I find HItchens' rant as distasteful as those from other fundamentalists. Yes, Islam is a neurotic, aggressive, and evangelical philosophy, but no worse than Christianity or Judaism. Examples may be found in the Bible of atrocities equal to any in the Quaran or Hadith. The last 1000 years have shown Islam to be far less intolerant and violent than Christianity, and at the same time less hypocritical.

No offense to Hitch but I am much more in the Yuval Harari camp when it comes to religion now. It's just another fiction humans identify under to make a group. To that end it has a useful purpose, but is also prone to abuses. I am still a bit of an antitheist but I do generally agree with the Dalai Lama that the major religions have performed a useful function even if problems also arise. I'd suggest evolving a little past Hitch and read Harari's "Sapiens" and John Haidt's "The Righteous Mind".