Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)

I have read a fair number of books and articles by the so-called Four Horsemen, i.e. the "new atheists" Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. I am most familiar with Harris' writings and least familiar with those of Hitchens. All four writers have written well-known books arguing for atheism; of these books, I think the one by Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) is the weakest.

Hitchens died of cancer on 15 December.

The Hitch was colorful, outrageous, and (to his everlasting credit) politically uncorrect. He was almost never at a loss for words. Here he is supporting the war against middle-eastern totalitarianism:

"For free expression, for women's rights, for self-determination of small peoples, for the right of Iraqis to federate and have their own show, for the right of the Lebanese not to be bullied by Hezbollah and to have a multicultural democracy, yes, I'll fight for this, and I think the 82nd Airborne Division is brave to be fighting for it too. And I think you should be ashamed, sneering at people who guard you while you sleep."

And here he is attacking George Galloway (who wins a prize as the most appalling, the most odious, and the most viciously opportunistic leftwing politician in the western world):

"Galloway looks so much like what he is: a thug and a demagogue, the type of working-class wideboy and proud of it who is too used to the expenses account, the cars and the hotels - all cigars and back-slapping. He is a very cheap character and a short-arse like a lot of them are, puffed up like a turkey. He has managed to fuse being a Baathist with being a Muslim sectarian and a carpet bagger in the East End. He's got the venomous riff-raff at one end and your one-God fanatics on the other. Wonderful. Just what we need..."

(Galloway has been on record as praising the following: (1) The Soviet Union, (2) Saddam Hussein, (3) Iraqi jihadis who killed civilians and aid workers, and (4) Iraqi Baathists who reportedly tortured trade unionists. He also said that Syria is lucky to have Bashar al-Assad as her President. For a while, Galloway supported and worked for the state-run Iranian satellite television channel, Press TV.)

Finally, Hitchens comments on Mother Teresa: "A lying, thieving Albanian dwarf... She was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty... She has gigantically increased the amount of poverty and misery in the world. The vast sums of money she raised were spent mainly on building convents in her own honour."

Christopher Hitchens should never be confused with his brother Peter Hitchens (though, amazingly, some journalists managed to do this after Christopher's death). Peter is a well-known political conservative (he is also a conservative Christian). His book The Abolition of Britain is a sustained lament for a world and a way of life that have vanished forever. He is also the author of The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me To Faith.