If it was a belief in astrology, say, which is based on the same mentality as religion, that the heavens were arranged with you in mind, I wouldn’t care. If someone believes that the most important thing about them is that they’re a Capricorn, that can’t do me any harm. As Thomas Jefferson says, that neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. He didn’t care if there were one god or a hundred gods. But, he was wrong in saying that that was true of all religions. Because the people who do believe think they have the right to tell me what to do — with threats behind it. And that I won’t have. I refuse to be talked to in that tone of voice.
Christopher Hitchens, from his 2007 Powells.com interview
60 Notes