This post is a tribute to the late, great Christopher Hitchens who died today aged 62.
I guess for me I first came across Hitchens through programmes like Question Time. His outspoken support for the Iraq war made him stand out on most panels. Whatever you thought about his views at least they were his, he never trotted out any party line, he was a model in free thought and speech. He was a master in this arena, who could debate with the best and always come out on top, a brilliant word-smith and provocateur.
In 2007 he shifted his focus a little perhaps, and took on God. He published his book ‘God is not Great: How religion poisons everything’. A book full of the usual rhetoric, but also a clear underlying hatred for Religion and especially the three Abrahamic faiths. While the tone of the argument was a little off, and some of the ‘scholarship’ questionable, it served to promote lively debates and perhaps challenges people of faith in a different way – it was a popularised version of Anti-Theism.
For me, I’m grateful to Youtube! A chance to watch Hitchens debate theologians and others from all around the world. Most of the time he picked on pretty stupid opponents who were easy targets, but there were some good debates: like with William Lane Craig, Alistair McGrath, John Lennox and Doug Wilson. The debates with Wilson are perhaps the most interesting as unlike the others Wilson and Hitchens engaged in much discussion, correspondance, they wrote a book together and went on tour together. You might even think they became friends despite massive ideological / theological differences.
What seemed to swing the debates in Wilson’s favour to the point of really challenging Hitchen’s understanding was his commitment to unswervingly teaching the truths of the Bible, yet trying to articulate them simply. I’m sure Hitchens died in unbelief, so we should grieve, God does not rejoice in his death (Ezekiel 18:23). Yet we can also thank God for using him to provoke the debate, to get people thinking, and I’m grateful for Doug Wilson in helping him think too!
In Memoriam: Vanity Fair | Richard Dawkins | Doug Wilson | New Statesman | Nick Baines | Peter Hitchens
For me, in memory of Hitchens I shall watch the DVD of his debates with Doug Wilson – Collision.
