Christopher Hitchens

Last Updated on 2022-07-08 by Joop Beris

I have mentioned Christopher Hitchens here before. By the time I had heard about him, checked out Youtube videos showing him debating theists and others, he had sadly already passed away some months before. I say sadly because when I listened to him debating people with his style, his eloquence and his unrelenting exposure of his oppononents’ assumptions, misunderstandings, strawmen or lies, I immediately took a liking to him.

Well, not immediately. I admit that at first, I thought he was arrogant and a know-it-all. Still, there was some reason I kept clicking on related videos and before I knew it, I found that almost 2 hours had passed and my opinion of him had changed. Yes, there was perhaps a touch of arrogance about him but he made so much sense and he made sense using such eloquent phrases, dry wit and scathing sarcasm. I had gained a lot of respect for him. So much so, that I started reading more about him and I quickly learned about his writing on Henry Kissinger and Mother Teresa. I then had to read his book entitled “God is not great“, which I felt was very well written and very convincing.

Despite never having met him, I respect him for his fearlessness in the face of tyranny, his willingness to say things that others would rather leave unsaid and his unrelenting dedication to truth and understanding. He’s become a personal hero of mine.