If Christopher Hitchens didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be able to invent him.” That blurb of praise from the novelist Ian McEwan may have helped to sell published collections of essays, but it turns out to be more true than its source perhaps intended. The late journalist and New Atheist kingpin Read more…
On December 15, 2011, Christopher Hitchens died of esophageal cancer. Some remember him as a man of the left who, after 9/11, converted to a kind of neoconservatism; others remember him as an atheist provocateur and serial blasphemer. For me, Christopher Hitchens was much more than either of these things. Read more…
The title of this book is quite provocative, inviting a potential reader to be unsure what he is going to think about it. Everyone knows that Christopher Hitchens was the champeeeen professional wrestler of atheism—no less aggressive than one of those guys, and quite a bit more articulate. So what could possibly Read more…
Of all that can transpire in a bedroom, nothing can be as titillating to the religious, or those of us who write about them, as a dying man’s conversion. Oscar Wilde’s deathbed baptism remains a coup for the Roman Catholic Church 116 years later, and an embarrassment for those who cherish his Read more…
The New York Times: If you watch one football game all year, it will probably be Sunday’s Super Bowl. And if you happen to glance at the signs held up in the end zone, at least one will probably say “John 3:16.” It is a reference to a Bible verse: “For Read more…
Being a sports fan these days almost requires a law degree. What with all the legal troubles of athletes, who can keep up? Lawyers certainly have the edge in the fantasy leagues. The rest of us keep one on retainer. Still, even they might have some difficulty predicting outcomes. Will Read more…