[Vision2020] It's the thought that counts

[Kenneth Marcy]

On 12/15/2012 4:21 PM, deb wrote:
> Thanks, Ken. Hitchens is one of my Heros. Nice to remind folks there 
> is another way of looking at things, particularly during the 
> "holidays". And I much enjoyed Tom's "tongue firmly in cheek" post as 
> well!

You're welcome. Today, December 15, the ides of December, a 
half-fortnight before Christmas, is the one-year anniversary of 
Hitchens' death, and it is, and may remain, a convenient reminder, as 
you suggest, that there is another way of looking at things.  Had I 
thought about it before just now, I might have stopped at the local 
dispensary and acquired a bottle of his favorite Johnny Walker Black 
Label just to offer a commemorative toast this evening.  Well, maybe 
next year.


Ken



> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kenneth Marcy" <kmmos1 at frontier.com>
> To: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
> Cc: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>; "Jeanne McHale" 
> <jeannemchale at hotmail.com>; "Fritz Knorr" <fritzknorr at gmail.com>; 
> "Lois" <loisb at q.com>
> Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2012 5:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] It's the thought that counts
>
>
>> On 12/15/2012 12:24 PM, Tom Hansen wrote:
>>
>> <[snip]>
>>
>> Alternatively, one might choose any of the fine volumes by 
>> Christopher Hitchens, especially those published more recently. Of 
>> those, one is titled Mortality, which contains the following couple 
>> of quotes:
>>
>> From page 15:
>>
>> "He (referring to Rabbi David Wolpe) has been a debating partner of 
>> mine, as have several Protestant evangelical conservatives like 
>> Pastor Douglas Wilson of the New Saint Andrews College and Larry 
>> Taunton of the Fixed Point Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama. Both 
>> wrote to say that their assemblies were praying for me. And it was to 
>> them that it first occurred to me to write back, asking: Praying for 
>> what?"
>>
>> and, from page 25, the last page of chapter II, (which contains page 
>> 15):
>>
>> "In these circumstances, the emptiness of prayer is almost the least 
>> of it. Beyond that minor futility, the religion which treats its 
>> flock as a credulous plaything offers one of the cruelest spectacles 
>> that can be imagined: a human being in fear and doubt who is openly 
>> exploited to believe in the impossible. In the argument over prayer, 
>> then, please do not be shocked if it is we atheists who wear the 
>> pitying look as any moment of moral crisis threatens to draw near."
>>
>> More of Christopher Hitchens' writings are available in bookstores 
>> both local and beyond.
>>
>>
>> Ken
>>
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