Christopher Hitchens: a eulogy

Upon the death of Christopher Hitchens, I have been pondering the nature of the struggle for which he fought. Being one of the four horsemen of the “New Atheist” movement, Hitchens crusaded against perceived rampant ignorance and intolerance in the world which has been caused by centuries of blind religious dogma. I remember when Wired magazine ran a story about this movement several years ago. I had just gotten saved and I was reading about these guys who potentially wanted to remove children from the custody of parents who gave them a religious education. In my zealotry I was incensed. I felt like God had plucked me from my disbelief specifically to combat the propaganda of the New Atheists. This ideological campaign of mine was mostly fought on Facebook and MySpace and I have yet to have the impact of a William Lane Craig, but I like to think that I made some people think twice about Dawkins style intolerance.  

Anyway, NPR was running a little biographical tribute piece about Hitchens the other night. As the anchor was explaining that Hitchens saw his struggle as being one against blind ignorance and allegiance to an unreasonable dogma, and that Nazism, Stalinism, etcetera would fit into his definition, I realized something: I agree with him. Human ignorance and intolerance is primarily caused by blind allegiance to an unreasonable dogma. Who can disagree with this? This is a secondary cause, but it is definitely prevalent in our world and worth struggling against. In this way, I can honor the memory of Mr. Hitchens, even though he spoke so vehemently against the faith in which I believe. To anybody who will commit their life to fighting against what they perceive as the greatest evil in the world, a hearty kudos.


The difference is how we would define reasonable. Reason is an ability all human beings possess, whether or not we employ it is a different matter. However, it is not the foundation for anyone's world-view, even Hitchens’. At the base of all of our perceptions is a set of beliefs or assumptions that we, being limited in our sensory and intellectual capacity, cannot prove or disprove. This is obvious for people of faith. I will freely admit that my faith in Christ as our king, while it is well researched and considered, rests upon belief and not empirical evidence. However, I would submit that all world-views are this way. A Darwinist or a materialist can gather compelling evidence for their position, cataloging fossils and observing geological columns, but they still must trust that their dating methods are accurate and ignore the infinite number of unknown variables which they could never factor in. In addition, the claim that all of the matter in our universe has originated “ex nihilo” or out of nothing, is something they have in common with theists. However, we can explain it by our belief in an all-powerful creator. The new Atheists do not believe in this creator, so they must believe that this creation event simply happened, without a cause, and for no reason at all. This, I would submit, is as much a faith-based position as any other. 


So, that puts us all in the same boat. There are some things we can all but prove with empirical scientific measurement, and some things which we all must assume or not assume. This is actually a really good thing. If one realizes this, it affords them a sense of unity with their fellow humans, which is nary felt in these days of polarization and ideological strife.


So what function does reason serve? People, coming from many different belief systems, will employ reason and arrive at different conclusions, so what use is it? I think that if we default to reason in all situations, it will keep us out of a lot of trouble. Have you ever heard somebody say,”be reasonable!”? It is usually directed at somebody who is letting their emotions get the best of them, somebody who is allowing their irrational feelings cause them to do something which will harm themselves or others. If that person were to breathe and consider the consequences of their actions, consider the impact of their words, and consider the lessons they have learned in life and how they apply to their situation, then the outcome of their situation will probably be much more positive. So, reason should function as a way to keep us from hurting ourselves and others.  


Now, this definition does not really apply to somebody like Hitler or Charles Manson who thought it quite reasonable to commit their heinous crimes. I will explain this from my theistic viewpoint as the influence of evil. I will explain it from a secular viewpoint as the existence of sociopaths, that is, people who lack a conscience. There is really nothing we can do about these types of people. They will smile and flatter their way into power and then use that power to harm great numbers of people. They will claim belief in Christ, Krishna, or the Easter bunny if it will allow them to rise to the top. This will not change by the hands of human society and there is no foreseeable effective way to detect sociopaths en masse. Heck, they are probably running our country right now. These folks are the source of the crimes which have been committed in the name of Jesus, Darwin, and Marx. Then, foolishly, good people who would never hurt each other squabble about which ideology causes the most violence. Ideas have no hands and most reasonable people do not murder for power.


Human beings are created in the image of an all-powerful benevolent creator, whether they believe it or not. This is why we feel a pang of guilt when we lie, murder, and steal. The righteousness of God exists within us, even if we ignore it, and it is difficult to completely get around it. When we are reasonable, I believe most people will default to a position of empathy and understanding of their fellow man. When we are blinded by belief in a dogma, be it Christian or Marxist, we lose that ability to reason and thus default to out innate benevolence, and we do abhorrent things which we would never otherwise. So, I am with you Mr. Hitchens. Reason is a grand thing and I hope that people will employ it daily.


Ultimately, it will be revealed to all humanity that we have been caught in a cosmic struggle between good and evil, that deception and exploitation has been the foundation of our fallen society, and that we already have a King who will come and make things right. Until that time, the world will be a mixture of different viewpoints and belief systems; I just pray that we can all be more considerate of why we believe what we do. More thinking, less shooting.