Dear God, or not-God. I'll miss his wit, his objectivity and his style. I was looking forward to yet more decades of his work; being well satisfied with his system so far, I could only imagine how much better it might become. I suppose the reactionaries got what they wished for; unfortunately for them, it is a hollow victory indeed. Hitchens' ideas and thinking live on, in all of us who received them. http://news.yahoo.com/christopher-hitchens-militant-pundit-dies-62-052041896.html
He argued that the concept of god or a supreme being is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom, and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization. He wrote at length on atheism and the nature of religion in his 2007 book God Is Not Great. From wiki Good argument. Certainly a far cleverer opponent of Religion than the far more famous atheist dilettante, Dawkins could produce. I would like to read his critique of Mother Theresa sometime.
We knew it was coming, but it's sad just the same. I'll be raising some Johnny Walker black to you, Mr. Hitchens, you will be greatly missed.
Someone has to take the counterpoint, he did it well. In his memory, I will meditate on the eventual fall of the great religions. :buddha:
Still nothing about Hitchens on CNN's website, WTF? Edit: It's there, but only on the international version. I don't understand that.
When I am dying, I am going to convert to Scientology. It is better one of them, than one of us going...
My introduction to Hitchens was his book God is not great. Since then, I have read more of his work and his autobiography Hitch 22. I don't agree with everything Hitch stood for or wrote, but he had good style and clear writing. He knew how to make an argument and he stood by what he believed. He was true to himself, and generally seemed like a good guy. It's a pity to lose his voice. Vale Christopher.
just a great shame a loss of a voice of reason , for all in this emotional , religious times we live in
He was a rare and great polemicist who (usually) stood on the right side and didn't give much of a fuck about what came after.
"Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it." Christopher Hitchens Rest in peace Mr Hitchens. May your voice continue to resonate through the ages to come. :m:
Here's his article on Mother Theresa. I'm more of the "Living Saint" persuasion, but I admire good polemic when I see it. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html
Who knows? Maybe we're better off without him. The world is diminished by the passing of St. Christopher. Diminished, that is, by exactly one pathetic drunk who made a living as a professional asshole. I see no reason why we should pretend he was anything other than an embittered bastard with a literary gift that allowed him to project his personal insecurities onto the world around him. Indeed, I never much liked the guy from the first time I heard of him, and I must admit that he was always less repugnant when he was clearly drunk because then, at the very least, he had an excuse for his atrocious, hateful behavior. On the other hand, there's a reason to raise a glass. If a pathetic, drunken, embittered asshole can actually manage to make a living being exactly that, well, at least he was smart and capable enough to make a living being a professional pathetic, drunken, embittered asshole. And, well, you know. I'm an American. In this society, that sort of transformative personal exploitation is admirable.
Hitchens, by all reports, was a prodigious drinker but never a drunk. Apparently he had an amazing capacity for operating quite normally after consuming large amounts of alcohol.