So this is where all the vapid talk about the 'soul' of the universe is actually headed. Once the hard-won principles of reason and science have been discredited, the world will not pass into the hands of credulous herbivores who keep crystals by their sides and swoon over the poems of Khalil Gibran. The 'vacuum' will be invaded instead by determined fundamentalists of every stripe who already know the truth by means of revelation and who actually seek real and serious power in the here and now. One thinks of the painstaking, cloud-dispelling labor of British scientists from Isaac Newton to Joseph Priestley to Charles Darwin to Ernest Rutherford to Alan Turing and Francis Crick, much of it built upon the shoulders of Galileo and Copernicus, only to see it casually slandered by a moral and intellectual weakling from the usurping House of Hanover. An awful embarrassment awaits the British if they do not declare for a republic based on verifiable laws and principles, both political and scientific.
2010 atheism britain british-monarchy british-royal-family british-scientists charles-prince-of-wales copernicus credulity darwin enlightenment ernest-rutherford francis-crick fundamentalism galileo house-of-hanover islam joseph-priestley khalil-gibran law monarchy newton politics principles reason religion republicanism revelation science scientists souls stupidity truth turing universe

About This Quote

About Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens was a 20th-century American and american author and journalist. Christopher Eric Hitchens was a British and American author and journalist. Known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, he gained prominence as a columnist and speaker. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Politics — Governance, civic duty, and the structures of power
  • Religion — Exploring belief systems, worship, and spiritual practice
  • Science — Discovery, inquiry, and the wonders of the natural world
  • Truth — Meditations on honesty, authenticity, and the search for truth

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