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Saturday, April 03, 2010

“Ditto” to the Atheist

Christopher Hitchens got it right.

You probably won’t hear me say that too often, considering that Hitchens is a noted atheist, with best-selling books like God Is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything.

But when he was interviewed by Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell in Portland, Oregon, all I can say is “ditto” to Hitchens’ reply to one question.

Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I'm a liberal Christian, and I don't take the stories from the Scripture literally. I don't believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?

Hitchens: I would say that if you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you're really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.

Nailed it.

Happy Easter!

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