Wow.

Serious hat tip to Vox, who pointed out this exchange:

Maryiln Sewell: "The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?"

Christopher Hitchens: "I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian."

I have no use for Hitchens and his polemics, but I truly hope this is one of those times God used an unlikely vessel to smack someone upside the head with the truth. Since Sewell quickly changes the subject after this retort, I wonder if she felt a little like these guys...