Sunday, June 03, 2007

Debates Worth Reading

I have liked many of the things Christopher Hitchens has written over the past couple of years. He is articulate, witty, fearless and you know what you are reading is exactly what he thinks. His defense of the war in Iraq and scathing critique of Michael Moore are both a treat to read.

Now he has written God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. He seems to have taken on all religion, including Islamo-fascism and Christianity. Ordinarily I would be rather disappointed and leave it at that, but for the debate Christianity Today hooked up between Hitchens and Douglas Wilson, author of Letter from a Christian Citizen. What strikes me about this debate is how literate both participants are, how forthright, how much fun they seem to be having. Neither pulls any punches. They blast each other regularly, but with delightful prose. I think Wilson does a very good job of holding Hitchen's feet to the fire on the basic question of whether morality is even a legitimate term to use if there is no higher purpose in the universe.

Just read the whole thing. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.

And then, when that is all done, read the response to Hitchens' book by his brother Peter here. More great reading.