I don't exaggerate by much when I say that I froze. I certainly felt a very deep pang of cold dismay...I feverishly clicked on all the links from the article and found myself on Lieutenant Daily's MySpace site, where his statement "Why I Joined" was posted....And there, at the top of the page, was a link to a passage from one of my articles, in which I poured scorn on those who were neutral about the battle for Iraq … I don't remember ever feeling, in every allowable sense of the word, quite so hollow.It's a really touching piece. Well done, Mr. Hitchens.
via From Burke to Kirk
2 comments:
Wait a second. Hitchens is the atheist blowhard, right? He is convinced that we are all just a series of soulless chemical reactions and nothing more, right? So why does the termination of a soulless chemical reaction matter? The obvious self-contradiction is breathtaking. Atheists should not be allowed to use qualitative judgment words like "good" and "bad" and "happy" and "sad." Hitchens and his ilk are fond of explaining that all of our emotions and supernatural experiences are nothing more than neural twitches that have evolved to help us survive and breed, and all silly notions about "good" and "valor" and "right" and "wrong" etc. are nothing more than hereditary or cultural impulses. They say there is not really any spiritual or supernatural dimension to man. We are but complicated descendants of bacteria. So stop whining Christopher. In 10 trillion years, which is a blink of an eye really, we'll all be long gone and no one and no thing will remember us. The universe will be a series of cold rocks. Admit that nothing about this soldier's life mattered one bit. Or else admit that there is something transcendant about human life.
sh --
You can believe that life is precious without believing that we are the special creation of an omniscient, sentient, personal God.
I've never in my life met (or read anything by) an atheist who believed human life was meaningless. The fact that there is nothing at the end of this current existence puts even more responsibility on us as individuals to live moral lives and do our part to alleviate suffering and injustice in the world.
I don't at all understand your reaction. You're upset that Hitchens is sorry about this boy's death? Perhaps this soldier's life WON'T matter one bit in 10 trillion years. But it obviously matters now. To his family, to the Iraqis he helped, to the men he serve with and, thanks to Hitchens, to those of us who read the article and learn about him.
Post a Comment