The case against God

29.06.07, Houston Chronicle (US). There is no question that Christopher Hitchens is very smart, very well-read, very outspoken and, more often than necessary, very obnoxious. All this is fine if you enjoy hearing him defend the Iraq war, but perhaps less so when he mounts a caustic attack on organized religion, as he does in his best-selling new book. A formidable debater, Hitchens recently appeared on Fox News ' Hannity and Colmes, managing the difficult trick of offending the liberal Colmes and reducing the conservative Hannity to stuttering incoherence. Hitchens seldom fails to deliver an impressive performance, and he does so in God Is Not Great, where the arguments are brilliant and the language marvelously crafted. If one is disposed to his point of view, it 's a terrific read. Certainly it 's the best of the recent assaults on organized religion from Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel C. Dennett.