atheists: what made christopher hitchens hate religion while his brother praises it?

His brother is a Christian? Didn't know that. That's pretty cool

Christopher Hitchens Brother

The only way primitive religion exists today is through the child abuse of forcing it into very, very young children but thanks to better education and growing intellects so many teens are able to discover the truth, throw off the indoctrination and step into the real world!

Freedom of thought is enshrined in human rights, constitutions and all developed countries attitudes!

The funny thing about the two brothers is that whilst Christopher tried to get people to think and debate about religion his brother in vociferously pushing religion at people actually drove many people out of it!

It is no surprise that he rarely speaks about it in his columns now! Could it be that the Church has asked him to stop driving people away?!

England's Archbishop of Canterbury has said that Christianity is now known for it's hatreds and not about god!

Christopher Hitchens wrote a book about this; Read it.

Obviously, Peter was the dumb brother. <shrug>

Humanity Is Becoming Increasingly Less Violent, with One Exception -- Religious Violence

Studies demonstrate the world is becoming less violent, and that human warfare is on the decline. There is one aspect of the human existence, however, that continues to ignite humans to commit violence and atrocities against fellow humans. A major new study published by the Pew Research Center shows that religious hostilities reached a 6-year high in 2012.

Dr. Steven Pinker, Pulitzer prize-winning author and Harvard psychology professor, writes, “Today we may be living in the most peaceful era in our species’ existence.” He acknowledges: “In a century that began with 9/11, Iraq, and Darfur, the claim that we are living in an unusually peaceful time may strike you as somewhere between hallucinatory and obscene.” Pinker points out, wars make headlines, but there are fewer conflicts today, and wars don’t kill as many people as they did in the Middle Ages, for instance. Also, global rates of violent crime have plummeted in the last few decades. Pinker notes that the reason for these advances are complex but certainly the rise of education, and a growing willingness to put ourselves in the shoes of others has played its part.

Religiosity, however, continues to play its part in promoting in-group out-group thinking, which casts the difference between people in terms of eternal rewards and punishments. Sam Harris, author of Letter to a Christian Nation, observes, “Faith inspires violence in two ways. First, people often kill other human beings because they believe the creator of the universe wants them to do it…Second, far greater numbers of people fall into conflict with one another because they define their moral community on the basis of their religious affiliation: Muslims side with Muslims, Protestants with Protestants, Catholics with Catholics.”

According to the Pew Research Center, a third (33%) of the 198 countries and territories included in the study had high religious hostilities in 2012, up from 29% in 2011 and 20% as of mid-2007. Notably, religious hostilities increased in every major region of the world except the Americas, with the most dramatic increases felt in areas still reeling from the effects of the 2010-11 political uprisings known as the Arab Spring.

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That proves that Christopher was right, and Peter is wrong.

Some start with a claim, and work out a conclusion.

Some start with a conclusion, and create claims to support it.

That is the difference between science and religion.

His brother is not such a fine thinker, in fact, he's kinda dumb.

I guess Christopher had a better education, without the influence if religion, or perhaps because of the influence of religion

Because one was born without complications (Christopher) and the other had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck during birth (Brother)

His brother was happy to abandon his requirement for evidence when god was the subject of belief, Hitch wasn't, simple as that.

I guess you never grew up in a family with brothers?