Arthur Machen
Around 1890 Machen began to publish in literary magazines, writing stories influenced by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, some of which used gothic or fantastic themes. This led to his first major success, "The Great God Pan". It was published in 1894 by John Lane in the noted Keynotes Series, which was part of the growing aesthetic movement of the time. Machen's story was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and consequently sold well, going into a second edition.
Christopher Hitchens
In his bestseller "God Is Not Great", Hitchens expanded his criticism to include all religions, including those rarely criticised by Western secularists, such as Buddhism and neo-paganism.
Hitchens said that organised religion is "the main source of hatred in the world", calling it "[v]iolent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children: [it] ought to have a great deal on its conscience". Hitchens therefore says in "God Is Not Great" that humanity is in need of a renewed Enlightenment. The book received mixed responses, ranging from praise in "The New York Times" for his "logical flourishes and conundrums" to accusations of "intellectual and moral shabbiness" in the "Financial Times". "God Is Not Great" was nominated for a National Book Award on 10 October 2007.