Christopher Hitchen's Legacy

Futile in Their Speculations . . . 

Christopher Hitchens is well on his way to canonisation amongst the high priests of Unbelief. That's expected. There is nothing untoward in honouring those who have gone before, particularly those one regards as exemplars of one's faith. 

He will no doubt enter the secular atheist pantheon as one who kept the faith, stayed true to the end, and who proved up his beliefs with a holy life.  (We use "holy" in the root sense of the word--set apart as a servant to one's truth.)  He died a particularly difficult and painful death.  We honour him for his courage.  But not his stubborn foolishness.


In the final analysis, Christopher, as with all Unbelievers passed over by the Angel of Life, could not give an account of his Unbelief.  He could not defend it in a rational coherent manner.  It was a belief to be clung to, no matter what.  The alternative was unbearable: all things lie bare and exposed before Him with Whom we have to reckon.  True, one could cloak the naked emptiness with high moral dudgeon, as a magician obscures the trick.  But only the gullible and the willing remain fooled. 

Douglas Wilson removes Christopher's cloak during a conversation at The King's College.