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As a professor with a doctorate and two master's degrees in separate fields of study, I don't see how any person can credibly be considered well-educated and intellectual if they simplify so greatly such an important and diversified subject as religion. I agree with Jason Cowley who, in the Financial Times, said this: "[Hitchens'] will be remembered more for his prodigious output and for his swaggering, rhetorical style."
Although I believe that most thinkers of this world (including often myself) can be befuddled by the complex and nuanced realities in which we all exist, and although I believe that the simplification of subjects can lead to fruitful and deeper understandings of their essences, I also believe that Mr. Hitchens offered little to the debate over the negative or positive qualities of religion. Having studied his book God Is Not Great I feel confident in saying that Hitchens’ arguments concerning religion did help foster debate and controversy; however I believe that a more nuanced treatment of any subject as complex as monotheism is the only productive avenue for their discussion.