Excerpt of "Against Religion" by Lovecraft, Joshi, and Hitchens Now Online

An excerpt from the new S.T. Joshi edited collection Against Religion has been graciously posted on the Unreasonable Faith blog. The book is a compendium of H.P. Lovecraft's writings on God, religion, and atheism. Lovecraft, as anyone with a little knowledge of his life knows, was a staunch materialist and an atheist. These beliefs were the foundations of the indifferent Cosmicism lurking behind every monstrous entity and mysterious plot in his fiction.

The excerpts posted at Unreasonable Faith are mostly drawn from his voluminous correspondence. As is the case with other Lovecraft letters, one finds a mixture of wit, intellect, and prejudice. To look at Against Religion as a collection of anti-religious screeds isn't fair, though some may see it this way based on its controversial focus, and the fact that two bullish atheists--Joshi and Christopher Hitchens--helped assemble it. As even these excerpts show, Lovecraft's atheism is intricately linked to his views about everything else--society, politics, science, and art. Consider the new book more than a narrow spotlight on one aspect of HPL, as its beam cuts wide enough to help illuminate the entire Lovecraftian zeitgeist. This can only positively contribute to an understanding of Lovecraft, whatever one's spiritual or philosophical inclinations.

-Grim Blogger