Christopher Hitchens is a great writer. He's brilliant, funny, scholarly, and articulate. I've enjoyed every book of his I've read - including "God is not Great" - but I have to disagree with him on this: religion does not poison everything, no more than science poisons everything. Religion has poisoned a lot for sure, but not everything. I speak from experience.

There was a time in my life that I whole-heartedly agreed with that premise - but my years of volunteering with the Schizophrenia Society of Edmonton has opened my mind. Anyone who spends anytime volunteering in their community will know... many of those who work in the volunteer sector are religious. In fact a recent survey found that people active in their faith's are more likely to be volunteers. Over 41% of Canadians who are active in their various faiths volunteer on a weekly basis as opposed to about 23% of those who are not religious. Now, age may be a factor here - since older people tend to volunteer more than younger people, and there is almost certainly a positive correlation between age and religious fervency - nevertheless, I like to call a spade a spade.

Although I totally disregard any supernatural malarkey that goes with most religions - I need to acknowledge the positive social side of religion. Most rational religious people side step any discussions of the supernatural - they prefer to keep that private - if they are truly rational the reasons for this are obvious. But one cannot deny the positive force religion has in motivating people to get off their duffs and start thinking about the state of the world and their role in it.

Hitchens gets many things right in "God is not Great" - his best point is the fact that many rational religious people act as de facto apologists for fundamentalists when they don't speak out against creationist bullshit or theocratic regimes for fear of "disrespecting" the faithful. Never mind the fact that they're nuts; they have faith, and faith is a virtue right? Well... that is a failing. But I can't help noticing every time I do my volunteering that I'm surrounded mostly by religious people - of all faiths, not just Christians, but my fellow atheists are few and far between.