October 15, 2007
You must have meant something more intelligent
Christopher Hitchens, the former socialist and still outspoken atheist, came to speak at the annual Freedom From Religion Conference, where mockery of religion is the order of the day.
Hitchens, an Englishman with fearsome rhetorical skills, gave his hosts red meat, flaying, flambéing and lambasting believers in a speech sure to enrage peoples of all faiths.
But his audience got more than they bargained for when the subject turned to the war in Iraq and the subject of Islamist fundamentalism; the standing ovations soon petered out ...
... once Hitchens turned to rebuke the audience, mostly members of the agnostic organization Freedom From Religion Foundation, for not “coming out as atheists” and “taking on jihad” in the Middle East.
At the 30th annual FFRC conference, the author of “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything” concluded with remarks he predicted “will slightly piss you off,” saying world suffering will not end until everyone stands up against the evils and war promoted by Islam.
FFRF Co-President Dan Barker met Hitchens on stage to present him with the “Emperor Has No Clothes Award,” which recognizes public figures who “are not afraid to just tell it like it is,” according to Barker.
Responding to a question from an audience member on what he said was the futility of killing Muslims in Iraq to end extremism, Hitchens parodied:
“ ‘How does killing them lessen their numbers?’ You must have meant something more intelligent. … We worry too much in America about our ‘right’ to be in Iraq.
“Make them worry. Make them run scared. … I’m going to fight these people and every other theocrat all the way. All the way. You should be ashamed sneering at the people guarding you as you sleep.”
The group was right to award Hitchens the “Emperor Has No Clothes Award.” Love him or loathe him (often in the same paragraph!) the man is “not afraid to just tell it like it is,” no matter the audience. And despite my rejection of his monochromatic views on religion, he was -- and is -- spot on in his analysis of the challenge the West faces from the forces of the mediaeval Muslim fundamentalists.
Hitch recognizes that he and his fellow atheists will be given no quarter by the scimitar-wielding jihaids. When will his co-irreligionists get the message?
Posted by Mike Lief at October 15, 2007 07:52 AM
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