Letters to a Young Contrarian: Chapters 8 and 9

                      Throughout this book, Christopher Hitchens switches gears from chapter to chapter and discusses different subtopics under the umbrella of being a dissenter.  In these two chapters, he begins to discuss religion, a very touchy subject for most of society.  As I would have expected, he does not believe in religion, he would not even call himself an atheist.  I would not label myself as a very religious person, but my beliefs do lie with the Catholic Church.  That being said, the author made some points that did cause me to think into religion further than I already do.  For example, he describes the idea of an all-powerful, all-seeing God as "a permanent surveillance and monitoring."  Upon reading this, I couldn't help but to think of how true it was.  People usually think of God as a being that is looking out for us, but no one ever reverses the view and sees him as someone who judges our every decision.  It reminds me a lot of the book 1984, and later in the chapter the author even states, "This is somewhat worse than a Big Brother state, because there could be no hope of its eventually passing away."  I have never before thought of religion in this way, and that is not to say that now I do.  I definitely view it in a more positive light, yet these statements gave me a lot to think about, and that is what good writing does.