Good guy, brilliant in many ways, nuts in some others.
On the big question, he was either wrong and knows it, or right and doesn’t.
RIP. I was surprised to see how young he was. My mother died of this disease so I’ve related to this story. She was a very smart heavy drinker and smoker too, but she was less cranky than Hitchens (a bit) and far more consistent in her thinking (much so).
Miss you mom!
Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Ye young debaters over the doctrine
Of the soul's immortality
I who lie here was the village atheist,
Talkative, contentious, versed in the arguments
Of the infidels.
But through a long sickness
Coughing myself to death
I read the Upanishads and the poetry of Jesus.
And they lighted a torch of hope and intuition
And desire which the Shadow,
Leading me swiftly through the caverns of darkness,
Could not extinguish.
Listen to me, ye who live in the senses
And think through the senses only:
Immortality is not a gift,
Immortality is an achievement;
And only those who strive mightily
Shall possess it.
Mr. Hitchens certainly added to the conversation.
RIP
I have heard that Mr. Hitchens made peace with God towards the end of his life? Do not know all the details though. Please fill in the details. Thanks!
Deathbed or near deathbed conversions can and do happen. You can hope.
Cancer sucks.
RIP Mr Hitchens
RIP.
If Hitchens after death is still Hitchens, he’d probably have us remember his public persona with a little bit of puzzlement, not to say unease. In the prime of life he was an atheist’s atheist, vocal yes but more to the point theatrical, cantankerously so and always barely-not-out-of-control. Who can plumb his psychology? He was the public intellectual who took no crap from anyone, and sometimes took nothing genuine either. He saw through Clintonism, famously lampooned Mother Teresa, and showed up drunk to every other interview. Oh, the humanity. As God-believing humanists we should hope the best comes true for Mr. Hitchens in the afterlife. We do. As realists we know that in our own case, as well as in Mr. Hitchens’, we must not take the better outcome for granted. So let us break new ground by avoiding the semantics of certainty when speaking of the dead. We can stomach it, and it’s the only honest way. We do not know that Mr. Hitchens is in heaven — we note his public persona with some puzzlement and unease — but we hope so.
RIP. A brilliant and witty observer of life. I will miss his contribution.
Hitchens spoke at FR's March for Justice 1n 1998. He was a lefty, but had integrity about his views,
He now knows Truth, and I hope God is merciful on his soul for his recognition at how wrong he was all these years.
May he rest in Peace.
I bet that Mother Teresa, sweet soul that she is, was the first one to come out and greet him.