Sunday.....Christianity.....Hitchens Vs Hitchens

There has been a spate of anti-God books in recent years and one of those was God Is Not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything written by Christopher Hitchens. A few months ago, I came across a debate on DVD between Mr. Hitchens and Reformed theologian Doug Wilson. It's the type of debate where you do not find yourself squirming in the midst of the vitriol. The two men respected each other for they recognized in each other a mind at work, even though each man considered the other's belief to be seriously flawed. Christopher Hitchens, former radical Leftist who became a strong supporter of the War in Iraq, made news last month when it was reported that he has cancer. Enter Peter Hitchens, younger brother, journalist, author and also a former rebel who had a transformation. These are brothers who never really got along, often finding themselves on the opposite sides of political issues and now on theism as Peter's new book is called The Rage Against God, How Atheism Led Me To Faith. Peter was not likable as a young man, this putting it mildly, and readily admits it. Early in the book it seemed to me  that there was something amiss in this transformation. He wrote a lot about faith but precious little of the object of the faith. Indeed, most of the book by far is about the sins of Communism and other faithless ideologies that ravaged their peoples. Much of this is a rebuttal of his brother's claims that religion causes wars. His descriptions of student life in England in the 60s and also Christians in the Soviet era, flow fast and clear. Shorter descriptions of experiences he had as a journalist in places such as Mogadishu are also vivid. Christopher went from a radical Vietnam War protester to a staunch defender of the war on terrorism. Peter went from a young boy who idolized British heroes like Churchill to an adult who feels the need and calling to tell us just how perfect they were not. In a book subtitled How Atheism Led Me To Faith the name Jesus appears in the book once, consequently George Bush's faith during his time in the White House is described as noisy religiosity. Peter's description of his conversion was cloudy by his own admittance. His love of art found him before a painting by Rogier van der Weyden called The Last Judgment. There was an epiphany as he looked at the naked bodies on the nethermost part of the painting being judged guilty. The lack of apparel was, in effect, a lack of a time period so he was now able to see himself included in that group where previously there was something about the past that excluded him today. Now it was relevant. Before he knew it, one page later to be exact, he rediscovered Christmas and tradition. That's it folks, now back to the Trotsky and his friends. The author knows English secularism very well for England is his country but misses a few things on discernment. Peter seemed to place the falling away in the 1920s and 1930s. Charles Hadddon Spurgeon was not mentioned in the book, possibly because his faith might also be noisy religiosity but Spurgeon's life and ministry were altered by the great Downgrade Controversy that was destroying the church even previous to his death in 1892. The book is an enjoyable trip through recent English history from the perspective of a rebellious young English student turned socially concerned theist but nearly, although not totally, indiscernible as to Christianity being more than just the most amenable tradition to follow. "If" Peter's conversion was a social transformation, one might wonder which brother is in a more precarious situation.