Hitchens a Present Day Nietzshce and Gadfly
Like a present day Nietzsche and Socratic Gadfly, with a Kierkegaardian aura to his pestering, Hitchens continues to pester the good religious people of this world. And I cannot thank him enough. All of his arguments about the major religions being petty fossilized tyrants, leftover meddlesome dinosaurs, have the stamp of authenticity about them. There is nothing great, Hitchens insists, about the great religions of the world, and their abysmal history serves as the illustration. They came to us at a time when we were lacking in knowledge: of science, evolution, psychology, and sociology. We should put them to bed, and refresh ourselves in new perspectives. He is ornery, and a nasty drunk, as anyone who has seen him guzzling and brawling on C-span author's forum can attest to. But he is always himself, never apologetic, and somehow is pleasant, most pleasant. to behold, and to listen to. His book is his contribution to the culture wars, and their self-contradiction.
1 comment:
As a woman whose son is newly Atheist after a lifetime of Christianity, I can only agree.. at first his turning such horrified me, not so much because I have ever been "conventionally" religious but more so that we are all conditioned to be in awe and fear of this god who is so often portrayed as angry and ruthless, inflicting disasters on innocent peoples of the world (nearly always the poorest of the poor)and a kind of "insurance" against his turning his wrath upon us personally!) and I was actually going to buy him this book for Christnas, but will now buy it for myself! As always, Susan Marie, an insightful and forward-leading blog and I am beginning to have the faintest unfurlings of a belief that we have all done it so wrongly for centuries and that a New Order is coming for those inrelligent and courageous enough to change all the atrocities that a so called religion-based planet has brought us to which is worse than ever before in history.
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