Sappy Christians and Hitchens, cont.

Yesterday at The Thinking Housewife reader Fitzgerald quoted one of my recent statements about conservatives’ and conservative Christians’ sick adoration for Christopher Hitchens, and expanded on it with further points, including this excellent insight:

The embrace of certain positions as evidence of common cause or a supposed vector for conversion I believe is more often viewed as further evidence of weakness and justifiable contempt by our enemies.

Another commenter, Mark L., felt that Fitzgerald and I had gone too far. Christians, he argued, should show the other cheek, try to convert enemies, and all that. There then ensued further discussion, with Laura Wood making several superb replies. Here are three of them (bolded emphasis by me):

I. Laura Wood replied to Mark L.:

I disagree. It is not always appropriate to try and convert someone through kindness. The warmth and receptiveness Hitchens encountered may have endangered his soul. He did not live in the wilderness where he had no access to many of the thousands of volumes of Christian apologetics. The idea that Christians who debated him were providing him with needed counsel or guidance is just plain false. He had ample opportunity to consider the counter-arguments long before he wrote his book and he had considered them. He argued that Christianity was evil. What message did Christians convey to him when they responded to his overt hatred of Christ with warmth and kindness? It suggested they were not defending something real.

II. A commenter wrote:

… And you, as an intelligent and believing woman, could come up with another dozen example of threats far more serious than that of Christopher Hitchens.

To which Laura replied:

I did not mean to suggest that he was a threat to Christianity. My point was that the way he was treated by Christians was a threat to Christianity.

III. Laura replied again to Mark L.:

The appropriate thing, beyond perhaps a few debates with him, would have been to ignore him, not necessarily to apply much heat to him (and certainly not to fear him). Those who had befriended him could have continued their own private relationships with him and they might have come to some good. But there is no reason for Christians to eulogize him now or ask for prayers for him.

The whole thread is worth reading.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 21, 2011 08:31 PM | Send