Posted on 10/11/2011 1:30:41 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Christopher Hitchens said that his 'time' is coming as he made his first public appearance in months...The controversial writer and fervent atheist, who is suffering from oesophagus cancer, attended the Atheist Alliance of America conference in Texas where he was presented an award by Richard Dawkins.
The 62-year-old said that he had been determined to attend the conference because of the state's Bible Belt devotion. Receiving the Richard Dawkins Freethinker of the Year Award, Hitchens looked gaunt and his voice was soft. ... During his speech Hitchens said that he appreciated the fact that Texas governor Rick Perry had been open about his faith and his desire to inject fundamentalism into public life, reported the Houston Chronicle...."[W]e do need to stick up for ourselves, especially in a place like Texas, where they have laws, I think, that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ you can't run for sheriff.'
After being asked by an eight-year-old girl what books she should read, he recommended Dawkins' Magic of Reality, Greek and Roman myths, anything satirical by Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, PG Wodehouse, David Hume, and Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.
... Although he gave up cigarettes in 2008 after claiming to have had an epiphany, he once said he could 'drink enough every day to kill or stun the average mule'.
... He notably tried, along with fellow campaigning atheist Richard Dawkins, to have the Pope arrested when he visited Britain for what they allege was his complicity in covering up child sex abuse in the Catholic church.
Twice married, last year he announced he had gay relations with two ministers in Margaret Thatcher's government while he was at Oxford University but refused to name them.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
bfl
You’re talking out of your toothless end. It’s obvious you know very little about Hume, except that you disagree with him.
In a nutshell, Hume said that if we see some thing for which we have no explanation, if it is possible to ascribe to it a natural explanation rather than a supernatureal explanation, then to go with the former simply because it makes more sense.
For example, maybe it’s just charred bread and cheese, and not Jesus that we’re seeing in the grilled cheese sandwich.
Here you go http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-David-Hume-Philosopher.htm
mjp, you remind me of the story Hitchens tells about the Texas governor (not Perry) who was faced with pressure from some groups to allow Bibles published in Spanish (or something similar to that, maybe sermons preached in Spanish) and his response:
“If English was good enough for Jesus it’s good enough for Texans.”
Man, I’m gonna miss this guy.
He was every bit as enjoyable to throw a few back with as you'd expect. He was there because he thought Clinton was an unbearable criminal scumbag, like the rest of us, and gave a great speech detailing exactly why he had come to that conclusion.
We agreed on little else, but he could actually argue his positions with logic, humor and class (Mother Teresa never came up!)
He may be the last liberal left who you can say that about.
After the bar, he went to his table in the dining room. My brother brought him over a fresh Johnny Walker Black. He grabbed my brother's arm, looked at him very gravely, and said, "You are a great great man."
He's a good guy, just wrong about alot.
I’d rather not take the risk of throwing up.
It just saddens me. But it is between him and God.
2010 story about Hitch and his supposed dalliances
with Tory ministers...
Wow. Too bad. Hey! How about them Rangers?!
He strikes me as a very angry and very depressed fellow. Sad. prayers for him and whatever family he may have that hasnt chased away
I read his memoir this summer, Hitch 22. It was a great read.
We’ll see how stridently athiest he really is as the moment of death approaches. God always gets the last word, and I imagine that a number of lifelong deniers have “seen the light” at the last moment and repented, thereby resulting in victory for The Kingdom.
Don’t feel too sorry for him.
“For although he has always enjoyed a reputation as a womaniser, at Oxford Hitchens was known to be bisexual.
According to one contemporary: ‘He had a reputation for being AC/DC and, although a Trot, he was fancied by quite a few gay Tories and moved in those circles.’
Galatians 6:
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Heavy drinker, heavy smoker, bisexual Christian bigot who doesn’t seem to give a flying fig about his own salvation?
CONGRADS ON THE ATHEIST AWARD, CHRISSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Actually, one should be weeping and lamenting the prospect of Christopher leaving this life in his current condition. The same could be said for anyone we "judge" to be a candidate for eternal damnation. And one should be trembling, lest his own faith could be shipwreck (like the Apostle St Paul warned us could happen).
Lord, have mercy.
“its a very arrogant, backward, absolutist position - quite the opposite of ‘free thinking’”
You must bear in mind that the term comes from the Way Back When, when people actually revered things and respectability was limited to believers, moreso even than how it is limited to non-racists nowadays. Also, it was, like all self-applied signifiers, self-flattering. We know now, as most people knew then, that “freethinkers” could be the most dogmatic and oppressive thinkers on earth (cf. commies).
Hitchens: God is Dead.
God: Hitchens is Dead.
Moral: God may be dead, but Hitchens WILL be dead.
Great story. Thanks!
Just as it’s true that there are now aethists in foxholes, ain’t too many in a hospice either.’’
Chris, like the billboard says, “GET RIGHT WITH GOD.”
Just as it’s true that there are now aethists in foxholes, ain’t too many in a hospice either.’’
Chris, like the billboard says, “GET RIGHT WITH GOD.”
Just as it’s true that there are now aethists in foxholes, ain’t too many in a hospice either.’’
Chris, like the billboard says, “GET RIGHT WITH GOD.”
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