Peter Hitchens The “Anti-Theist’s” Brother Found Faith

Millions of people knew the name of Christopher Hitchens before they knew the name of his younger brother, Peter. Ironically, both started out very much as “two peas in a pod.”

Both were writers, and both plied their trade in journalism and by writing books. Christopher had several best-selling titles and was most noted for God Is Not Great, an anti-theist tract that won wide appeal during the “new atheist” movement of the early 2000s.

Peter also wrote best-sellers, most notably his 1998 volume, The Abolition of Britain, which began with a bleak contrast between the public mourning in Britain for both Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales. His concerns were more cultural and political, the latter being poles apart from Christopher’s avowed socialist viewpoint.

It wasn’t only politics where the brothers diverged, however. As noted, Christopher, who died in 2011, was a committed anti-theist who campaigned against religious belief, saying there was “no evidence” for even the possibility of belief in God. Christopher won wide acclaim for his views from other atheists, but Peter dissented, at one point becoming estranged from his brother for several years.

Why the rift? Peter—who once said he and his brother “had grown out of the nursery myths of God, angels and Heaven. We had modern medicine, penicillin, jet engines, the Welfare State, the United Nations and ‘science,’ which explained everything that needed to be explained”—and who’d burned a Bible given him by his family in protest—found faith.

It came as the younger Hitchens drifted back to church attendance, first out of respect for tradition, then for something more. Contemplating Rogier van der Weyden’s painting “Last Judgment,” he saw himself in the images of naked sinners fleeing wrath: Peter saw his sins as worthy of judgment and punishment. If anyone needed saving, he’d later recall, it was Peter Hitchens.

Peter’s return to faith marked a shift in his journalism: He began to use Christian arguments to support and explain his political and social views. He wrote The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith, a book detailing his journey. And he speaks all over the world about his faith.

Christopher Hitchens won fame for opposing God. Peter Hitchens has found life in Christ and shares his experience with millions.

Reflect: Peter Hitchens found faith when he saw himself as a sinner deserving of judgment. Was that your experience? If so, recall how you made that realization.