“Some Christians, reacting to panicked flame-throwing of fearful fellow Christians, have opted for the opposite error. Tepid, balanced, irenic, and boring, they follow in the steps of the Master, as conceived by effeminate painters of the Victorian era — their caricature of Jesus could have done advertisements for Clairol. For such Christians, any kind of …
Bagpipes and Fallacies
“When Dawkins lights into radical Muslims going crazy over the Danish cartoons, I am right with him. Something really needs to be done about those people. When he talks about how Pope John Paull II made way too many people saints, my Scottish covenanter blood begins to rise, and I start hunting around for the …
Check the Batteries
“But if this is enlightenment, we need to check the batteries” (God Is, p. 102).
The Sea Otters of Arbitrary Value
“When Hitchens appeals to things like innate conscience and human decency, doing so as an evolutionary atheist, he is functioning as an illusionist. What he is doing is transparently a trick. Even if a Christian reader doesn’t know how he is doing that trick, it is manifestly a trick. And it is a pretty good …
What Wind and Tide Do to Certain Convictions
“Hitchens acknowledges that secularist hellholes are wrong . . . The only thing he does not explain — for he cannot explain — is why they are wrong . . . His indignation is therefore a floating indignation. It is not anchored. It is not grounded. It is not fixed. And like all such things …
Theocracies Everywhere
“All cultures are the incarnational outworking of a religion or combination of religions. When you deny a transcendent God, this does not eliminate the need for a god at the top to make the system coherent. It just means that th applicants for the position of deity are all, to use one of Hitchen’s favorite …
Inescapable Theocracy
“All law is the imposition of morality, and all law systems are codified moral systems. At the head of each codified moral system is the god of the system” (God Is, p. 95).
The Death of Sacrificing
“In the death of Jesus, we have the death of death. In the sacrifice of Jesus, we have the last sacrifice. In the sacrifice of Jesus, we have the death of sacrificing” (God Is, p. 86).
The Versatility of Hydrogen
“One day there was almost-mathematical-point-nothing, and then it blew up. There was a problem in the reactors I believe. There was a lot of hydrogen involved, which eventually turned into Ralph Nader, the Dalai Lama, and Paris Hilton. If you doubt this compelling science, you need to subscribe to National Geographic and watch more of …
No Such Luck
“We have gathered in our chairs to hear Hitchens give the lecture that he now needs to deliver. The flyer caught my attention the moment I saw it. ‘The Atheistic Basis for Moral Absolutes.’ I am all ears, and am actually starting to fidget in my seat. In a world where we can speak confidently …