Yep, I've held to this position myself for a while now. God revealed Himself to humanity when humans had finally evolved to the point where they were both spiritually capable and morally culpable. And once that happened, which I take to be around 6000 BC or so (possibly as early as 10000, but no later than 6000), we suddenly see a large jump in technological capability (agriculture, "industry," religious expression, etc.). Suddenly humanity is out of the pre-historic era and stone age and humankind moves into eras of advancement.

I disagree with Hitchens's position, though, that God was sadistic or apathetic. The animal and vegetable (flora and fauna) circle of life depends on the dynamics of life and death, destruction and construction. It's not cruel for nature to function so as to propagate more life.

Just saw this article relating to the common argument that God was absent for thousands of years during man's development and evolution and sat by watching us struggle only to get involved at the tail end of our current timeline. This was a common argument Hitchens would tow and one that quite a few addressed well such as WLC in his debate with him in 2009.

Here is the article in response (from 2008 I believe): https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/re ... e-god.html

It mainly shows how God's timing was ideal in the sense of human population and how divine intervention can explain the explosion of growth in agriculture, invention, art, etc. in such a small timespan. Just found it interesting for that discussion.