Every Atheist Needs: Christopher Hitchens

Yes, I know this is obvious. I know just about every atheist has already stayed up until 4 am on numerous occasions, getting all click-happy on YouTube with Hitch debates, talks and interviews. I know most of us have read his books and I know we all already adore him, miss him and praise him as often as we can. I know you know already that Every Atheist Needs Christopher Hitchens, but in light of recent events, I thought it appropriate to repeat it.

If you look up Hitchens on Wikipedia, you’ll get this description, more or less: He was a British-American author, philosopher and passionate contrarian. It’s accurate. It’s absolutely not wrong. But it doesn’t do our Hitch a lick of justice.

It amazes me the douchebaggery the Abrahamic God can get up to and still be deemed worthy of unquestioned worship, and yet Hitch, a mere mortal man who graced us with his very real presence here on Earth is a million times as great.

Your God can’t handle being insulted, poked fun at or ridiculed. Hitch welcomed it.

Your God threatens you into accepting things on faith. Hitch wanted you to seek out evidence.

Hitch was clear, blunt and straight forward when he had something to say that he thought was important. Your God is cryptic, manipulative and threatening when he has something important to say.

Hitch kept company with the most brilliant men of our time. Your God seems to have a thing for total losers.

Your God is self-involved, vengeful and hysterical. Hitch was humble, calm and reasoned.

Hitch could write. Your God had to get some near-illiterate desert dwellers to write his BS for him.

Christopher Hitchens would never have killed anyone, let alone threatened to. God on the other hand, well we all know how murdery God can get.

In short, it makes much, much more sense to worship a man like Hitch than it does God. However, since I don’t think any form of worship is healthy, I think you ought to settle for reading his works and then reading it again, and then again and again. In particular:

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

Letters to a Young Contrarian

The Portable Atheist

God is Not Great

Hitch-22

Arguably

Mortality

The world could use Hitch today. He ignored the many threats on his life from religious extremists and just repeated his criticisms of their heinous doctrines louder and louder. He never stepped back or took it easy. Until the day he died, he stood his ground, unafraid, unintimidated. He fought tooth and nail his entire life to have everyone’s freedom of speech protected, especially those with the least popular opinions.

Blasphemy. Insulting a prophet. Criticism of religious ideas. These are all our rights, he said. One of my favourite things he ever said was,

Said during a talk he gave in Canada about free speech, which is more relevant now than any other time.

The world could certainly have done with a few more years out of Hitch, but as someone tweeted me last night:

@godless_mom The we shall have to manifest and carry on the legacy — Infidelisme (@Bacardisour) January 12, 2015

So, do that. Read your Hitch books, watch your Hitch talks, and stand up to the religious bullshit that seems hell-bent on destroying humanity. Do it like you’re Hitch. Don’t back down. Don’t let them scare you. Don’t let them silence you. Let’s make Hitch proud.

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