Stricken with cancer and fragile from chemotherapy, author and outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens sits in an armchair before an audience and waits for the only question that can come first at such a time.Hitchens is a very smart guy, but has chosen to believe there isn't anything bigger than himself. It looks like he'll be finding out sooner than he planned whether his theories are correct or not. He doesn't seem the type who will make a death bed confession. His pride may not allow him to do anything but stick to his lifelong atheism.
"How's your health?" asks Larry Taunton, a friend who heads an Alabama-based group dedicated to defending Christianity.
"Well, I'm dying, since you asked, but so are you. I'm only doing it more rapidly," replies Hitchens, his grin faint and his voice weak and raspy. Only wisps of his dark hair remain; clothes hang on his frame.
The writer best known to believers for his 2007 book "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" has esophageal cancer, the same disease that killed his father. He is fighting it, but the 62-year-old Hitchens is realistic: At the very best, he says, his life will be shortened.
For some of his critics, it might be satisfying to see a man who has made a career of skewering organized religion switch sides near the end of his life and pray silently for help fighting a ravaging disease.
He has an opportunity: Monday has been informally proclaimed "Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day."
Christopher Hitchens won't be bowing his head, even on a day set aside just for him.
"I shall not be participating," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
And that would be a poor choice.
Posts
1 comment:
[Hitchens] has chosen to believe there isn't anything bigger than himself. ...His pride may not allow him to do anything but stick to his lifelong atheism.
This is dishonest in two ways:
First, as an atheist, you should correctly state that Hitchens doesn't believe in any gods. Phrasing it as "bigger than himself" is dishonest, because that isn't what atheist means. Plenty of atheists would consider humanity or the universe to be "bigger than themselves" while still remaining atheists.
Second, belief is not a conscious choice, as your wording of "chosen" and your snide remark about "pride" imply. Hitchens can no more "choose" to believe in a god than you could "choose" to be an atheist for an hour (and sincerely believe it; not pretend to be an atheist).
Post a Comment