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An Atheist Responds : Christopher Hitchens Throws Down the Gauntlet to those who believe in God
Washington Post ^ | 04/20/2010 | Christopher Hitchens

Posted on 04/21/2010 11:32:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

It's uncommonly generous of Michael Gerson[" What Atheists Can't Answer," op-ed, July 13] to refer to me as "intellectually courageous and unfailingly kind," since (a) this might be taken as proof that he hardly knows me and (b) it was he who was so kind when I once rang him to check a scurrilous peacenik rumor that he was a secret convert from Judaism to Christian fundamentalism.

However, it is his own supposedly kindly religion that prevents him from seeing how insulting is the latent suggestion of his position: the appalling insinuation that I would not know right from wrong if I was not supernaturally guided by a celestial dictatorship, which could read and condemn my thoughts and which could also consign me to eternal worshipful bliss (a somewhat hellish idea) or to an actual hell.

Implicit in this ancient chestnut of an argument is the further -- and equally disagreeable -- self-satisfaction that simply assumes, whether or not religion is metaphysically "true," that at least it stands for morality. Those of us who disbelieve in the heavenly dictatorship also reject many of its immoral teachings, which have at different times included the slaughter of other "tribes," the enslavement of the survivors, the mutilation of the genitalia of children, the burning of witches, the condemnation of sexual "deviants" and the eating of certain foods, the opposition to innovations in science and medicine, the mad doctrine of predestination, the deranged accusation against all Jews of the crime of "deicide," the absurdity of "Limbo," the horror of suicide-bombing and jihad, and the ethically dubious notion of vicarious redemption by human sacrifice.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Apologetics; General Discusssion; Religion & Culture; Skeptics/Seekers
KEYWORDS: atheism; atheists; christopherhitchens; god
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To: Alamo-Girl
"I used Rwanda as an example because it was quick and bloody when it went down - and the administration saw it coming."

Exactly. And the aftermath was likewise widely known following. An object lesson in every respect.

161 posted on 04/26/2010 11:00:24 AM PDT by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: spirited irish
Hitler willfully made a pact with the forces of darkness

As you might well know ,Hitler was obsessed with the writings of Blavatsky,which I think lead to demoniac possession of Hitler. Carl Jung thought of Hitler as a special medium and the scary thing is that Jung was quite evil himself and yet he is revered in universities and psychological communities as a forerunner of modern psychology which in many cases has demoniac influence as well that has effected the minds of many

162 posted on 04/26/2010 5:02:47 PM PDT by stfassisi ((The greatest gift God gives us is that of overcoming self"-St Francis Assisi)))
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To: married21

Ping for tomorrow, I am sleepy now.


163 posted on 05/18/2010 8:20:16 PM PDT by RipSawyer (Trying to reason with a leftist is like trying to catch sunshine in a fish net at midnight.)
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