A Tribute To Christopher Hitchens - The Anti-Theist

[Zeuzzz]

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I AGREE

RIP.

Christopher Hitchens died this year of cancer. He was a well known provocateur, known for his strong zelous take on atheism. Curiously, later in his life when he was near the end he got the most comfort from one of his few religious friends, who acted as his spiritual and literal doctor for the last few months of his life.

A noted critic of religion and a self described "anti-theist", he said that a person "could be an atheist and wish that belief in external gods were correct", but that "an antitheist, a term I'm trying to get into circulation, is someone who is relieved that there's no evidence for such an assertion." According to Hitchens, the concept of an external god or a supreme being is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom, and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization. His 2007 book, God Is Not Great, sold over 500,000 copies.

He was not a scientist but a science journalist, and had some very controversial views. Implied in this speech from one of his close friends is that sometimes he sensed an irony in his actions, a lot of the time he was playing devils advocate. For educational stimulation and to see how well the persons religious argument holds up to scrutiny.

The person speaking here is Lawrence Maxwell Krauss, a Canadian-American theoretical physicist who is a professor of physics, Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of Star Trek and A Universe from Nothing. He is an advocate of scientific skepticism, science education, and the science of morality.

Full Krauss speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ImIziEINXI

[TheGoldcountry]

I can't say that Hitchens ever influenced my thoughts. He voiced my thoughts in a near vacuum of dissent. There are those who share his ideas (not wholly), and are afraid to share them for fear of reprisal, perhaps small but still real.

[Zeuzzz]

Originally Posted by TheGoldcountry

I can't say that Hitchens ever influenced my thoughts. He voiced my thoughts in a near vacuum of dissent. There are those who share his ideas (not wholly), and are afraid to share them for fear of reprisal, perhaps small but still real.

I was not a big fan of him personally either, he was way too provocative, and I disagreed with a lot of his political views like the Iraq war. Arguing against religion with science and anecdotes just doesn't make sense, as he did. But, this speech gives a slightly different perspective, and I think gives a good over all picture that maybe some people did attribute to him when he was at his most zealous.

[Zeuzzz]

He was anti faith and pro science. That can't be a bad thing, in the grand scheme of things. Especially if viewed in the context of this video.

[Beelzebuddy]

Hitchens often seemed too much the angry atheist for my tastes, but in fairness if I had to deal with half the crap he waded through routinely, I'd have lost it long ago. Just snapped one day and gone postal on whatever mealy-mouthed godbotherer had just brought up irreducible complexity for the Nth time.

[PixyMisa]

I was a big fan of Hitchens, and agreed with him both in his approach to atheism and most of his (recent) political views. Most of his fans agreed with one or the other, so that puts me in a happy minority.