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Entry: Hitchens Unhinged Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/hitchens_unhinged_part_i#6752 Post contents: 'I have no interest imposing my views on anyone; but I also think that silencing anyone who does want to talk about it is just as bad as someone who can’t shut up about it.' Perfect. I couldn't agree more. I wouldn't dream of trying to silence the religious, not even the fundamentalists - it's very important to know what people really think. I may think churches are silly things, but I wouldn't dream of damaging them or having them shut down and demolished. If I may elaborate on my Hegel and Marx comments. Though, of course, the great minds have all been part of this debate, have all contributed eloquently and brilliantly to it, I feel constant reference to them obfuscates a really very simple quandary: Here is the chair; there is the window. My death lies in the future. I am scared of dying and living. I dislike pain and enjoy pleasure. Life is unusual. Life is difficult. This is a very basic breakdown of my quotidian existence. Out of that morass it doesn't cross my mind for a second that I have a supernatural supervisor and that the Bible or the Koran contain the correct rules for living my life. I really barely understand how anyone could arrive at that conclusion. Truly. You are a believer. Fair enough. But you would probably join me in viewing with severe doubt the claims made by the ufologists, the scientologists, mediums and all the rest who make bold claims without offering anything like evidence. What is the real difference between someone who says that Jesus is our saviour and someone who says aliens are constantly buzzing through our skies and that the government is in collusion with them? Belief in God may very well remove some of the confusion and horror from life. But doesn’t it also remove the spice? Isn’t there something wonderful about the uncertainty and the randomness? I think there is, no matter how vile this existence can sometimes be. Sent at: 2008 05 16