The Four Horsemen: Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris and Dennett 1/12

"In a June diary piece for his old parish the New Statesman, Christopher Hitchens explored possible monikers for the recent raft of atheist writers. He noted that as a quartet (Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris) they would inevitably attract such hackneyed shorthands as the Gang of Four or the Four Musketeers. Thus, he offered an alternative, the Four Horsemen of the Counter-Apocalypse, now refined into the more succinct Four Horsemen. Shorn of its playful end the title may only further the religious association between atheism and evil, but im just relieved that Hitchens and Harris havent been conscripted into the sickly sweet Brights favoured by Dawkins and Dennett.

It now emerges that the Four Horsemen were recently gathered at Hitchenss Washington apartment, with the two-hour discussion on religion that ensued filmed for our enjoyment. Released on DVD on January 2nd, you can view it all now courtesy of Dawkinss site.

Watching the discussion i was reminded of those collaborative Marvel comic books that crop up occasionally, Spiderman and Superman: United at last!, X-Men and the Fantastic Four join forces! Far more interesting than what the four agree on is what they dont. The differences, between Hitchens and Dawkins on the Iraq war as a secular project, and betwen Harris and the others on the relationship of atheism to Eastern spiritualism, do much to prove that the new atheists are far from a homogeneous block.

The most compelling discussion occurs when Hitchens argues that hed miss religion in a hypothetical atheist world since then the debate would end; hed have no one to refine his arguments against, no one to hone his wit in opposition to, no one to face down in swathes of smoke long after the bulk of audience have retired. It proves once more that an admiration for the dialect is one feature that remains from his Trotskyist days. An incredulous Dawkins is baffled by this stance and at a later stage Hitchens, maintaining hed like to see all the churches empty, concedes its essentially contradictory nature. Which all goes to prove that a meeting of two atheists is still likely to produce three opinions."

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• atheism
• hitchens
• dawkins
• harris
• dennett
• christopher
• richard
• sam
• dan
• four
• horsemen
• atheist

[OblivionMon]

Thank you for this. I enjoy watching four horsemen without swords, shields or horses and in this way I am certainly being metaphorical. :-P

[iDeist]

lol my pleasure, I think Hitchens carries a machine gun though haha

[OblivionMon]

He is a horrid shot though. lol Too drunk to shoot well enough :-P

[iDeist]

hahaha for sure

[petexii]

I think the biggest point of confusion is with mixing together the idea of a god creating the universe (Who knows?cares?) and a personal god involved with our current affairs who created us for a reason and will greet us in the afterlife.

I think most people just never clarify between the two, be they atheists or otherwise. We can only have opinions on the ultimate truth of god. But I think we can pretty safely say there is not a personal god.

[iDeist]

I'll put it this way, if there is a personal God, he doesn't like me too much hahaha

[burdyjames]

@keeyk118b LOL educated fools? dude you are retarded and just proved that Religion is a pile of uneducated bull shit.

[gotaiwo]

A logo that honors the efforts of the four horsemen:

search "four horsemen" on zazzle or spreadshirt

[trickjacko]

Dawkins should grow some balls and debate Dr. Craig

[BreaksFast]

@keeyk118b Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be IN DANGER OF THE FIRE OF HELL.

So, I guess I will see you in hell?

[mikecappa]

@keeyk118b how is that different from a beleiver? just opposite, you have absolutely no idea if god exists or not yet you basically owe your existence and the existance of the entire universe to him. and you have abosolutely no idea what will happen to you when you die no matter how much you beleive. "i think i can, i think i can" doesn't work in real life.

[koss121]

Sam Harris talks like EG_Idra

[russellrummage]

@keeyk118b And you are a miseducated fool. Oh, and God can suck my balls if he is all powerful.

[keeyk118b]

4 mortal men who does not know when or how they will die, speaking against God. they have already decieded that they do not want to obey God so they convince themselves that God does not exist. educated fools.