Take that, God
Book-subjects seem to have runs of popularity, and recently we've seen two eminent writers tilting at God, or the belief therein. Last winter there was "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon," by Tufts philosopher Daniel C. Dennett. Last month there was "The God Delusion," a more overt shot at the idea of God, by British biologist Richard Dawkins.
What sounds like possibly the most full-throated rejection of religon in recent times, "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," is due next May from freelance journalist Christopher Hitchens. Everything? Really?
We're told by the spring catalog copy of Twelve, the new imprint of former Random House editor-in-chief Jonathan Karp at Warner Books, a division of Hachette, that the author will take what is obviously a completely original tack: "Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason."
This is a subject that can't fail to attract interest from reviewers. Dennett was pummeled by Leon Wieseltier in the New York Times Book Review (and gave it back in full measure, in a letter), while Dawkins gets it in the neck -- "Hysterical Scientism" -- from Marilynne Robinson in the current Harper's magazine. Hitchens has a way of going after sacred cows, such as Mother Teresa ("The Missionary Position"), and here he decides to aim for the top. He's sure to get a reviewer worthy of his stature. Maybe it will be an entirely positive review, but we suspect Hitchens would find that somehow disappointing.
Perhaps Pope Benedict XV, not shy of controversy, will have a go.
