Christopher Hitchens asks the question: “Does Religion Make People Behave Better?” I would agree with Hitchens with regard to a negative answer. In fact I would say that religion does not make people do anything. The subtitle of the book “How Religion Poisons Everything” would suggest that Hitchens believes in general religion makes people behave worse. I would believe that too is false.

Can Hitchens find examples of religious people who have had moral failings or who were down right bad? With the huge amount of religious people in the world, I would be surprised if he couldn’t find any. I do not want to dismiss the horrors described in this chapter, especially the genocide in Rwanda. The role some clergy played sickens me. But these examples do not disprove the suggestion that religion can have a positive effect. To do that, Hitchens would have had to look for positive reasons and fail. The truth is that there are many examples of people who have turned to God and have become better people, better spouses, better parents and so on. On the contrary, I have yet to meet a formerly religious person who was rotten but after turning to atheism became a shining moral beacon. It is also interesting to look at the number of religious charities out there that make a difference around the world. Should we discount these organizations because Hitchens can point to some religious people who are nasty? No, religion does not make people behave better. But from my experience, at least Christian faith can have a significant positive change on people’s lives.