But, But, But, But...

So last night, as a change of pace, our Quaker Peace Fellowship group went to see/hear Christopher Hitchens. I thought it would be helpful to hear his articulation and understanding of how we work towards a stable, responsible, international community- especially because he sees imperialism as a good thing. I don't think he represents the majority of folks in that. Not that we don't endorse imperialism. I think most folks just don't think about the consequences or manifestations of our militarism as imperialism. He does. He calls it what it is, and endorses it. For whatever else you can say about the guy, you can't say he doesn't try for some sense of responsible thought about geopolitical concerns. That thought process seems important, especially because the majority of folks don't.

I'm not saying I endorse an imperial approach to stability or security. Only that it's important to know what thoughtful folks might say about such a thing.

For the most part I enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed how much the hipster college kids who came to hear him rail against theism were disconcerted by his support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Of course I had my own moments of embarrassment. No evening of Christopher Hitchens would be complete without some anti-theism. I have no problem with that per se. My embarrassment came from how shallow his anti-theism can be. There is nothing new, and little clever or very interesting about his case against God. Why should there be? He has no reason to be any more thoughtful about his position than he is. Most often, the God that we demonstrate as true is a pathetic laughable mess.

We demonstrate belief in a God... why am I doing that? We demonstrate belief in a god that is hardly worth the argument. That Hitchens' job is so easy is an indictment of the church.

What we do as the church reveals what we say about the god we believe in. It is that, that determines the nature and meaning of our existence and that we are able to live such shallow, petty, self-righteous, desperate lives, all the while clinging to hollow statements about the "bigness" of some Santa Claus on the other side of the moon is argument enough. We believe in a straw man.

We should thank God Hitchens is there to point that out.

ed.- The majority of folks don't seem important to me? Is that what I meant to say? Edit, man, edit.