Satan's greatest trick was convincing people that he doesn't exist !!
Yeah Christopher Hitchens is a REAL class act,NOT !!!
“I have no brother...”
It was interesting to see/hear Christopher Hitchens today on BookTV.
And that for an atheist, he falls back on scripture when is trying to
make a point in a public forum
He used a passage from the book of Job when making a cautionary note
about the sometimes adversarial nature of writing book reviews:
To wit:
Job 31:35
35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty
would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
ping
Satan's greatest trick was convincing people that he doesn't exist !!
Love this quote.
Well, there can be little doubt that when Stalin destroyed the churches and exiled or executed the priests, that he portrayed himself and the State as all the religion anyone needed.
Peter concludes with "If you do not worship God, you end up worshiping power, whether it is Kim Jong Il, Leon Trotsky or the military might of George W. Bush. In which case, God help you".
This is basically in agreement with Christopher's statement about Soviet Russia. In any case, Christopher is a leftist, and I am surprised so many freepers find him interesting. The only thing he as ever agreed on with the right is the war and the fact that B.J. Clinton was a loser.
btt
Bump...
Certainly history is full of idiots who do idiocies in the name of religion. These are so easy to enumerate that it is scarcely worth the effort. It isn't a disproof of religion to recognize that men sin; it's one of the central tenets of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and a host of others with which I am less familiar. Atheists sin as well. We'd better get used to the idea that human beings are works in progress at the very best of times.
It is the basis of that progress that turns out to be the function of religion. I am unconvinced that atheism isn't nihilism when all is said and done although I treasure my atheist friends. I can wish nothing better for them, as for Christopher, that they be open to the touch of the ineluctable presence of God and that they come to learn that human reason is not the only source of understanding. An atheist by the name of C.S. Lewis did.
On the issue of Peter's disbelief that the invasion of Iraq could result in a better world I am much more aligned with his brother in an emphatic "yes, it did precisely that." It is here that Christopher shows what I suspect to be an underlying ethical if not spiritual development - his insistence that Iraq constituted a difficult but beneficial effort is an opinion firmly based on morality (a rather difficult position for a true atheist to explain although Lord knows Hitch tries it); that is, that effort followed the tenets of freedom, human rights, and the opposition of oppression that his Left claims but does not follow, that Peter acknowledges but does not appear to claim. Here we have IMHO, a clear-eyed and even defiant appreciation for the truth on Christopher's part that Peter does not share.
On the other hand, Peter is certainly correct about Christopher's tendency to equate religion with its abusers and ignore the rest. That is one of the artifices of rhetoric, not of truth, and Christopher is, after all, a brilliant rhetorician. I'm guessing he's also smart enough to know the difference.
I may be entirely wrong about this but it strikes me that Christopher's latest book is a last desperate effort of a formidable intellect to keep the fires of his disbelief alive. If he's lucky it will not succeed. I'll say a prayer to that effect - it'd piss him off.
It was. A religious belief that the state is the highest authority and always knows best, and it was required that everyone adopt that religion. There are places like Japan and Sweden and Norway and such that are irreligious, but they aren't tyrannies. I am tired of Christians suggesting that atheism is bad because of the Soviet Union or Communist China. Those places were societies that happened to be atheistic, not atheistic societies (as some ideal of it). Atheism and liberty are not at all incompatible, and, in fact, go together more than religion and liberty.
The Bible is an R-rated book. The idea that it is appropriate for establishing morality for a society is like saying the same for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. Christians like to cherry pick things they can twist into niceties by God and ignore everything else, because religion is all about making the believer feel good. It's opium.
Your brother sucks Pete. Why don’t you do us a favor and kick his ass...
http://www.viralvideochart.com/youtube/christopher_hitchens_on_the_death_of_jerry_falwellcnn_360?id=YkAPaEMwyKU
Later read.
Note the extreme difference in mien.
Peter’s face is open, looks sincere, a bit peaceful with some happiness visible.
Christopher’s is sort of sullen, angry, more miserable and unhealthy looking.
Hey Christopher Hitchens...”Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. And His greatness is unsearchable”. Psalm 145:3
PS. The name ‘Christopher means “Christ bearer”. Hopefully you will see the Light before it’s lights out on you!
Christopher just got a huge; albeit 'not unkind' poke in the ribs from his brother Peter. Perhaps it will move Christopher to a more enlightened position on 'religion' per se; as might other criticisms offered. . .though I imagine he has heard a great many, while confirmed in his atheism. So, perhaps not. . .
. . .and while I am not sure he would admit an error in any of his atheistic premises - if he should decide he made one - Christopher's intellectual honesty has me believing he probably would; if only eventually.