Hitchens loved America and I think it's well known that he finally took his citizenship after 9/11 to show his solidarity with the American people, when world opinion of America was plummeting.

I must be one of like 3 atheists in the world who had an opinion of Hitch that varied between "meh" and active dislike.

I have to admit, I think the linked video was rather stupid. Listening to people who absolutely have to compare their shopping line/least favorite ism/the state of the nation/their job environment/whatever to North Korea is bloody tiresome.

They can report in with such comparisons when they caught a fever in the concentration camps and therefore the guards executed their parents.

The astounding yet overlooked fact is that Hitchens, despite his great skills of oratory, is in the public eye at all. After all, he is famous for being an atheist.

This is a bit like being famous for saying the earth is spherical, or that smoking causes cancer. In all these things, we trust what trained and researched scientists conclude. And they concluded a long time ago that there is no god. All arguments for god are personal ones, and everyone is allowed his own personal view of how things are, but it certainly doesn't constitue any kind of scientific challenge.

The compelling reason for maintaining the pretence of belief is so as not to antagonise the status quo in societies (such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or the US) where being honest about god may affect your position in society. And while that is not 'fine', again people can say whatever they want to believe in.

But the facts don't change.

So why, I ask, is he so well known for stating the obvious in an admittedly charming and entertaining way? His point of view is already the scientifically accepted one, and he doesn't bring any new facts into play.

I can only assume that any Theist who can't understand why Atheists might have a problem (slight understatement) with religion didn't notice that half a mile long graphic posted by Zumby, never turns on the news or reads a newspaper and has never opened a history book.

You really think I'd care what you believe in if it didn't negatively affect me so much?

As Christopher Hitchens said when asked "Why can't you keep your atheism to yourself? Hitchens: Because the religious won't allow me to. "

While I was only introduced to Hitchens through anti-theism, his decades long career was that of an [outspoken] socio-political journalist, and this was the way he approached religion. I don't recall him ever speaking with authority on science, beyond what a well-educated individual would be expected to know. His approach had always been that of a writer who had strong feelings about how humankind related to one another. I'm not even that knowledgeable about his career and works, but if you think Hitchens can be summarised as saying "God does not exist", you've completely miss the point.

I am not saying that this is all he did, I'm saying that this is what made him famous.

heh

heh

and also, heh

His brother Peter Hitchens is the enlightened one.

Beaucoupfish is correct, the anti- theist stuff got the most attention lately, but he inserted himself in almost every civil war, uprising, political movemet around the world for decades. He saw and did a good deal more than this religious argument. That argument always bored me, but I agree with the statement above that it makes sense to concentrate on religion as it has a profound effect on the world, I don't think it's odd for him to hone in on that, given the fact that to use his phrase, religion does in fact poison everything.

FYP

Peter Hitchens is just some kind of freelance reactionary-for-hire. Tireless defender of all manner of things in no need of defence, standard Daily Mail stuff. All of his brother's petulance with none of the charm.

I thought he lacked rigour and depended on inaccurate polemic and emotion far too much to be taken seriously. I prefer a more grown-up approach to debate.

rip Christopher Hitchens.... The dude was awesome on Bill Maher. And he was also a great writer and debater