Everything about Christianity is contained in the pathetic image of 'the flock.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that Christianity reduces individuals to a simplistic, submissive role within a group, rather than encouraging critical thinking and individuality.
Christopher Hitchens critiques Christianity by likening its followers to a 'flock,' implying that the religion promotes conformity over individuality. He argues that this imagery reflects a broader critique of religious belief systems that prioritize blind faith and submission over personal autonomy and critical thought. By using the term 'pathetic,' he emphasizes that he views this collective identity as a weakness rather than a strength, advocating for a more independent and questioning approach to spirituality and belief.
In practice
During a debate on the influence of religion in society, this quote could be used to illustrate the importance of individuality over conformity.
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 β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve 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.
Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's. We are only noticed on the edge of things; but on the edge of things, we notice much.
Let him who wants a true church cling to the Word by which everything is upheld.
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
You can't have a value structure without a hierarchy. They're the same thing because a value structure means one thing takes precedence over another.
The Noble Eight-Fold Path is the path of living in awareness. Mindfulness is the foundation. By practicing mindfulness, you can develop concentration, which enables you to attain understanding. Thanks to right concentration, you realize right awareness, thoughts, speech, action, livelihood and effort. The understanding which develops can liberate you from every shackle of suffering and give birth to true peace and joy.
Cruelty hardens and degrades, kindness reforms and ennobles.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.