[SolidWood]

I can imagine God saying “Bah Hitchens”. (It’s ironic that his name is Christopher... he seems to carry everything else, but certainly not Christ).

[spanalot]

“The menorah displays are not primarily religious in intent,”

I dont follow this at all - it represents divine intervention on behalf of Gods chosen people.

[Billthedrill]

...the Government of the United States... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance... May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.

Awesome quotation. Bookmarking that one for sure.

I love Hitch but there are times when I feel sorry for him. God's out there waiting for you, Chris, He really is. He's eternal and you aren't. Contemplation of God and His works are what you're looking for. Anything less is intellectual fluff.

[wardaddy]

acerbic wit....the ungay Wilde

[KantianBurke]

The meat of the article:

"Along with Greek science and military prowess came a whole culture that celebrated beauty both in art and in the human body, presented the world with the triumph of rational thought in the works of Plato and Aristotle, and rejoiced in the complexities of life presented in the theater of Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes. But away with all that...Let us instead celebrate the Maccabean peasants who wanted to destroy Hellenism and restore what he actually calls "oldtime religion." His excuse for preferring fundamentalist thuggery to secularism and philosophy is that Hellenism was "imperialistic," but the Hasmonean regime that resulted from the Maccabean revolt soon became exorbitantly corrupt, vicious, and divided, and encouraged the Roman annexation of Judea."

The picture Hitchens draws is somewhat incomplete as he leaves out how the Selucids forbade religious freedoms and how the Macabees were pretty brutual towards those Jews they considered as apostates.

[dennisw]

Amusing because Christopher Hitchens is Jewish via his mother http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4393579-110490,00.html

[13Sisters76]

More intellectual puke from the man who thinks no ONE is more “divine” than himself.

[Dad yer funny]

FR bookmark

[Old Professer]

“Clearly, Hitchens is missing the point. The menorah displays are not primarily religious in intent, but rather a symbol of inclusion, an expression of civic harmony.”

I could put up with civic harmony if it weren’t for the fact that those who profess it the most are so busy cramming it down my throat that I gag in the process.