Spike and Hitchens

I’ve been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD lately. First impressions: Joss Whedon can write rings around everybody else. Second impression: Dickens lives! By that I mean, Whedon seems to have hit on Dickens’ formula. Create a character you can invest a lot of empathy in, then spend the series visiting unbearable pain on that character. Is there any end to Buffy’s World O’Hurt?

Secondarily, I note that one of Whedon’s more fetching habits is to make his villains (notably Spike) extremely perceptive. Spike, even while being the dirtbag vampire with an unbeating heart of gold very often winds up being the guy who actually knows what’s going on and tells the truth about everybody else’s situation.

I think of that when I read the following take on faith vs. Squishtianity:

Wilson isn’t one of those evasive Christians who mumble apologetically about how some of the Bible stories are really just “metaphors.” He is willing to maintain very staunchly that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and that his sacrifice redeems our state of sin, which in turn is the outcome of our rebellion against God. He doesn’t waffle when asked why God allows so much evil and suffering—of course he “allows” it since it is the inescapable state of rebellious sinners. I much prefer this sincerity to the vague and Python-esque witterings of the interfaith and ecumenical groups who barely respect their own traditions and who look upon faith as just another word for community organizing. (Incidentally, just when is President Barack Obama going to decide which church he attends?)

That is from noted atheist Fundamentalist Christopher Hitchens, whose hatred of God provides him with what Screwtape calls “the peculiar kind of clarity which Hell affords”.

It is this deep hatred of anything and everything related to the mention of God that gives Hitchens the illusory appearance of being some sort of ally to Christians enamored of End to Evil ideology, because it sometimes prompts him to denounce chicken-hearted refusals to face the obvious when jihadist violence rears its head. But make no mistake, it is his insane desire to eradicate God, not his well-balance love of truth, that fires his remarks. Christians who think he is somehow on “their side” are fooling themselves. He is a self-described enemy of God who speaks the truth much as the devil does when he mercilessly tells you that you are a sinner–and neglects other salient facts. Rather like Spike. We can and must hope for his redemption. (Hey! If you can do it with Spike, you can do it for Hitchens.) But we can’t pretend he has it merely because he affirms some aspects of foreign policy beloved to conservative hawks. Hitchens, I mean. Not Spike. 🙂