Is there anyone out there who still doubts that atheists, secularists and non-believers are targets of hate and discrimination?
(Take a breath, that’s rhetorical.)
One of the interesting side effects of Christopher Hitchens’ death has been the complete validation of his activism by the response to said death. On one hand, you have the preachers and fundamentalist bloggers and media figures lining up with their condescending “I-told-you-so” statements. They simultaneously pretend to care about his fate, while barely being able to conceal their glee about the belief that he’s being tortured forever for disagreeing with them. Then, in the same breath, they turn their self-satisfaction on their audience and threaten them with the same hellfire ultimatum, proclaiming it to be an act of love.
While Sam, Libbie and I eulogized Hitch on our last episode, and joined the crew in raising a glass of Johnnie Walker Black to his memory at the post-show dinner, many others have been honoring his legacy on Twitter.
Until a couple of days ago, #GodIsNotGreat was trending on Twitter, as a tribute to Christopher Hitchens’ 2007 bestselling book. Not everyone was happy about this.
In fact, there were hundreds of such posts, threatening death, beatings and bad grammar on the people responsible for the trend. It never ceases to amaze me how the people most likely to say that Christians have a monopoly on moral behavior are often the quickest to threaten violence when someone disagrees with them.
Ironically, all of their bitching and violent only helped it trend even more. I think Hitch would have appreciated that.
