If I convert it's because it's better that a believer dies than that an atheist does.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the value of a believer's life is greater than that of an atheist, implying a hierarchy of belief.
Christopher Hitchens' quote reflects a contentious relationship between belief and atheism, positing that the death of a believer is more significant or tragic than the death of an atheist. This statement sparks discussion about the nature of faith, the meaning of life, and the morality associated with different worldviews, suggesting an inherent value placed on belief in a higher power compared to disbelief.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion on the impact of belief systems on societal values.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
But you see," said Roark quietly, "I have, let’s say, sixty years to live. Most of that time will be spent working. I’ve chosen the work I want to do. If I find no joy in it, then I’m only condemning myself to sixty years of torture. And I can find the joy only if I do my work in the best way possible to me. But the best is a matter of standards—and I set my own standards. I inherit nothing. I stand at the end of no tradition. I may, perhaps, stand at the beginning of one.
There is a tendency to seek an objective account of everything before admitting its reality.
Doesn't make any difference who we are or what we are, there's always somebody to look down on.
No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy
Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man.
The court is the bureaucracy of the law. If you bureaucratise popular justice then you give it the form of a court.
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