Nowadays it’s not so unusual to say God doesn’t exist, but to say it at a Jewish learning institute takes chutzpah.

Proud non-believer and author Christopher Hitchens found a surprisingly enthusiastic audience as he argued for the non-existence of God and what he called the “atheist gene” inside every Jew. Hitchens, author of “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” spoke this week to a crowd of about 380 at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago.

Reactions to Hitchens’ lecture sometimes formed an awkward symphony of gasps and laughter, usually with one immediately following the other.

“Religion is our first attempt at philosophy. It’s the first and the worst,” Hitchens said. “It’s a great deal better than muttering to an empty sky.”

Questioning God’s motives and very existence, Hitchens said, is not only proper, it is essential to Jewish thought.

“You are entitled to argue against God. It’s a Jewish privilege to say that you might be right and God might be wrong,” Hitchens said. “Judaism actually forces its adherents to confront the arguments that tend to subvert [the religion] or spread doubt.”

Though a self-proclaimed atheist, Hitchens also acknowledged his Jewish heritage, greeting the crowd with “Shalom.” He often referred to the faith as “our Judaism,” noting his deep satisfaction with aspects of the religion.

“There is something innate in the Jewish project, something skeptical, something inquisitive,” Hitchens said. “Well, that’s something to take pride in, don’t you think?”

While most of Hitchens’ comments on Judaism were tame, his notions about Christianity and Islam were often scathing. Christianity is “a stupid heresy of Orthodox Judaism,” Hitchens said. And if Christianity had never existed, “the Dark Ages might have never come upon us.”

Though the crowd seemed to agree with most of Hitchens’ witticisms, his views on the modern state of Israel were received with dropped jaws and a few exits. These and his other more controversial statements arose in the final question and answer session.

“I’ve never been able to shake the feeling that [Israel] can’t last. It never seemed permanent… it seemed ephemeral… I’ve never been able to look at it without thinking that it’s a terrible mistake,” he said. (Click on the "Hitchens on the future of Israel" link to hear the full quote.)

Hitchens said he didn’t think that the modern Jewish state could exist “for very much longer.” An audience member accused him of taking sides with the neoconservatives when he supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

“Neoconservatives are wrongly named,” he said. “They are a group of people, after all, willing to make war on the status quo. The status quo in this case was a 35-year regime of fascism, genocide, [and] oppression by Saddam Hussein.”

Bringing Hitchens to Spertus was essential precisely because of his controversial views, said Howard A. Sulkin, president of Spertus.

“We have to understand the other side of the picture, not just reinforce the ideas we already have,” Sulkin said before the lecture.

After his speech, Hitchens signed copies of his book. The event was part of a speaker series in celebration of the Spertus Institute’s new $55 million facility, which opens Nov. 30.