Christopher Hitchens
Essayist and debater, author of God Is Not Great, one of the Four Horsemen of the new atheism
14 videos analysed · 77 quotes checked word for word · updated 2026-10-22
Key facts
- He was born in Portsmouth in 1949, studied at Balliol College, Oxford, and became a US citizen in 2007. Wikipédia 2011 · Christopher Hitchens
- He wrote 18 books and died on 15 December 2011 of complications of esophageal cancer. Wikipédia 2011 · Christopher Hitchens
- God Is Not Great (1 May 2007) reached No. 1 on the New York Times list in its third week. Wikipédia 2007 · God Is Not Great
- Hitchens's razor: 'What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.' Wikipédia 2007 · Hitchens's razor
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe said he had no belief because theists have never given a convincing case. He also argued that a God who is indifferent to us is possible, which would make religion pointless. He called himself an antitheist. He called religion a "man-made false constellation" and said he did not wish such a God to exist, "a celestial North Korea". He thought agnosticism evasive: atheism is simply not believing.
- No one who wants you to worship a god has ever given a good enough reason to do it, and he has never seen persuasive evidence for one. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…
- He holds that a God who watches us waking and sleeping would be a master over slaves, a "celestial North Korea"; he would not want it to be true. Video · Christopher Hitchens vs. Frank…2
- Design arguments fail: the claim is unfalsifiable, and a first cause can be neither disproved nor shown, there is simply no evidence for it. Video · The God Debate: Hitchens vs.…
- Religions are man-made, the product of an imperfectly evolved primate species; that, he says, is why religion is a problem. Video · The God Debate: Hitchens vs.…
- Atheism offers the chance to live without illusion, and he finds agnosticism evasive. Video · Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi…2
Everything that begins has a cause, and the universe began, so a creator is needed. Fine-tuning points the same way.
He asks whether this creator had pre-existing material to work with, and who designed the designer. He adds that physicists are very uncertain about the origin of the universe, and that collapsing stars and galaxies do not look like fine tuning.
Atheism has no argument of its own: at best you are left with agnosticism.
He answers that atheism is not a system of belief but the observation that nobody has given a good enough reason to worship a god. He finds agnosticism evasive.
See 1 more objections
It is worth betting on God: if you are wrong to believe you lose little, and if you are right you win everything.
Asked about Pascal's wager in a Q&A, he compares it to a huckster's sales pitch.
Defends : Who designed the designer?, The problem of evil, Religion as man's projectionMixed : Religion, an illusion born of wishes, Every work demonstrates a workmanCriticizes : The fine-tuning of the universe: too perfect a coincidence?, The watch and the eye, The moral law points to a lawgiver, The wager
He said morality may be purely evolutionary and functional, rooted in emotional solidarity with other humans, and called 'objective' a good compromise word. In debates he added that ethics come from our innate solidarity and decency, and that we know right from wrong without a divine lawgiver.
- We know what is right without being told by a celestial dictatorship; our ethics come from our own innate solidarity and decency. Video · Christopher Hitchens on God,…2
- He says that if religion were discredited, our moral questions (where do morals and ethics come from, what are our duties to one another) would remain exactly the same, so no supernatural justification is needed. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…
- If morality came from Big Brother it would be degraded; he finds it morally superior to refuse the master-slave mentality. Video · Christopher Hitchens vs. Frank…
- There is no proof that Christianity makes people behave better; condemnation of murder and rape predates monotheism. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…2
Without God, moral values are only the product of social evolution: who are you to say that the Nazi ethic was wrong?
He says there is no proof that Christianity makes people behave better, and that we know right from wrong through our own solidarity and decency, without a divine dictator.
If morality is only made by humans, anyone can decide that something is right for him; goodness must be woven into the universe.
He answers that he does not want to be told that without religion we would not know morality, and cites a church school head who learned how to behave only when secular law forbade hitting children.
His rule, called Hitchens's razor: what is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. He said extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence. He said atheism is not a faith but a refusal of faith, and that all religions make the same mistake: they put faith above reason and evidence.
- A claim made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence; saying "I don't believe it, there is no evidence" is a refusal of faith, not another faith. Wikipédia 2007 · Hitchens's razor2
- All religions make the same mistake: they put faith above reason and evidence, and the sleep of reason brings forth monsters. Video · Hitchens vs Religion: the Texas…
- Religion is our first and worst attempt to understand the world; philosophy begins where it ends, as physics begins where cosmological myths end. Video · God Is a Delusion: a Christopher…
- Moral and intellectual satisfaction comes only to those willing to take the risk of thinking for themselves at all hazards. Video · Christopher Hitchens and Tariq…
Belief in God can be rational without proof: it is a properly basic belief, grounded in the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.
He says this is white noise to him: he has never seen persuasive evidence, and a claim made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Atheism is a faith too: it also rests on a belief nobody can prove.
He replies that atheism is not a faith but the refusal of faith as a method.
He rejected the idea that life has purpose only if a supernatural being gives it, and said that facing a "losing struggle" makes life more manageable.
- He calls it a non sequitur to say that without God life would have no purpose. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…
- Facing that we are born into a losing struggle makes things more manageable, and life keeps its joys: Hubble, music, literature, irony. Video · Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi…2
On atheism life is objectively meaningless: any purpose we choose is only a subjective illusion, since the universe will end in cold and darkness.
He calls it a non sequitur to say that without a supernatural being life would have no purpose, and says he finds the question's grammar hard to accept.
No sourced position yet on: Source of knowledge, Certainty, Mind and body, Freedom, Human nature.
On the big questions
Does God exist?Atheism
No belief in God, and a conviction that religion does harm.
- No one who wants you to worship a god has ever given a good enough reason to do it, and he has never seen persuasive evidence for one. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…
- He holds that a God who watches us waking and sleeping would be a master over slaves, a "celestial North Korea"; he would not want it to be true. Video · Christopher Hitchens vs. Frank…2
- Design arguments fail: the claim is unfalsifiable, and a first cause can be neither disproved nor shown, there is simply no evidence for it. Video · The God Debate: Hitchens vs.…
- Religions are man-made, the product of an imperfectly evolved primate species; that, he says, is why religion is a problem. Video · The God Debate: Hitchens vs.…
- Atheism offers the chance to live without illusion, and he finds agnosticism evasive. Video · Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi…2
Everything that begins has a cause, and the universe began, so a creator is needed. Fine-tuning points the same way.
He asks whether this creator had pre-existing material to work with, and who designed the designer. He adds that physicists are very uncertain about the origin of the universe, and that collapsing stars and galaxies do not look like fine tuning.
Atheism has no argument of its own: at best you are left with agnosticism.
He answers that atheism is not a system of belief but the observation that nobody has given a good enough reason to worship a god. He finds agnosticism evasive.
See 1 more objections
It is worth betting on God: if you are wrong to believe you lose little, and if you are right you win everything.
Asked about Pascal's wager in a Q&A, he compares it to a huckster's sales pitch.
Defends : Who designed the designer?, The problem of evil, Religion as man's projectionMixed : Religion, an illusion born of wishes, Every work demonstrates a workmanCriticizes : The fine-tuning of the universe: too perfect a coincidence?, The watch and the eye, The moral law points to a lawgiver, The wager
The question on the site: all the argumentsDoes life have a meaning?A meaning to create
Purpose does not need a supernatural giver.
- He calls it a non sequitur to say that without God life would have no purpose. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…
- Facing that we are born into a losing struggle makes things more manageable, and life keeps its joys: Hubble, music, literature, irony. Video · Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi…2
On atheism life is objectively meaningless: any purpose we choose is only a subjective illusion, since the universe will end in cold and darkness.
He calls it a non sequitur to say that without a supernatural being life would have no purpose, and says he finds the question's grammar hard to accept.
What makes something right?Nature or conscience
There is no way to derive morality from the supernatural; condemnation of murder and rape predates monotheism.
- We know what is right without being told by a celestial dictatorship; our ethics come from our own innate solidarity and decency. Video · Christopher Hitchens on God,…2
- He says that if religion were discredited, our moral questions (where do morals and ethics come from, what are our duties to one another) would remain exactly the same, so no supernatural justification is needed. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…
- If morality came from Big Brother it would be degraded; he finds it morally superior to refuse the master-slave mentality. Video · Christopher Hitchens vs. Frank…
- There is no proof that Christianity makes people behave better; condemnation of murder and rape predates monotheism. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…2
Without God, moral values are only the product of social evolution: who are you to say that the Nazi ethic was wrong?
He says there is no proof that Christianity makes people behave better, and that we know right from wrong through our own solidarity and decency, without a divine dictator.
If morality is only made by humans, anyone can decide that something is right for him; goodness must be woven into the universe.
He answers that he does not want to be told that without religion we would not know morality, and cites a church school head who learned how to behave only when secular law forbade hitting children.
Should we believe without proof?No belief without evidence
Not believing something because there is no evidence for it is not a faith-based statement but a refusal of faith as a method of reasoning.
- A claim made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence; saying "I don't believe it, there is no evidence" is a refusal of faith, not another faith. Wikipédia 2007 · Hitchens's razor2
- All religions make the same mistake: they put faith above reason and evidence, and the sleep of reason brings forth monsters. Video · Hitchens vs Religion: the Texas…
- Religion is our first and worst attempt to understand the world; philosophy begins where it ends, as physics begins where cosmological myths end. Video · God Is a Delusion: a Christopher…
- Moral and intellectual satisfaction comes only to those willing to take the risk of thinking for themselves at all hazards. Video · Christopher Hitchens and Tariq…
Belief in God can be rational without proof: it is a properly basic belief, grounded in the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.
He says this is white noise to him: he has never seen persuasive evidence, and a claim made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Atheism is a faith too: it also rests on a belief nobody can prove.
He replies that atheism is not a faith but the refusal of faith as a method.
Are humans good by nature?Both at once
He rejects original sin and the idea that we are born guilty: he says we have an innate sense of fairness and decency. But he also sees us as imperfectly evolved primates, greedy, fearful and prone to tribalism, and he doubts that humans can be perfected.
- Children and adults have an innate sense of fairness and decency; people did not need Sinai to learn that murder, theft and perjury are wrong, and no society has been found that does not condemn them. Video 2007 · Poison or Cure? Religious Belief…23
- Our violence has no mystery: we are primates imperfectly evolved, greedy, fearful and prone to tribalism, with small prefrontal lobes and big adrenaline glands. Video 2010 · Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi…
- Our baser side comes from evolution, not from a pact with the devil or from original sin. Video 2009 · Does God Exist? William Lane…
- Original sin in Adam, with its expiation by a human sacrifice, is for him the most wicked and immoral doctrine Christianity inherited. Video 2007 · Poison or Cure? Religious Belief…
- The root of the worst crimes is the idea that human beings can be perfected by force or by faith; he warns against any absolutism or supreme leader. Video 2010 · The God Debate: Hitchens vs.…
We are not born all sweetness and light: human nature is crooked, and religions try to straighten it; they fail again and again, but that does not make people worse.
He agrees that violence has no mystery, since we are imperfectly evolved primates, greedy, fearful and prone to tribalism, but answers that religion is a "terrific force multiplier" when people believe they have a mandate from Heaven.
The problem is not religion but human nature itself: every worldview can push people to violence.
He says secular tyrannies are surrogates for religious messianism, the belief in an ultimate history, so the problem still begins with replacing reason by faith.
In their words
What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
Extraordinary claims require truly extraordinary evidence.
Emancipate yourself from the idea of a celestial dictatorship and you've taken the first step to becoming free
religion is our first and worst attempt to find out what's going on
2 more quotes
I think the sleep of reason brings forth monsters
I'm an anti theist not an atheist
How the ideas evolved
Click a step for details2007God Is Not Great
His book against religion becomes an international bestseller and a National Book Award finalist. It states his razor.
2007The Four Horsemen
He hosts a long filmed conversation with Dawkins, Dennett and Harris at his home in Washington.
2007Interview and Q&A on God Is Not Great
Asked if atheists feel awe, he answers that the Hubble telescope, science, music, philosophy and literature offer plenty, and that great novels hold more morality than the holy scriptures.
In their words« there's much more morality and ethics in these books than there is in any of the holy scriptures »Says literature (Dostoevsky, Eliot, Shakespeare, Goethe) holds more morality than any scripture. watch
« just take a look through the Hubble telescope and see if you're not more impressed than by the burning bush »Answers that atheists do feel awe: science, music, philosophy and literature offer plenty. watch
« you don't need any supernatural justification for doing that »On the Good Samaritan: helping a person in distress needs no supernatural justification. watch
2009Debate with William Lane Craig
At Biola University he argues that design is unfalsifiable and that religion does not ground morality.
2009The Catholic Church debate
With Stephen Fry he argues against the motion that the Catholic Church is a force for good. The audience votes strongly against it.
2010Facing cancer
Ill with cancer, he writes about his illness in Vanity Fair. He asks believers not to pray for him on a day of prayer, and says he will not convert while lucid.
2010Debate with Tony Blair
In Toronto he argues that religion is not a force for good. After the vote, 68 percent of the audience agree with him.
The arguments 10
The site's arguments they defend or criticize, and why. Click a title to see the full argument.
In the Craig debate he asks what existed before the cause and who designed the designer.
He describes a designer who lets suffering go on for ages as cruel, capricious and incompetent.
He says religions are products of an imperfectly evolved primate species.
He agrees religion is wish thinking: few people mind seeing themselves as the object of a divine plan. He grants D'Souza some criticism of Freud.
He cites Popper: unfalsifiability in a theory is a test not of its strength but of its weakness.
He grants that a designer may look logical, but says it is a huge step to claim the designer cares what you eat or who you go to bed with.
He asks whether the universe is finely tuned at all, and how the future end of the solar system fits a design.
In his opening speech he says we are not designed but evolved.
He says there is no way of deriving morality and ethics from the supernatural. In debates: "we know what the right thing is without being told by a celestial dictatorship".
He compares a preacher pitching belief on those terms to a huckster trying to pull you into his parking lot.
Allies and opponents
Richard DawkinsClose
Fellow member of the Four Horsemen.
Daniel DennettClose
Fellow member of the Four Horsemen.
Sam HarrisClose
Fellow member of the Four Horsemen.
Stephen FryClose
Debate partner in 2009. Fry called him his dear friend.
William Lane CraigDisagrees
Debated him in 2009 on whether God exists.
AAnn WiddecombeDisagrees
Opposed him and Stephen Fry in the 2009 Intelligence Squared debate on the Catholic Church.
DDavid Bentley HartDisagrees
Reviewed God Is Not Great harshly in First Things.
Frank TurekDisagrees
Debated him on whether God exists.
DDinesh D'SouzaDisagrees
Debated him on God and Christianity; Hitchens said atheism is a refusal of faith, not a faith.
RRabbi David WolpeDisagrees
Debated him on God, with Hitchens arguing that theism is incompatible with a scientific view.
AAlister McGrathDisagrees
Shared a stage with him on whether religious belief is poison or cure.
TTariq RamadanDisagrees
Debated him on whether Islam is a religion of peace.
Debates and big conversations
Signature ideas
The celestial dictatorship
He called himself an antitheist: a God who supervises us waking and sleeping would be a master over slaves, a "celestial North Korea", so he did not wish it true.
Religion, our first and worst attempt
Religion is humanity's first and worst attempt to understand the world: philosophy begins where it ends, as physics begins where cosmological myths end.
Closest and furthest
how it is computedAmong the philosophers
Among today's voices
Take the Compass: 5 minutes to find out which philosophers you are closest to.
All sources (58)
- Does God Exist? The Craig-Hitchens debate (transcript) Reasonable Faith · 2009
- Christopher Hitchens: a life in quotes Al Jazeera · 2011 *
- Hitchens's razor Wikipedia (quoting God Is Not Great) · 2007
- Christopher Hitchens Wikipedia · 2011
- Christopher Hitchens (author page, God Is Not Great) Penguin Random House · 2007 *
- New Atheism Wikipedia · 2007 *
- The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world Intelligence Squared · 2009 *
- Hitchens: Don't trouble deaf heaven with prayers for me Christian Post (on his Vanity Fair column) · 2010 *
- Reports: Blair-Hitchens debate Why Evolution Is True · 2010 *
- Celebrities pay tribute to lost loved ones ahead of nationwide memorial toast The Scotsman · 2022 *
- Stephen Fry Wikipedia · 2009
- God Is Not Great Wikipedia · 2007
- The God Debate: Hitchens vs. D'Souza (at 12:36) YouTube (republication)
- The God Debate: Hitchens vs. D'Souza (at 39:11) YouTube (republication)
- The God Debate: Hitchens vs. D'Souza (at 96:53) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens vs. Frank Turek: Does God Exist? (at 49:56) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens vs. Frank Turek: Does God Exist? (at 107:33) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens on God, Religion and Atheism in Seattle (at 0:00) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens on God, Religion and Atheism in Seattle (at 55:07) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi David Wolpe: The Great God Debate (at 4:49) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi David Wolpe: The Great God Debate (at 48:29) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi David Wolpe: The Great God Debate (at 85:45) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ramadan Debate: Is Islam a Religion of Peace? (at 17:15) YouTube (republication)
- Poison or Cure? Religious Belief in the Modern World (Hitchens and Alister McGrath) (at 6:35) YouTube (republication)
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 79:16) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 107:31) YouTube · 2009
- Christopher Hitchens interview and Q&A on God Is Not Great (at 17:15) YouTube · 2007
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 51:25) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 53:57) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 61:01) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 96:07) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 125:45) YouTube · 2009
- The God Debate: Hitchens vs. D'Souza (at 13:20) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens on God, Religion and Atheism in Seattle (at 1:47) YouTube (republication)
- The God Debate: Hitchens vs. D'Souza (at 101:10) YouTube (republication)
- Hitchens vs Religion: the Texas crowd (at 5:41) YouTube (republication)
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 85:20) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 124:22) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 81:57) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 20:10) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 62:18) YouTube · 2009
- Christopher Hitchens on God, Religion and Atheism in Seattle (at 65:40) YouTube (republication)
- God Is a Delusion: a Christopher Hitchens speech (at 37:04) YouTube (republication)
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 76:40) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 122:43) YouTube · 2009
- Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi David Wolpe: The Great God Debate (at 84:58) YouTube (republication)
- The God Debate: Hitchens vs. D'Souza (at 41:01) YouTube (republication)
- Hitchens vs Religion: the Texas crowd (at 12:50) YouTube (republication)
- Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi David Wolpe: The Great God Debate (at 54:00) YouTube · 2010
- Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi David Wolpe: The Great God Debate (at 53:16) YouTube · 2010
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 107:29) YouTube · 2009
- Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens (full debate) (at 76:20) YouTube · 2009
- Poison or Cure? Religious Belief in the Modern World (Hitchens and Alister McGrath, Georgetown, 2007) (at 15:22) YouTube · 2007
- Poison or Cure? Religious Belief in the Modern World (Hitchens and Alister McGrath, Georgetown, 2007) (at 32:42) YouTube · 2007
- Poison or Cure? Religious Belief in the Modern World (Hitchens and Alister McGrath, Georgetown, 2007) (at 53:21) YouTube · 2007
- Poison or Cure? Religious Belief in the Modern World (Hitchens and Alister McGrath, Georgetown, 2007) (at 87:25) YouTube · 2007
- Christopher Hitchens interview and Q&A on God Is Not Great (KQED Forum) (at 41:44) YouTube · 2007
- The God Debate: Hitchens vs. D'Souza (Notre Dame) (at 79:06) YouTube · 2010