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Clamence/The Chaplain
Goodbye to Christopher Hitchens, the Mighty Warrior for Reason
Posted by Clamence/The Chaplain on December 16, 2011
Farewell, but no adieu to Christopher Hitchens, writer of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Thank you for fighting the good fight against the ignorance and hypocrisy of the powerful.
Here is a quote from Hitchens I found in one of the articles on the web that commemorates his life: “Faith is the surrender of the mind; it’s the surrender of reason, it’s the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other mammals [...] It’s our need to believe, and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me. Of all the supposed virtues, faith must be the most overrated.”
Ann said
When I heard he had died, I think my thought in the moment was actually his death meant something more than other people’s deaths. I know this sounds kinda crazy, but I think it was a reaction to his being willing to face his death squarely and honestly. A bunch of believers were posting stuff like “Now he knows the truth”. So weird and vindictive and sad all at the same time. He had a kind of courage not even God is love kind of thinkers can manage, to live without faith of any kind. He didn’t try to bluff himself. No adieu. Not only did he depart life without faith in a God or a faith he was moving on to an afterlife, but he was willing to be honest and admit, what kind of fucked up God would create (or condone) a world like this anyway. Peace.
Paulo said
A tip of the hat to Clamence for posting this. I have just begun watching Hitchens’ stuff on YouTube. Phenomenal. I couldn’t believe the number of full debates you can find on there (too long–I prefer the “best moments”, compilations, “Hitchslaps”, etc…)
This guy was truly amazing, without a doubt. And how fortunate we are in the age of YouTube so that his stuff will “live on”…