People - Christopher Hitchens

Overview

Quotations

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Christopher Hitchens, who passed away in mid-December 2011, was a freedom-fighting skeptic, ethical journalist, anti-theist, and atheist who engaged in and won many profoundly thought provoking debates against some brilliant philosophers, influential political leaders, religious authorities, etc.  The debates often covered many important issues centred around freedom of thought, freedom of expression, compassion, human integrity, and human rights, and the stigma of religious oppression were almost always thoroughly examined and exposed by Mr. Hitchens' because his opponents often relied upon theological fallacies to justify various degrees of oppressive and/or violent restrictions on freedom.

Christopher Hitchens' famous challenge (in his own words):

"Propose a right action committed, or morally right statement made, by a believer that could not have been made, or performed, or uttered by a non-believer.  That's all you have to do."

In addition to his challenge, he usually also added "then there's a corollary challenge, which is this:  Can you imagine or can you think of, a wicked action undertaken, or a wicked statement made, by a believer because of their belief that would not be attributable to a non-believer?"

The famous challenge remains unmatched by an answer that satisfies its straight-forward and reasonable conditions while the corollary is trivially answered affirmatively by a vast array of examples, often providing deeper insight into the viability and hypocrisy of the morality emphasized by many theists.

It's also important to note that Christopher Hitchens never wanted anything abolished, rather he advocated for religion to be "domesticated."  He argued that religion will exist as long as people fear their own deaths (which many religions capitalize on in their sales pitches to prospective new members).