of course everything he says about falwell is true, but he's a hypocrite because he believes in telling lies to children about evil muslims being behind 9/11. jackass drunks can get away with anything as long as they sound british and well educated!

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freakin hippocryte

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Hitchens should move to the inchoate Republic of Kurdistan. We've had too much of him here already.

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There is a special place in Hell for Falwell, Swaggert...and George W. Bush. May they all end up in agony together. They have made the world (especially the USA and Iraq) Hell on earth, they deserve it. Anyone who listens to these jerks deserves to be right along with them. Conservatives in any religion or political ideology (including the Neocons) are evil.

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Hitchens is an interesting, conflicted guy. I whole heartily delight in his attacks on organized Bible Pounding assholes and appreciate his ability to put all that indulge in this cross-wearing freako business including Bush into the same pot of stew. Bible thumping panders to the most imbecilic of our citizens and, God knows, there are a lot of them.

But his position of supporting unprovoked war in Iraq sucks. No amount of his defining Saddam as the anti-christ could justify our bestial reduction of Iraq to a bloody soggy field of carnage and bodies. This onerous position, I agree, outweighs his ability to lay into the Bible Thumpers. The Jury is Out on this strange person!

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... so this is what Chris is writing now? Why? Oh right, money.

Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberson, Ted Haggart, Jimmy Swaggart and their 'tele-evangelist' ilk don't need to be called merely charlatans and liars, this is evident. That they are anti-semitic is true indeed. But there is no need to attack these men and their institutions with just accusations of disingeniousnesses. It's just throwing stones.

Why Americans allow such people to flourish into a billion dollar industry with universities, TV networks, government appointments (thanks Gonzales!), and given aid money instead of the Red Cross during Katrina (the Christian Coalition... there's a story there. Follow the $) let alone allow such TV preachers to ask for money to 'save ones soul' is usury at best, and an old scam at least. Getting little old ladies to cough up their cheques... begs more than a few questions about the morals present all 'round.

btw, I think Chris is being hard on Billy Graham? He at least sheepishly denounced anti-semitism did he not? And as far as I know, Billy asks for donations to his church, not money "or you're going to hell" as the others do.

But I am not up on these things really. At least, I'm pretty sure it's not a massive danger to society (unless you consider the mess that is the US today a result of neocon pandering to fundamentalists I suppose) as Chris insists *chuckle*, only a danger if used by Washington sycophants as an excuse to go on a "crusade"/war... if you get me. ;p

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.
I do agree with Hitchens here. And he does criticize Jerry Falwell very well. Even Hitchens' tone of loosely disciplined verbal outrage is justified by the informative points he makes.

Yet I cannot but reflect that Hitchens is himself an instance of his own complaint "that you can get away with the most extraordinary offences to morality and to truth in this country if you'll just get yourself called reverend" or - in Hitchens' case - a CNN-pundit.

Maybe, just maybe, exactly his own brand of bombastic, vitriolic rant is what's wrong with "this country". Maybe Hitchens is in a class with Falwell in this. Maybe a less bombastic, more questioningly open attitude is what the USA now needs as the main tone in "this country", in order to regain its lost respect in the world.

Maybe the USA’s love of metaphorically hammering the fist down and hollering: “This is how it is!” – as reflected in the exchanges of the public discourse – is a major source of problems in today’s world.

Hitchens' bombastic style - e.g. in referring to "fascism with an Islamic face" - itself becomes a reason why listening for finer points, tentative suggestions that often bring new info, is closed off. The feeling bombastic statements provides of "take that!" is so seductive, and so destructive. Maybe the loudness of that rhetorical style has made whole countries partly deaf – to reality and to truth.

It is lovely and beguiling to listen to someone who's soothingly free of doubts. Yet that is a seduction, when it is out of proportion with the facts of the matter discussed. In today's increasingly interrelated world few matters are free from doubt and necessary caveats.

We need strong words in the world today, in order for all to notice clearly. But those strong words must be equally strongly connected to facts and proportions of circumstances. Both the absolute, factual truth and the relative, circumstantial truth must be strongly adhered to and presented in our common attention, which the mainstream media news amounts to.

I’m not sure Hitchens’ style contributes well to this, however much I agree with his condemnation of Falwell. That condemnation is still, after all, an easy shot.

Ole Ullern

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www.redstateupdate.net
frequently focusing on flatulent fundamentalist, be they religious or political,
see stories in the fun d' mental archive:
http://www.redstateupdate.net/fun-d-mental/fundmental.html

"I don't know what's worse, a preacher fooling with politics, or a politician fooling with religion" g singlaub

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I can say this, you people that want to bash Jerry Falwell should be ashamed. You have no right to judge him. I think he was a good man. I didn't always agree with the way he handled himself but I still think his intentions were honorable. I would be careful in slandering God's children. It isn't for me to judge, nor anyone else here. .

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If I believed like Hitchins does I would go and blow my brains out today. He has no hope, but those that believe in Christ have a hope. Praise God for this hope. The look on Hitchins face is one of emptiness. He is a man that is miserable and has no hope, still God loves him. He can't see this but it is still a fact. Nothing can change this!!! He will acknowledge God someday and he will say " Dear God I am sorry for not believing in you". Sadly it will be to late. Time will tell the truth. I would rather be on the side of trust and belief than to think that all I will ever have to look foward to hateful and cruel people like Hitchins. Whatever has happened in his life to get him to this place is a shame. God bless his soul .

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