really like to be sodomized." The psychologist shrugs and says, "How do you think lawyers get born?" Ummm. Seemed fitting, what with all of the Khazars in the leagal profession....
The Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Every hundred years, We, the Sages of Israel, have been accustomed to meet in Sanhedrin in order to examine our progress towards the domination of the world which Jehovah has promised us, and our conquests over the enemy CHRISTIANITY. N.H. Bialik, in an address delivered at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, May 11, 1933, which appeared in Lines of Communication, Palestine, July, 1933 "Christianity, therefore is unhistoric and unmoral." (A Program for the Jews and Humanity, Harry Waton, p. 121). Not only persecution of Jews but any critical mention of Jewish power in the media and politics is roundly condemned as 'anti-Semitism.' But there isn't even a term of opprobrium for participation in the mass murders of Christians. Liberals still don't censure the Communist attempt to extirpate Christianity from Soviet Russia and its empire, and for good reason, liberals themselves, particularly Jewish liberals, are still trying to uproot Christianity from America. It's permissible to discuss the power of every other group, from the Black Muslims to the Christian Right, but the much greater power of the Jewish establishment is off-limits. That, in fact, is the chief measure of its power: its ability to impose its own taboos while tearing down the taboos of others, you might almost say its prerogative of offending. You can read articles in Jewish-controlled publications from the Times to Commentary blaming Christianity for the Holocaust or accusing Pope Pius XII of indifference to it, but don't look for articles in any major publication that wants to stay in business examining the Jewish role in Communism and liberalism, however temperately." (The Jewish Establishment, Joseph Sobran, September 1995 issue). "The Communists are against religion (Christianity), and they seek to destroy religion; yet, when we look deeper into the nature of Communism, we see that it is essential nothing else than a religion (Judaism)." (A Program for the Jews and Humanity, Harry Waton, p. 138).
The Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
but the much greater power of the Jewish establishment is off-limits. That, in fact, is the chief measure of its power: its ability to impose its own taboos while tearing down the taboos of others, you might almost say its prerogative of offending. Richard... I hope you have these cataloged !
Oh, yes, and hundreds more...
The Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Jews=Psychology=Communism=Mass Murder
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
#2. To: ... (#1)
I used to see then as dangerous, but I guess they are only dangerous if they are on your side.
Ron Paul for President
#3. To: robin (#0)
#4. To: YertleTurtle (#3)
Ron Paul for President
#5. To: robin, richard9151, Jethro Tull, IndieTx, wududiz, Red Jones, ... (#2)
#6. To: robin (#4)
#7. To: JCHarris (#5)
hell-bent on destroying Christianity by whatever means possible
Ron Paul for President
#8. To: robin (#7)
Most of the war mongering Evangelicals don't need any help.
#9. To: JCHarris (#8)
Ron Paul for President
#10. To: robin (#9)
Dobson & Falwell spent all their time blasting cartoons as being homosexual and not one minute on the atrocities in Iraq.
#11. To: JCHarris (#5)
you must admit the Jewish media, that is all media , is hell-bent on destroying Christianity by whatever means possible.
#12. To: JCHarris (#10)
I love visiting a little white Baptist Church in the countryside. There are no finer people.
And the Presbyterians have an organized boycott of Israeli products, and any product used to bulldoze/destroy Palestine; good for them. They interest me too. And I have Quakers and Presbyterians in my family tree as well, pretty far back.
The first Baptist churches were formed from just such groups, a sort of frontier compromise. Too bad they embraced Darbyism (rapture). The brainwashing is very thorough, I still believe it at some level as a possible end times scenario. One of several possibilities, I'm not totally whacked.
Ron Paul for President
#13. To: robin (#9)
Dobson & Falwell spent all their time blasting cartoons as being homosexual and not one minute on the atrocities in Iraq.
Remember...G-d saved more animals than people on the ark. www.siameserescue.org
#14. To: ... (#11)
I disagree. I think victimhood is the best way to rally the goobers
#15. To: robin (#12)
beginning in 1787 in VA
#16. To: JCHarris (#5)
My first observation is all the reviewers and commentators are Jewish!! Try expounding the REAL GOD did not stick his finger up the Jewish whatever to create the Supreme Race , publish it and listen toi the anti-Semite wails.
#17. To: JCHarris (#5)
you must admit the Jewish media, that is all media , is hell-bent on destroying Christianity by whatever means possible.
#18. To: richard9151, all, wudidiz, Wbales, christine (#17)
It's permissible to discuss the power of every other group, from the Black Muslims to the Christian Right,
#19. To: JCHarris (#18)
I hope you have these cataloged !
#20. To: JCHarris (#5)
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