Peter Hitchens Speaks To Our Present Day: The Rage Against God

OldSouth, when he does pass over Jordan to his promised rest, has a short list of saints and heroes he wishes to look up, assuming of course, it's OK with The Owner Of The Establishment. There's a grandfather he never met, a grandmother who died in OS's infancy, another grandfather he remembers only slightly (but is the proud owner of the Shaker-style desk he worked from, and a Bible the old gent bought for him, with a prayer lovingly inscribed in his shaky hand). Bach (probably a long line outside his mansion), Handel (ditto), Luther, the Wesley Brothers, the Penitent Thief, Henry Ward Beecher (So, did he sleep with his best friend's adoring wife or no?); and near the top of the list, Malcolm Muggeridge, 1903-1990. When the old sage passed to his glorious reward, OS keenly felt that a hole had been left behind, that perhaps no one would fill those shoes, or ever again bring that keen wit and utter command of language to the defense of Christendom.

But, as an old mountain Presbyterian preacher once reminded his flock, 'God never leaves Himself without a witness'. As Muggeridge was passing, Peter Hitchens was well on his pilgrimage from atheism and Marxism to lively Christian faith. And, like Muggeridge, a close encounter with the life of despair in the Soviet Union propelled him on his way, shaping and illuminating both his conscience and considerable craft as a writer. He even shares, like Muggeridge, kinship with a luminary of the Atheist Left, his brother Christopher, which make his work all that more poignant.

OS just spent his weekend off reading The Rage Against God, and rejoiced to find that, indeed, Muggeridge's witness carries forward.

OS urges his readers to read it for themselves. The stakes for the culture have never been higher in our generation, and Peter Hitchens gives voice and shape to the challenges Christendom now faces. It is not a pleasant read, but it is vitally important.

Only one reliable force stands in the way of the power of the strong over the weak. Only one reliable force forms the foundation of the concept of the rule of law. Only one reliable force restrains the hand of the man of power. And, in an age of power-worship, the Christian religion has become the principal obstacle to the desire of earthly utopians for absolute power.

Peter Hitchens, The Rage Against God, p. 113