Atheist Christopher Hitchens paid tribute to the King James Bible, offering rare praises to a book containing the Word of God.
Hitchens is the second atheist, after Richard Dawkins, to laud the KJB in honor of the 400th anniversary of the translation.
The prominent atheists recognized and expressed appreciation for its contribution to English literature.
"Though I am sometimes reluctant to admit it, there really is something 'timeless' in the Tyndale/King James synthesis," said Hitchens in his commentary featured in Vanity Fair. "For generations, it provided a common stock of references and allusions, rivaled only by Shakespeare in this respect....