Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Parabasis: Here's An Example of Why Hitchens Is A Bad Spokesman For Secularists:

It's also weird because you don't have to make up a story (or distort one) to make it obvious that Rick Warren thinks Jews are going to Hell.  It's a fundamental part of Born Again theology that most people are going to hell.  It's a fundamental part of many Christian and Islamic theologies, for that matter. It's a pretty mainstream belief that someone of another faith (or lack thereof) is going to hell. It's hateful and bigoted, yes, but it hardly makes Rick Warren special.

It goes on and on like this, and it's kind of unfortunate.  There's a really good very obvious case to make against Rick Warren.  You don't have to distort anything to make it happen, but Hitchens just can't help being sloppy because it makes for compelling copy.  He's a showman who is treated like a public intellectual, it's very disappointing that he's given so many high profile outlets to peddle his PT Barnum of Argument act.