[Christopher] Hitchens prided himself on his diversity of political opinions, his unwillingness to become another man in anyone's rank and file doctrine, and his natural lack of innate respect for any authority. Regard everyone as mammals, was Hitchens' motto – replace the Pope's robes in your mind with a business suit, and view his actions through the lens of a CEO in a large corporation – and then hit us with your apologist philosophizing.
Truth teller, and man of real moral and intellectual backbone that he was, he didn't pull any punches when describing his homosexual encounters and experiences as a young man and beyond – even though he was now married and had children – a testament not only to his forthrightness, but also his progressive nature that separated him from other more conservative and religious voices that his critics would try to lump him in with. Hitchens refused being put in any box, infuriating the entire political and social spectrum simultaneously. Anti-capital punishment and pro-women's rights, he continuously was the voice that appealed to me the most to see subjects that I had thought I had previously considered and formed an opinion on, but the strength of his arguments and ideas regularly gave me a fresh set of eyes and ears to familiar quandaries.
His very strong opinions against religion I believe came from what one could arguably call an almost spiritual place – he wanted the truth so badly, he would accept nothing that his mind could not spot smacked of counterfeit. He called faith the weakest of the virtues, the pinnacle of handing over one's reason and thinking faculties. Yet he harbored no real grudge against the religious and even counted many of them to be friends, and some of the most standup people he knew. . . .
Recommended Off-site Links:
In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949 - 2011 – Juli Weiner (Vanity Fair, December 15, 2011).
R.I.P. Christopher Hitchens – James Martin, S.J. (America, December 16, 2011).
When An Atheist Dies: Religious Reflections on Christopher Hitchens' Death – Paul Brandeis Raushenbush (Huffington Post, December 15, 2011).
See also the previous Wild Reed post:
Quote of the Day – May 17, 2011
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