Although the site is called OrthodoxyToday.org, anyone who thinks clearly is represented here. If an article is compelling, if it employs sound moral thinking and analysis, it’s worth reading, in my opinion. You may notice however, that most authors don’t think in a spiritual vacuum. They recognize a touchstone higher than themselves. ~Fr. Johannes Jacobse, Orthodoxy Today

Orthodoxy Today is one of the more prominent pages of online commentary connected to Orthodoxy in America. As such, there are certain things one expects to find there and others one expects never to find there. One does not expect to find any writing by avowedly anti-Christian bigots, who ought to be persona non grata in any enterprise concerned with moral renewal or the revival of Western culture.

Orthodoxy Today is not exclusively an Orthodox enterprise, of course, and claims in its mission statement to serve readers interested in “articles that bring a moral perspective to pressing cultural questions.” But one might ask, which moral perspective? I opened the page today, to which I have hesitantly linked Eunomia, to find not just George Weigel (which comes on the heels of a link last month to the ridiculous Michael Novak), whose presence might be understandable on certain issues, but also the appalling Christopher Hitchens. Orthodoxy Today does not claim to be a clearinghouse of Christophobes such as Mr. Hitchens, even when he waxes indignant about the oppression in North Korea.

Mr. Hitchens might happen to be perfectly correct about the moral horror of the North Korean regime, and still I wouldn’t waste my time on such a dreadful, anti-Christian person, much less would I associate my site with anything of his, unless it was to criticise and oppose something he wrote. Perhaps this is to be rather inflexible about what constitutes “sound moral thinking and analysis,” but it is fair to say a priori that Mr. Hitchens usually lacks sound moral thinking and analysis. One would think a despicable anti-Christian leftist would not be capable of representing any kind of morality welcome to an Orthodox audience. It is only slightly better when it comes to the prophets of aggressive war, Weigel and Novak, but at least here their relatively sensible contributions have been related to religious and cultural matters instead of their heinous politics and foreign policy views.

If Orthodoxy Today claimed to be a place where various, more specifically political views were presented to the public, there might be less reason to complain about including Hitchens. But why associate one of the most visible sites dedicated to Orthodox commentary with men who are clearly neocons, who are nearly as far from an Orthodox or generally moral view of the world as it is possible to be, especially when it comes to one of their most disreputable and offensive representatives?