Reflections on Faith and Fear: The Hitchens Brothers

Christopher Hitchens was known for his strong criticism of Christianity, but his particular aversion to the concept of hell stood out. He viewed it as a reduction of faith to fear, transforming God into an entity of intimidation rather than one worthy of love and respect. To him, a deity that threatened eternal damnation was not deserving of admiration.

He also recognized that discussing hell could effectively unsettle Christians, who often seemed bewildered by the religion’s harsher doctrines.

“I am no longer shocked by the realization that I might be judged,” he stated candidly. This acknowledgment had been apparent to him for quite some time.

In contrast, Peter Hitchens found himself returning to his Anglican roots, driven by a visceral and desperate kind of fear. While he mirrored his brother’s intellectual sophistication, it was fear that ultimately led him back to religion.

He admitted in his memoir, “Anger at God,” that he felt no shame in confessing that fear influenced his return to faith. His experiences in life, from motorcycle accidents to hostile environments while reporting, taught him to view fear as a valuable tool—a means to sharpen his focus on survival. It made him ponder if it might also clarify matters of the soul.

Confronting the Unseen

The pivotal moment for Peter didn’t occur in a war zone but during a vacation in Burgundy with a girlfriend. He took a short cultural detour and found himself unprepared for the emotional impact of standing before the Beaune Altarpiece, a work by the 15th-century artist Roger van der Weyden. Rather than being detached from its subjects, he was confronted with a sense of immediate relevance.

The figures depicted seemed startlingly contemporary, reflecting not a distant time but people he recognized as part of his own generation. One image haunted him: a person who appeared to writhe in fear, “vomiting with shock at the sound of the last trumpet.”

The Weight of Judgment

This experience forced Peter to face what he had tried to ignore: that the Christian interpretation of judgment might not be merely a relic but a genuine reflection of reality.

Raised in the Church of England, Christopher veered into atheism as a teenager during a period of youthful rebellion. He believed in the power of reason and progressive thought to uphold a moral framework far superior to any religion. Like many of his peers, he felt that the loss of Christianity would carry little consequence.

However, his encounters with reality—especially in the Soviet bloc—eroded that belief. Instead of liberation, he found systems that replaced old moralities with oppression. Those ideologies, far from guaranteeing goodness, exposed the fragility of moral claims that lacked a foundation beyond raw power.

Hitchens experienced, in his 30s, that familiar tension of conscience that he had long suppressed.

Awakening to Accountability

“I am no longer shocked by the realization that I might be judged,” he reiterated, reflecting his evolving perspective. Although this realization didn’t instantly convert him, it did reshape his approach to life. A year later, facing a moral dilemma, he recognized the lingering fear of wrongdoing within him, attributing a moment of restraint to that powerful experience with van der Weyden’s work.

His return to Christianity wasn’t driven by a desire for comfort. Rather, he embarked on a realist examination of moral truth, understanding that this reality was something we cannot fabricate or evade. This concept struck him as both difficult to accept and yet crucial to acknowledge. It revealed how rejecting God can often stem more from wishful thinking than clear reasoning.

The Questions That Endure

That belief has since influenced his public persona. Today, Christopher advocates for Christianity not as a personal tenet but as a framework for understanding justice, worth, and human accountability. Without it, he contends, chaos and compulsion replace genuine freedom.

While one brother stands as a leading voice for atheism, the other passionately defends the dwindling Christian customs in Britain. Despite their contrasting views, they share a commitment to questioning the prevailing assumptions of modern life that suggest faith is a mere option.

The significance of this debate resonates deeply for both Peter and Christopher Hitchens. Ignoring it, they warn, leads us to a metaphorical hell—a state of disarray both in this life and the next. True wisdom, they suggest, lies in confronting these challenges head-on, initiating a journey towards understanding.