WWHD. That’s what I think whenever something crops up in the news that needs a contrarian perspective. What Would Hitchens Do?

Islam’s increasing dominance in international and domestic news is certainly worthy of a Hitchslap, the term Christopher Hitchens' admirers used to explain how his great speaking skills left his opponents scrambling for words.

After years of hard living, this prolific British-born writer and most enthusiastic of happy warriors died on Dec. 15, 2011.

His last major Canadian appearance was debating Tony Blair in Toronto in late 2010 on the subject: “Has religion been a force for good in the world?”

Blair, argued yes. And though Hitchens was weak from chemotherapy, he still had no problem besting the former British PM.

But every year around this time I return to a lesser known event that I had the great fortune of attending in 2006 – Hitchens lecturing on free speech and Islam at Toronto’s Hart House. (It’s on YouTube. Check it out. Please.)

It’s his greatest of hits, which is saying a lot because he had many.

Perhaps the most regressive progress made by our politically correct culture, one that’s worsened since the author of God Is Not Great died, is how much we coddle religion today.

Hitchens nailed it when, almost a decade ago, he said: “The word Islamophobia in fact is beginning to acquire the opprobrium that was once reserved for racial prejudice. This is a subtle and very nasty insinuation that needs to be met head on.”

Religions are ideas. What good are ideas if we can’t debate them?

Beneath the shaming of Donald Trump, beneath the denunciations of Stephen Harper’s citizenship oath niqab law, is the implication that it’s not just wrong to indulge in excessive mistreatment of a religion, but that it’s wrong to publicly challenge it at all.

While we used to stress the importance of religious “tolerance” – articulated by philosopher John Locke in 1689 – that’s shape-shifted into mandating “respect” for religion. Even, apparently, its least respectable parts.

The freedom of religion mantra has expanded so wide it's snuffing out the equally important freedom from religion.

“What is hate speech? It’s speech I hate!” goes the unspoken motto of the new left.

I hold what I consider to be the quite reasonable view that Muhammad did not in fact receive the last revelation of god from the archangel Gabriel while he was conveniently alone in the desert, without witnesses to corroborate his extraordinary claim.

Yet try saying this while in line for a latte and watch the fingers wag.

Hitchens’ other slam-dunk quotable from that evening: “Not all monotheisms are exactly the same at this moment. They’re all based on the same illusion, they’re all plagiarisms of each other. But there’s one in particular that’s posing a serious menace not just to freedom of speech and freedom of expression but to quite a lot of other freedoms too.” The culprit? You guessed it: Militant Islam.

The more religion’s inadequacies become apparent, the more we seek to shield the adherents from even hearing such criticisms.

Now this is selectively applied of course. It’s considered good sport to beat Christianity to a pulp in pop culture, which is fair game but more than a bit inconsistent when compared to how Islam in the West is enveloped in a “safe space”.

A bit rich considering that Wahhabi Islam -- on which Hitchens’ honed his critique that evening -- is the most supremacist and intolerant mainstream religious sect in the world today. That’s the one that could benefit from greater teasing.

It’s what I’m reminded of whenever I revisit that video: It's OK to criticize religion more. In fact, we'd be better off for it.