Christopher Hitchens has died
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RobertUrbanek
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Christopher Hitchens has died
Post #1Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great, has passed away at the age of 62 from pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer. A native of England who settled in America, the author, essayist and polemist was famous for his contrarian nature and ferocious intellect. On balance, did he leave a good or bad legacy?
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Choir Loft
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Re: Christopher Hitchens has died
Post #2Ask again in a hundred years. If anybody still knows his name, then you'll have your answer.RobertUrbanek wrote:Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great, has passed away at the age of 62 from pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer. A native of England who settled in America, the author, essayist and polemist was famous for his contrarian nature and ferocious intellect. On balance, did he leave a good or bad legacy?
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99percentatheism
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Re: Christopher Hitchens has died
Post #3Attacks on religion by atheists are usually standardized. (And for good reason.)Hitchens will be quoted as long as atheism is practiced.Ask again in a hundred years. If anybody still knows his name, then you'll have your answer.
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His Name Is John
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Post #4
I think Christopher Hitchens was a honest man in many respects. He was open to being corrected on certain issues, and was happy to speak out about things which would have lost him support (eg. abortion).
Unlike the other New Atheists, he hated the term 'Bright', and I think that shows that he is not nearly so intellectually proud as Dawkins and the like.
But I do not think he was a good atheist.
The majority of his arguments against religion was because of its negative impact on the world, claiming it was not a force for good. Yet in other writings he has claimed that good and evil are subjective, making his previous point about religion meaningless.
To make matters worse, in his debate with William Lane Craig he spent the entire debate saying how bad religion was, and then at the end claiming that you can't judge a belief based on its practical implementation.
While he had a rather weak grip on historical facts, he had some memorable sayings. Of all the high profile new-atheists, he was my favorite, I guess he just had a blind spot (or wound) about religion.
Unlike the other New Atheists, he hated the term 'Bright', and I think that shows that he is not nearly so intellectually proud as Dawkins and the like.
But I do not think he was a good atheist.
The majority of his arguments against religion was because of its negative impact on the world, claiming it was not a force for good. Yet in other writings he has claimed that good and evil are subjective, making his previous point about religion meaningless.
To make matters worse, in his debate with William Lane Craig he spent the entire debate saying how bad religion was, and then at the end claiming that you can't judge a belief based on its practical implementation.
While he had a rather weak grip on historical facts, he had some memorable sayings. Of all the high profile new-atheists, he was my favorite, I guess he just had a blind spot (or wound) about religion.
