it is interesting to find that people of faith now seek defensively to say that they are no worse than fascists or Nazis or Stalinists
Interpretation
This quote critiques individuals who compare their beliefs to extreme historical regimes to justify their positions.
Christopher Hitchens highlights a paradoxical tendency among some individuals of faith who, when challenged, resort to defensively asserting that they are not as morally reprehensible as figures like fascists, Nazis, or Stalinists. This suggests a self-awareness of their beliefs, yet also a troubling effort to mitigate criticism by drawing comparisons with historically violent ideologies, rather than asserting the positive values that faith should ideally embody.
In practice
In a debate about the role of religion in society, one might reference this quote to discuss the moral implications of belief systems.
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.
The need to be right can arise from a fear of being disrespected. Or it may come out of the fear of being seen as we really are: as flawed human beings who are perfectly imperfect and full of contradictions and confusions.
Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid...He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world
He that seeks here any other thing but simply God and the salvation of his soul, will find nothing but trouble and sorrow.
Fortune raises up and fortune brings low both the man who fares well and the one who fares badly; and there is no prophet of the future for mortal men.
Thoughts can create such a barrier that even if you are standing before a beautiful flower, you will not be able to see it. Your eyes are covered with layers of thought. To experience the beauty of the flower you have to be in a state of meditation, not in a state of mentation. You have to be silent, utterly silent, not even a flicker of thought - and the beauty explodes, reaches to you from all directions. You are drowned in the beauty of a sunrise, of a starry night, of beautiful trees.
Nearly all the evils in the Church have arisen from bishops desiring power more than light. They want authority, not outlook.
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