I say all this not having read the book, so perhaps the fault is with the author of this piece, but Hitchens seems to have a basic lack of knowledge and understanding of Christianity (I say that from a Catholic perspective). He also compares apples and oranges (throw Christianity, ID, and the cult of mohammedism together as if they were comparable). “when supposedly he(Christ) also did not die at all?” Nonsense. I would ask Mr. Hitchens, how does one rise from the dead without dying?
“To him, it’s blindingly obvious: the great religions all began at a time when we knew a tiny fraction of what we know today about the origins of Earth and human life. It’s understandable that early humans would develop stories about gods or God to salve their ignorance. But people today have no such excuse. If they continue to believe in the unbelievable, or say they do, they are morons or lunatics or liars. “The human wish to credit good things as miraculous and to charge bad things to another account is apparently universal,” he remarks, unsympathetically.”
Well, Mr. Hitchens, even now we have only a best, slightly educated, guess as to the origins of life and the planet, so the argument that we now “know better” and thus have no “need” for God or religion, is an empty argument. Additionally, as you point out, it’s a human wish to attribute good and evil, and not necessarily an accurate understanding of God’s will, but an attempt to make sense of the fallen world we live in.
Sounds to me like his whole book is a self-absorbed “aren’t I smart” display without much substance.
Now you idiots can drop all your need for metaphysics and rest in the rational matrix.
A very erudite college philosophy professor once told me that even when atheists attacked religion they did so from a religious perspective, i.e. that the religion they were criticizing was not fulfilling religious values. Female genital mutilation is just one example.
That was 35 years ago and Hitchens once again proves her point.
The point about Christ dying for our sins demonstrates a profound lack of understanding regarding the nature of Christ. I haven’t read the book either, but this is the type of smirking snipe I hear often from non-believers.
It’s a very typical “that’ll shut you up” ploy.