Yesterday I attended a conversation between Christopher and Peter Hitchens at the Pew Center in Washington, DC. \u00a0The relationship between the two brought a certain warmth and a palpable mutual respect to the conversation that was in refreshing contrast to the series of debates that was coordinated with the release of God is Not Great<\/em>, which were often strident and filled with bitingly personal attacks. \u00a0As Peter said, \u201cWhy spoil a good argument by getting upset?\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Cromartie, who moderated the conversation, made a wise decision in introducing the brothers through, in Christopher\u2019s case, reading a review in which it was stated that it was difficult for those who disagreed with him also to dislike him \u2014 and, in Peter\u2019s case, reading an excerpt from The Rage Against God <\/em>in which Peter describes an act of brotherly (and surprisingly domestic) care from Christopher. \u00a0Cromartie, an old hand at these things, established a nice tone, and when Christopher was essentially invited to profess his love for his brother (something any good Brit would find distastefully exhibitionist), he was able to point to the excerpt from Peter\u2019s book and say, rather sheepishly, that it nicely captured their relationship.<\/p>\n Christopher, whose advanced cancer leaves him slim odds for survival, looked surprisingly good from a distance. \u00a0I even thought to myself, \u201cChristopher Hitchens looks better bald than thatch-roofed.\u201d \u00a0He had a sort of worldly, rough-hewn, Bruce Willis look to him. \u00a0Upon closer examination, however, in conversation after the event, the signs of strain were more evident. \u00a0There is so much erudition and wit, eloquence and artistry, passionate conviction and raw, brash will encased in those layers of failing flesh that it almost gave the sense that Christopher Hitchens would float to the ceiling if the cancer treatments could scrape away enough skin.<\/p>\n I shared the evening with a dear friend and returned home last night, for the burial of my wife\u2019s grandmother this morning. \u00a0The funeral, as all funerals are, was a reminder that even the best of things \u2014 and people \u2014 pass away in this world. \u00a0She was in her nineties, a kind and gentle woman who died of \u201cnatural\u201d causes \u2014 except that no death is natural, unless by nature we mean the order of the fallen world. \u00a0Death is not, at least, the end for which we were intended. \u00a0This is not the way it was supposed to be. \u00a0Death is not the end of the story, and death does not have the last word.<\/p>\n Man is such a strange creature. \u00a0Capable of such love and transcendence; capable of such violence and brutality; capable of such brilliance and creativity.<\/p>\n The question upon which the Hitchens conversation was centered was, \u201cDoes Civilization Need God?\u201d \u00a0Of course, they do not really mean God<\/em>; they mean belief in God<\/em>, or perhaps religion<\/em>. \u00a0To answer the question as posed, however\u2026<\/p>\n Yes. \u00a0All creatures and all things live and move and have their being in God. \u00a0Everything at all times depends upon God for preservation. \u00a0All that is contingently depends on That Which Is necessarily. \u00a0I know this is not how the question was intended, but it teaches us an important lesson. \u00a0We think too narrowly when we consider what needs<\/em> God or what God provides<\/em>. \u00a0If all things everywhere and always are absolutely dependent upon God for their very being, then every moment is God\u2019s gift. \u00a0If God in a single moment could withdraw his sustaining will and all things would simply cease to be \u2014 and God does not need <\/em>us, but chooses to give us to ourselves in love \u2014\u00a0then, yes, the most minute particle of time, the smallest thing, the most insignificant person and the most overlooked relationship is a gift, a sheer gift, and worthy of treasuring.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday I attended a conversation between Christopher and Peter Hitchens at the Pew Center in Washington, DC. \u00a0The relationship between the two brought a certain warmth and a palpable mutual respect to the conversation that was in refreshing contrast to the series of debates that was coordinated with the release of God is Not Great, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theological"],"yoast_head":"\n