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=> In Which I Must Disagree With Christopher Hitchens

In Which I Must Disagree With Christopher Hitchens

Posted by atheist (Guest) - Monday, August 16 2010, 13:55:40 (UTC)
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I like the guy, a lot. Journalist and author, most recently, of "God is Not Great" in which he intelligently and completely exposes religions, also lecturer and adept at debates with defenders of Gods.
I was disappointed however by the title of the book, which is a play on Allahu Akbar, and therefore seems to single out Islam for condemnation, unfairly so I believe in light of the far greater damage Christianity has done and the greater danger it poses.

In particular was a video clip in which Hitchens lectures a Muslim on the merits of Free Speech and its central role in all Western and hence valid democracies...and how terrible it is to think that Western governments are being pressured to condemn attacks against Islam and Muhhamad contrary to the cherished principle of Freedom of Speech. While I agree completely on the value of free speech, I think Hitchens is being disingenuous, or un-historic, if he fails to recognize that free speech, while a terriific concept, has posed real dangers for Jews and now Muslims. Rather his anger should condemn Christianity for having created the atmosphere, provided the lofty justification for and abused fair speech to create an environment in which free yet slanderous speech could eventually lead to a Holocaust...and not Muslims for being afraid. Muslims can be excused for thinking the process has begun all over again, barely 70 years after the last grand pogrom, with the same sorts of lies and stereotypes being bandied about which were once directed freely at Jews (but now can´t be..."we´re SO sorry"). from a Muslim perspective Christians are quite capable of seeking to exterminate an entire religious order simply for their religion...(something Christians still try to accuse Islam of doing). After all, the Holocaust is not ancient history, not even a century old.
Seeing what Free Speech can lead to, Muslims are understandably concerned that free speech will be used again to slander another entire religion, as it already is, creating justification in the minds of enough people (after all, not ALL Christians agreed with Hitler, but enough did) for an eventual physical attack. It is not Islam´s fault, after all, that the one true, government-organized, genocidal Holocaust in modern history was brought to the world by Christians....Christians who are now singing the praises of Freedom of Speech.

But even we in the West admit that along with freedoms go responsibilities, hence we allow no one to yell "fire" in a theatre, or advertise falsely etc. If the Right would police itself, curb its rantings and ravings rather than hide them behind lofty ideals, if it would act responsibly and not include all Muslims or indict their entire religion for the crimes of a few, then free and responsible speech, as Hitchens would like, could remain invioilable. But the Right, especially those who hide behind Jesus AND the Constitution (when it suits them) are merely masking their bigotry and chauvanism so that in the process it is THEY who compromise freedom speech and not Muslims who are merely asking for fair and free speech, for reponsible and free speech.
I give Hitchens the benefit of the doubt in that his criticism of religions takes in all religions equally and that it was not his fear of Islamic fundamentalism that sparked it or led to this book and his concerns. I think not because he took off after Mother Teresa, a fraud if there ever was one, at a time when the world was tripping over itself in its rush to kneel at the feet of this "living" saint. It takes guts to expose religion and that Hitchens has.

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In Which I Must Disagree With Christopher Hitchens atheist - Monday, August 16 2010, 13:55:40 (UTC)
- Re: In Which I Must Disagree With Christopher Hitchens Rashad - 08/16 21:57

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