Dawkins has a personal stake in writing about science for the public, that being that he's a scientist, and a good reason for arguing against Christians, in Britan and America they're trying to control public political policy to remove science from schools, and from the policies of government. It is an argument worth having to score smug points on Christians.
Hitchens has a personal reason for trumpeting his atheism as well. A good friend of his has lived in hiding for the past 20 years, because Muslim assassins have been trying to kill him over a book, The Satanic Verses, a sort of DaVinci Code only full of bullshit about Islam instead of Christianity.
You can make beautiful things, but unless someone fights theocrats, morallists, and zelots they might tear it all down. That's why I read books by people like Dawkins and Hitchens.
In defence of being smug to Christians
Hitchens has a personal reason for trumpeting his atheism as well. A good friend of his has lived in hiding for the past 20 years, because Muslim assassins have been trying to kill him over a book, The Satanic Verses, a sort of DaVinci Code only full of bullshit about Islam instead of Christianity.
You can make beautiful things, but unless someone fights theocrats, morallists, and zelots they might tear it all down. That's why I read books by people like Dawkins and Hitchens.