Hitchens on Hanukkah
Christopher Hitchens has some remarks at Slate that are sure to get some panties in a twist, calling Hanukkah "not the ignition of a light but the imposition of theocratic darkness" and declaring that "when Judaism repudiated Athens for Jerusalem, the development of the whole of humanity was terribly retarded." Hitchens' sarcasm is on full display when he notes that "one stands aghast at the pathetic scale of the supposed 'miracle:'"
As a consequence of the successful Maccabean revolt against Hellenism, so it is said, a puddle of olive oil that should have lasted only for one day managed to burn for eight days. Wow! Certain proof, not just of an Almighty, but of an Almighty with a special fondness for fundamentalists. Epicurus and Democritus had brilliantly discovered that the world was made up of atoms, but who cares about a mere fact like that when there is miraculous oil to be goggled at by credulous peasants?
I'm tempted to send him a congratulatory bottle of Johnnie Walker Black.