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Chapter 24 - The Real Hitch

Did Christopher Hitchens Really Keep Two Sets of Books About His Beliefs?

from Part V - Transcendent Thinkers: Reflections on Controversial Intellectuals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2020

Michael Shermer
Affiliation:
Chapman University, California
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Summary

Two events led to two essays related to Christopher Hitchens stitched into one here : (1) a book published after his death claiming that Hitch kept “two sets of books” about his religious beliefs – his public set as an atheist and his private set flirting with believing in God and religious faith; (2) Hitch’s death on December 15, 2011. My motives for each are self-evident within. so let me add parenthetically here that eight years on after he left us, Hitch’s voice is needed now more than ever. He was such a penetrating thinker on the deepest questions of our time. We live in troubled times; then again, Hitch lived in troubled times, and his stabilizing voice of reason and rationality gave us a deeper understanding of what was going on in our world, and lacking that intellectual foundation on which to rest our anxious souls only adds to the grief those of us who knew him already feel.

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Chapter
Information
Giving the Devil his Due
Reflections of a Scientific Humanist
, pp. 276 - 286
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Real Hitch
  • Michael Shermer, Chapman University, California
  • Book: Giving the Devil his Due
  • Online publication: 28 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108779395.025
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  • The Real Hitch
  • Michael Shermer, Chapman University, California
  • Book: Giving the Devil his Due
  • Online publication: 28 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108779395.025
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Real Hitch
  • Michael Shermer, Chapman University, California
  • Book: Giving the Devil his Due
  • Online publication: 28 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108779395.025
Available formats
×