On hearing that Christopher Hitchens had been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, one response from a self-proclaimed man of god was the following post on Twitter: “God 1, Hitchens 0”. The motivation for such a callous response to a usually fatal disease (fewer than 5% of sufferers are alive after 5 years) is easy enough to trace: Hitchens, along with Dennett, Dawkins and Sam Harris, is one of the “4 Horsemen” of a groundswell of resistance to the unreason that is exemplified by religious faith, and he is thus a direct threat to the mysterious legitimacy that faith-based claims enjoy.
What our divine scorekeeper does not (of course) dwell on is the fact that according to his beliefs, all deaths are attributable to god, and that he could therefore just as well add another notch to this metaphysical bedpost if his mother, for example, were to die an equally unpleasant death. God’s victory is inevitable, as either she takes a believer “home”, or she smites down an unbeliever. Either way, a civilised response to human trauma is sympathy, rather than gloating.
The nonsense that religious people (and institutions) produce is unbeatable.
I have never ceased to be amazed at the ‘holier-than-thou’ attitudes that these people take, whilst, at the same time, saying and doing things that no rational person would ever dare.
Funny, isn’t it, that, despite zealot claims to the contrary, it is usually those, having rejected religion, who actually think about the consequences of their words and actions, whilst others, having embraced a faith-based ‘divine’ morality, flagrantly disregard the feelings of and consequences for others, causing more harm/hurt than any ‘non-believer’ would be capable.
The tide will eventually turn and History will look back on fundamentalism with the contempt that it, certainly, deserves. I just hope to see the day when this is so.