“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 …
Which Is Not the Same as Having Good Aim
“Someone with a large vocabulary is never without a rock to throw, so long as he has a mind to throw it” (God Is, p. 52).
The PHI Index
“The ancient Hebrews had Ten Commandments, and one slim volume of commentary on those commandments. Go to the nearest law library and ask to see the regulations that you, enlightened modern man, live under. They will show you shelf after shelf of big fat books, and the incoming regulations will, on a daily basis, far …
Where the Simplifying is Wanted
“Hitchens assumes that the elimination of God from the creation of all things is a simplifying move. It may have simplified Hitchens’ personal life, but it most emphatically does not simplify our explanations of how spiders figured out web engineering” (God Is, p. 43)
Venting the Spleen
“The way Hitchens glibly pronounces the body full of vestigial leftovers is something that the continued development of medical science should have taught us to quit doing. Ignorance of function does not not mean there is no function. As my wise grandmother used to say, ‘Never celebrate vestigialness prematurely” (God Is, p. 42).