Basilisa Marie Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 [quote]The publication of his 2007 book 'God Is Not Great' made him a major celebrity in his adopted homeland of the United States, and he happily took on the role of the country's best-known atheist. He maintained his devout atheism after being diagnosed with cancer in 2010, telling one interviewer: "No evidence or argument has yet been presented which would change my mind. But I like surprises."[/quote] [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16212418"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16212418[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kia ora Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I was really touched by his fight with cancer. He seemed like a very well-spoken man. I didn't agree with him on much, such as his supporting the Iraq War, but I still respected him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisa Marie Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 [quote name='Kia ora' timestamp='1324023369' post='2352115'] I was really touched by his fight with cancer. He seemed like a very well-spoken man. I didn't agree with him on much, such as his supporting the Iraq War, but I still respected him. [/quote] I doubt many of us on Phatmass would agree with much of what he believed - he was a very vocal atheist and one of the super big names of today. I hope he was surprised...by the boundless mercy of God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Sad to hear that; I disagreed with him on almost everything, but no one deserves to die that way. I hope he's surprised to, in a pleasant way instead of something less fortunate than how he died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Adam Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 God is merciful to everyone. To those who choose to reject God he mercifully allows them to flee his presence which they could not handle. The way to eternal life is narrow and while many are called, few are chosen. While no one can say where Mr. Hitchens is we do pray for his soul. It is possible he is in heaven (which is our hope), though it would be much more difficult for him living a life of such public debauchery, rejection of God and the faith, and loss of the Sacraments it is sobering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4588686 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 (edited) [url="http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/10/hitchens-201010"]http://www.vanityfai...hitchens-201010[/url] [i][color=#E00000][font=ltc-bodoni-175-1, ltc-bodoni-175-2,][size=2]W[/size][/font][/color]hen I described the tumor in my esophagus as a “blind, emotionless alien,” I suppose that even I couldn’t help awarding it some of the qualities of a living thing. This at least I know to be a mistake: an instance of the “pathetic fallacy” (angry cloud, proud mountain, presumptuous little Beaujolais) by which we ascribe animate qualities to inanimate phenomena. To exist, a cancer needs a living organism, but it cannot ever [i]become[/i] a living organism. Its whole malice—there I go again—lies in the fact that the “best” it can do is to die with its host. Either that or its host will find the measures with which to extirpate and outlive it.[/i] [i]But, as I knew before I became ill, there are some people for whom this explanation is unsatisfying. To them, a rodent carcinoma really is a dedicated, conscious agent—a slow-acting suicide-murderer—on a consecrated mission from heaven. You haven’t lived, if I can put it like this, until you have read contributions such as this on the Web sites of the faithful:[/i] [i]Who else feels Christopher Hitchens getting terminal throat cancer [[i]sic[/i]] was God’s revenge for him using his voice to blaspheme him? Atheists like to ignore FACTS. They like to act like everything is a “coincidence”. Really? It’s just a “coincidence” [that] out of any part of his body, Christopher Hitchens got cancer in the one part of his body he used for blasphemy? Yea, keep believing that Atheists. He’s going to writhe in agony and pain and wither away to nothing and then die a horrible agonizing death, and THEN comes the real fun, when he’s sent to HELLFIRE forever to be tortured and set afire.[/i] [i]There are numerous passages in holy scripture and religious tradition that for centuries made this kind of gloating into a mainstream belief. Long before it concerned me particularly I had understood the obvious objections. First, which mere primate is so beaver dam sure that he can know the mind of god? Second, would this anonymous author want his views to be read by my unoffending children, who are also being given a hard time in their way, and by the same god? Third, why not a thunderbolt for yours truly, or something similarly awe-inspiring? The vengeful deity has a sadly depleted arsenal if all he can think of is exactly the cancer that my age and former “lifestyle” would suggest that I got. Fourth, why cancer at all? Almost all men get cancer of the prostate if they live long enough: it’s an undignified thing but quite evenly distributed among saints and sinners, believers and unbelievers. If you maintain that god awards the appropriate cancers, you must also account for the numbers of infants who contract leukemia. Devout persons have died young and in pain. Bertrand Russell and Voltaire, by contrast, remained spry until the end, as many psychopathic criminals and tyrants have also done. These visitations, then, seem awfully random. While my so far uncancerous throat, let me rush to assure my Christian correspondent above, is not [i]at all[/i] the only organ with which I have blasphemed …And even if my voice goes before I do, I shall continue to write polemics against religious delusions, at least until it’s hello darkness my old friend. In which case, why not cancer of the brain? As a terrified, half-aware imbecile, I might even scream for a priest at the close of business, though I hereby state while I am still lucid that the entity thus humiliating itself would not in fact be “me.” (Bear this in mind, in case of any later rumors or fabrications.)....[/i] Edited December 16, 2011 by Hasan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4588686 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 [quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1324054384' post='2352305'] God is merciful to everyone. To those who choose to reject God he mercifully allows them to flee his presence which they could not handle. The way to eternal life is narrow and while many are called, few are chosen.[/QUOTE] Yes. With mercy like that who needs spite? [QUOTE]While no one can say where Mr. Hitchens is we do pray for his soul. It is possible he is in heaven (which is our hope), though it would be much more difficult for him living a life of such public debauchery, rejection of God and the faith, and loss of the Sacraments it is sobering. [/quote] I'd say it's actually pretty easy to figure out where Hitchens is. I think they said his body is somewhere in a hospital in Texas. There'd be Mr. Hitchens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicansoul Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 i don't think anyone should be saying why he got the type of cancer he did. that's just an emotional response... and one ought not pay much attention to emotional responses.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Random interesting factoid I learned while browsing Reddit's /r/atheism anti-Christian ranting that mourns Hitchens' death: Apparently during Mother Teresa's beatification, Christopher Hitchens was asked by the Vatican to argue against her because of his virulent hate of her and disagreements with her being a good person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 did he accept? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Yep, though he chose to represent the [url="http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=hitchens_24_2"]Devil "pro bono".[/url] In other news, [url="http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_mother-teresa-s-order-prays-for-old-foe-christopher-hitchens_1626686"]Mother Teresa's order is praying for his soul right now.[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Adam Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 [quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1324062756' post='2352336'] Yes. With mercy like that who needs spite? I'd say it's actually pretty easy to figure out where Hitchens is. I think they said his body is somewhere in a hospital in Texas. There'd be Mr. Hitchens. [/quote] So you are an atheist now and there is no soul. It's so hard to keep up with your belief of the week sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Flower Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 [quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1324062444' post='2352331'] [i]Who else feels Christopher Hitchens getting terminal throat cancer [[i]sic[/i]] was God’s revenge for him using his voice to blaspheme him? Atheists like to ignore FACTS. They like to act like everything is a “coincidence”. Really? It’s just a “coincidence” [that] out of any part of his body, Christopher Hitchens got cancer in the one part of his body he used for blasphemy? Yea, keep believing that Atheists. He’s going to writhe in agony and pain and wither away to nothing and then die a horrible agonizing death, and [b]THEN comes the real fun, when he’s sent to HELLFIRE forever to be tortured and set afire.[/b][/i] [/quote] do you really mean that? Cuz that is not christian at [i]all[/i]. Do you seriously think its fun if he spends all of eternity in agony? You should never wish that upon [i]anyone[/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilllabettt Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 ummmm LF that wasnt Hasan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy me Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 [quote name='BG45' timestamp='1324081069' post='2352440'] Yep, though he chose to represent the [url="http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=hitchens_24_2"]Devil "pro bono".[/url] In other news, [url="http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_mother-teresa-s-order-prays-for-old-foe-christopher-hitchens_1626686"]Mother Teresa's order is praying for his soul right now.[/url] [/quote] While I always found him interesting, I seldom agreed with him. I had no idea that the Vatican had called him during the canonization process for Mother Teresa. While he was famous for being an atheist, I would love to hear his take on the surprise that awaited him upon his death. I will pray for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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