I greatly admire Christopher Hitchens as a writer of superior talent and vigor, even as I shake my head in wonder at his anti-Mother Theresa obsession. I have not met Hitchens—although I have been entertained by stories told about him by mutual acquaintances. And while I have read many of his essays that involve the theism issue, I generally watch the atheism wars from the bemused sidelines, and thus plan to miss God Is Not Great .
With that caveat in mind, Ross Douthat’s latest offering in the NYT , describing Hitchens as a political romantic rather than a warrior for scientism, seems squarely hit. From “God and the Political Romantic:”
Hitchens is never more himself (for better or worse ) than when he’s railing against the supposed cruelties of Benedict XVI, or comparing God to Kim Jong-Il. In this sense, he’s really less of an atheist than an anti-theist: Whereas Dawkins and co. are appalled by the belief in God, Hitchens is far more appalled by the idea that anyone would want to obey Him. Every true romantic needs a great foe, a worthy adversary, a villain to whose destruction he can consecrate himself. Never one for half measures, Hitchens just decided to go all the way to the top.
I am reminded of Woody Allen’s genius film, Manhattan . Toward the end, the Allen character confronts his friend Yale, who has left his wife to live with Diane Keaton. “You think you’re God!” Yale yells. “Well, I have to pattern myself after someone,” Allen replies. Interesting. Allen fights off the darkness of his atheism with biting comedy, Hitchens, nostril flaring, with prose thunderbolts.
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