Selective atheist critique of religion can covertly serve US empire

Evidence

Christopher Hitchens, once a regular columnist for the Nation magazine, became in his later years an outspoken liberal Islamophobe. In his book God Is Not Great, he took aim at all religions, arguing that religion “poisons everything” and was responsible for creating tyrannical regimes both in ancient and modern times. His criticisms, however, were selective: he indicted Saddam Hussein for using Islam for political gain but had nothing to say about the born-again George W. Bush and his recourse to religion to justify his policy objectives. Hitchens went on to blame Islam for the horrible state of Iraq after the US-led invasion and occupation. In the final analysis, despite his equal-opportunity critique of the world’s major religions, his book serves to prop up US foreign policy and erase the millions killed by US wars and sanctions. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 710

Categorization

• XREF: Corroborates and sharpens the vault’s claim that Islamophobia functions as imperial policy; the ‘new atheist’ variant is an under-documented vector parallel to Rana’s analysis. — connects to: Hitchens’ selective atheist critique of religion legitimated US war policies; New atheist critiques of religion selectively excused US imperial violence; New atheist critiques of religion functioned as liberal cover for imperial war policy — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 722

Broader Connections

• New atheist critiques of religion selectively excused US imperial violence #corroborates (0.95)
• New atheist critiques of religion functioned as liberal cover for imperial war policy #corroborates (0.92) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 722