Christopher Hitchens, Stop Claiming You are Persecuted

Atheists don't know what persecution is.

Christopher Hitchens has made himself a millionaire writing books about atheism and travelling the world bashing Christianity. On the event of the death of any prominent Christian, including Mother Theresa, Hitchens will write a hate-filled obituary.

And yet, Hitchens is not under any criminal indictment from any government in the world.

Christian pastors and Catholic priests have not called for Christians to kill Hitchens.

Hitchens does not have to hire bodyguards to protect himself from angry Christians.

Hitchens is free to travel to any country in the Western world.

Christians make themselves available to debate Hitchens, and Hitchens is well paid to attend these debates.

Fewer men in the world have more freedom or wealth or fame than Christopher Hitchens, and he owes it all to atheism.

Hitchens is not persecuted and no other atheist in the West is persecuted.

Contrast this to the situation of Christians in the Muslim world or China, where people are martyred for their Christian faith.

In China, the Catholic Church is illegal and some bishops have been in prison for decades.

That's REAL persecution.

STOP WHINING.

 

I so wish you would take your own advice. One man is not all atheists, and that man is dying. What classy move, attacking a dying man.

 

Mother Teresa was an evil (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) who continued the suffering of those in her care because she believed that watching suffering, not ending it, gained her heaven. Was a selfish witch.

 

On the occasion of Pope Paul II's death, Hitchens wrote this hateful screed, aiming hatred at the Catholic Church, the papacy, the Kennedys and Catholics in general.

It is obvious that Hitchens wants to return to the days of bigotry when Catholics were accused of not being really loyal Americans because they had loyalty to the Pope. My Protestant great-uncle wrote this sentiment to my grandmother to discourage her from marrying my Catholic grandfather.

It would also seem that Hitchens believes that Catholics were all in some sort of conspiracy during the Cold War to bring down the Communists. Apparently Hitchens' hatred of Catholics is so severe that he thinks its a bad thing to fight Communism.

Hitchens dismisses the Pope's role in the fall of Communism as nothing compared to the Terri Schiavo case. Hitchens is quite literally insane with hatred.

And by the way, there are no U.S. authorities attempting to arrest Cardinal Law so the Pope was not harboring a fugitive when he called him to Rome. Law's role in the scandal is shameful but no one has accused him of being a criminal.

My impression after reading this article is that Hitchens is a stark, raving lunatic.

 

Hitchens has attacked the recently dead in hateful obituaries. He reaps what he sows.

 

Good job that you're turning the other cheek rather than being hypocritcal.

 

So I'm supposed to let Hitchen's hateful attacks go unchallenged? How convenient for you. I'm not going to do that.

 

Hitchens will go to a cold grave, having made himself the enemy of all that is holy in this world, he will not be mourned by many.

 

Is he really dying? If he is, is there going to be someone at bedside to record his dying words? I hope so. Then comes the greatest debate of his career. When he gets to stand in front of God and form his debate strategy.

Now am I wrong in thinking such things about Hitchens? Of course not. Read the book of Psalms. Lots of examples of how God handles little nuisances like Hitchens. The better part of that is ..... those examples are still very effective.

 

In the Muslim world it is far more acceptable to be a Christian or Jew than it is to deny religion altogether.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_against_atheists

I wouldn't say atheists OR Christians are horribly discriminated against in Western countries though. In fact atheism seems to be favorable in Europe while it is still somewhat difficult to openly claim atheism in the US and not face at least some mild discrimination. The wiki article even discusses how openly claiming atheism in the US can be political suicide.

I think nearly all religious or non-religious beliefs have faced some sort of discrimination or another at some point in history. But is this just one of those "who's got it worse?" arguments? Because that's what it sounds like to me...

"My life sucks because blah blah."
"Oh yeah? Well my life sucks because blah blah."
"Well my life sucks MORE because blah blah."

Sounds like that.

 

Yes he is. Why did you use this fact as a tool to attack all atheists?

 

I didn't know atheists were claiming that they are persecuted, and I've been one.

The point of atheism is hardly to play the victim card, even if they were persecuted, that'd be no more of an argument than that anyone else is persecuted, which would be a much easier point to defend.

There might (or might not) be an argument of some to point out hypocrisy in an ideology or otherwise that claims to be loving and yet persecutes, but the point of that argument is not that the victims are victims, but that the persecutors are persecutors. That argument would stay valid regardless of how severe the persecution is, but again, one could just point to another group of victims and say the same.

 

Whatever you find comfort in.

 

I don't know of any atheists stating they are persecuted. I certainly don't.

However I can recall lots of threads about Christians claiming their religious rights are being trampled and the left attempting to destroy marriage and force homosexuality down their throats.

 

Yeah, it's called the "oppression Olympics". It's a game that idiots play. But look at the OP...it's to be expected.

 

Athetits? Absence of thetits?

 

Like so many people who once had some guts, Hitchens has got scared of the moneybags and decided to keep his revolutionary credentials good by pretending he lives in the Eighteenth Century (or earlier) and attacking people whose beliefs prevent them from hitting back. He neglects to notice, however, the American fundamentalists have a similar view of truth, believing in the absolute textual authority of something they never read, and in smiting the other cheek with whips. History repreats itself, once as tragedy and once as farce.

 

Who changed the thread title? It might be technically more accurate now but it isn't what most of us replied to.

 

Xenu. .

 

What? Who cares about Christopher Hitchens?

It's not like it's impossible to find loud people of any persuasion and to dig up some old quotes.

Hint until next time, get more than one example when addressing an entire group.

 

I personally dont like his message but I love the fact that Hitchens silly argumentations have brought so many atheists to christianity, him and that dawkins. William lane craig has issued a challenge to debate dawkins on the existence of God for over 2 years and dawkins keeps dodging him. This week or next Craig will be in dawkins own university Oxford critisizing dawkins books the god delusion and they left an open seat for dawkins in hopes that he would show some courage and show up. If not he will just critique his book. Gone are the days of the powerhouse atheist scholars such as Flew (who converted from atheism), Russel, and Ayers (who himself had a near death experience which turned him into an agnostic). They are replaced by the loud mouthed rediculing new atheist movement lead by hitchens, dawkins, harris and dennet.

 

The key point is that like so much of your 'Cultural' politics, all this is a replacement for economic argument: people have to argue about something since that's how the system works, but it seems to have you all in a poisonous state of anger and hatred about nothing, at least as seen from outside, and it is probably making your Country ungovernable, which is a pity: it used to have a lot to offer.

 

Never read any Hitchens. When I was an atheist, I saw no point in the intellectual masturbation it is to only read that which agrees with oneself, and now, they never address the questions where I disagree with them (to be fair, no one does).

 

Intellectual masturbation aside, Sam Harris is a better writer. He is more diplomatic in his approach.