Hitchens

Hitchens does not mince any words voicing his opinion about Islamic fundamentalism:

The most noticeable thing about all theocracies is their sexual repression and their directly related determination to exert absolute control over women. In Britain, in the 21^st century, there are now honor killings, forced marriages, clerically mandated wife-beatings, incest in all but name, and the adoption of apparel for females that one cannot be sure is chosen by them but which is claimed as an issue of (of all things) free expression. This would be bad enough on its own and if it were confined to the Muslim "community" alone. But, of course, such a toxin cannot be confined, and the votaries of theocracy now claim the God-given right to slaughter females at random for nothing more than their perceived immodesty. The least we can do, confronted by such radical evil, is to look it in the eye (something it strives to avoid) and call it by its right name.

He has been quite vocal against Islamic fundamentalism recently - which is good as he takes on fundamentalists of other religions in similar vein (see below^). However, in my (and other people's opinion) 9-11 turned him from being a liberal leftist person into a psuedo-neocon, and so his boorish arrogance is quite off-putting.

Anyways, some other recent articles by Hitchens are archived here. Also this plastic.com thread: Dear God: Did You Make Mankind After We Made You?, which is about Christopher Hitchens latest rant* and begins with a great quote from Aldous Huxey that I had not seen before today.

"You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, intelligent enough." -Aldous Huxley

Well said!
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^ Example of Hitchens taking on Christian fundamentalism:

See this video of Hitchens taking on Fox TV's Hannity after Jerry Falwell's death - discussing what the "legacy" of Falwell is.... no mincing words being polite to the dead (and rightly so, I say)

"it's a pity there isn't a hell for him to go to"

"if you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox."

...and there is more - see the video! :) His arguments may be a tad overstated and simplistic in some senses but the video is still very enjoyable and the message is still valid.

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* Hitchens has also gotten on the anti-God bandwagon lately, with his recent book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

I would much rather read Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion first and probably won't get to Hitchens' book ever but here are some related op-eds:

• Hitchens vs. God
• Christopher Hitchens Tries, And fails, To Disprove God
• Even someone who has been vocal against the Christian right, Chris Hedges, finds Hitchen's "moral certitude and arrogance" quite disturbing.

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