Christopher Hitchens: The Last Good American Atheist

America (big tip o'the hat to Hot Air) ^ | 07/01/14 | Sean Salai, S. J.

[jocon307]

I asked the middle-aged man across from me, “Who was the last good American president?”

It was the year 2000. As a 19-year old college journalist studying history and political science, I was eager to know my drinking partner’s response to this question. He had just finished railing against Presidents Clinton, Reagan and Bush '41. At this point, I was wondering if he liked any U.S. president at all.

To my surprise, I didn’t have long to wait for an answer. Without hesitation, Christopher Hitchens leaned across the table, looked me in the eye, and quipped with boozy conviction: “Eisenhower.” Then he sipped his whiskey, took a drag from his cigarette, and exhaled through his nose as he stared me in the eye, waiting for my reaction amidst the frivolity of our dingy student hangout.

Amused, I asked: Why Eisenhower?

“Because he was the last president who didn’t take a dump on the Constitution,” Hitchens shot back, taking another drag.

[miss marmelstein]

Hitchens has a fabulous chapter on muzzie craziness in his book.

[NKP_Vet]

http://www.motherteresa.org/layout.html

Within the next couple of years this blessed servant of God will be SAINT Teresa of Calcutta.

“When she walked into the room to greet me, I felt I was indeed meeting a saint. Few people in our time exemplified so powerfully and yet simply the love and compassion of Christ”. ~ Reverend Billy Graham

[okie01]

Although I never knew Hentoff was an atheist.<

An atheist...who is strongly anti-abortion.

On the logic of it: a civilized society should be protective of its posterity.

[MDLION]

Whenever you read something Christopher Hitchens said about God not existing, remember that both his parents committed suicide. His father was said to be a cold man who drove his wife to suicide. Cold, hard fathers are at the root of so much atheism (and not a little bit of homosexuality though Hitchens was not one.) . As smart as Hitchens was, the brilliant Father Rutler was easily his match and more. So Hitchens accused Father of being inhospitable among other things. Why does behavior matter if there is no God? Isn’t everything only relative then? People like Hitchens and Bill Maher want their ideas taken seriously, but why are their opinions anymore special than anyone else’ if they are just random products of evolution? I prayed for Hitchens while he was alive and continue to pray for him occasionally. His cancer seemed to soften him a bit. One would even see him smile on occasion during interviews at the end of his life.