Vanity Fair has said its own goodbye; even the Conde Nasties mourn at such a time.
This one is very, very hard; I’m trying to remember the last time I cried at the death of a public figure.
That man was made of class, and I say that as a Christian who read God Is Not Great all the way through, cover to cover. And liked it.
* * * * *
So much about the afterlife is intrinsically unknowable, but I’m pretty convinced that Mr. Christopher Hitchens did not go to the same place as those who perpetrated real evil in this world.
Does that mean that I believe in some type of purgatory?—a place wherein people can learn to know that God is real, and love God? I suppose I do.
And yet I cannot buy the Almighty as a dispenser of cheap cosmic justice, either.
One is left, at such times, with the inadequacy of what we can truly grasp about the larger scheme of things.
I believe absolutely in salvation by grace, and yet I believe that fundamental human goodness will not be disregarded in the Final Judgement. My theology thus balances on the edge of a very, very sharp knife. It must, as most of my near and dear have no particular religious beliefs, and my family is composed mostly of atheists—even the Unitarians are lapsed (if such a thing is even possible).
And, yes: Mr. Hitchens is no longer in a position to be annoyed by it, or ambivalent about it: So, please, pray for him. Light a candle if you’re Catholic.
This amazing writer was fearless. And smart. And from what I could see, a good, decent man who stared death in the face and remained just as decent as he had been before, albeit in much more pain.
Goodbye, Mr. H. You will be sorely, sorely missed.
UPDATE: I wrote to AllahP about this first, in case he hadn’t seen. But of course he had. This is his own goodbye. The money quote?
Hitchens being Hitchens, I wonder which he anticipated more eagerly — the end of the pain or finally knowing if he was right about you know what. I suspect he was right. I hope we’re both wrong.
It’s fundamentally unknowable, and at the same time I advocate for faith I’m deeply opposed to superstition. Which has me teetering on an even shaper blade, of course.
UPDATE II: Ace shares a couple of recollections about the hard-drinking, eternally smoking writer he went to Syria with several years ago.
UPDATE III: One of Hitchens’ finest—and raciest—essays concerned the link between Americana and . . . um, male-recipient oral-pleasuring. (I am trying not to be a hypocrite, and I’m always nagging the guys about using indelicate language, especially on front-page stories.)
UPDATE IV: The Memeorandum thread.
UPDATE V: Richard Fernandez (aka Wretchard) has a word or two, and Michelle Malkin remembers “An Atheist Christmas.”
UPDATE VI: More from The Anchoress, who has apparently spaced on all that good advice she once gave to a hapless convert; she forgot that I’m Roman Catholic.
I suppose, given how interdenominational I try to keep my spiritual writing and my Bible Studies, it’s a sort-of compliment that she forgot. But why, if I weren’t Catholic, would I have suggested that people light candles for Mr. H? Oh, Lizzy Lizzy—what am I to do with you?
UPDATE VIII: And now Gerard has made me cry all over again.
UPDATE IV: Do not miss this one: the great Rich Miniter shares his recollections with us, courtesy of Forbes.
UPDATE X: Peter Hitchens, who found out first via the radio—a hazard when one’s older sibling is that well-known, there is a large “pond” in the way, and the time zones are not favorable. And a nice piece by David Frum.
UPDATE XI: There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy.
- Excited
- Angry
- Not as Angry
- Bored
- Indifferent
- Sad
I agreed with him maybe a third of the time, and it was always about national security. But dang–he was such a good WRITER!
It’s so sad to see him go.
“So much about the afterlife is intrinsically unknowable,”
Correction: EVERYTHING about the afterlife is intrinsically unknowable.
This is a great quote that works for all. I borrow it from Robert Duvall’s character in Broken Trail:
We’re all travelers in this world. From the sweet grass to the packing house. Birth ’til death. We travel between the eternities.
Goodbye Christopher. We are all travelers on the same trail. And in the end, we will be remembered not for what we believe but what we did on the journey.
Hitchens was a brave and honest man and an intellectual giant that one can’t help but like, but I REALLY resent the idea that the first commandment is “cheap cosmic justice”
I seem to recall (and correct me if I’m wrong) that Hitchens once said that if he was wrong about God he would prefer damnation as he considered the whole concept dictatorial.
Heaven and Hell are all about choices as is the choice to follow Christ. Hitchens not only made his choice but publicly encouraged others to make the same choice.
And unlike others he could not claim to not understand religion or the Gospels. He had a clear understanding and rejected it.
There is a reason why Pride is at the top of the list of deadly sins.
All that being said, if for whatever reason the Lord chooses to show Chris the mercy that he eschewed and did his best to cause others to reject I certainly have no objection, needing the mercy of God I would not deny it to anyone, particularly to a person I like and admire.
That is not what I said, Peter. I was rejecting the notion that in the afterlife all wrongs on this earth will be righted–that the afterlife will make life perfectly fair in the way people yearn to see but realize (if they are adults) cannot quite happen.
And I suppose it’s possible that some people took his skeptical writing very seriously who weren’t already on one side of the fence or the other—but I tend to doubt it. The false teachers do much, much more harm than those who honestly share their unbelief.
Who knows what thoughts might have gone through the great man’s mind at the last moment? There might even have been . . . prayer. Anything is possible.
I stand corrected, I apologize for misreading you, my error
And yet I cannot buy the Almighty as a dispenser of cheap cosmic justice, either.
Hitch spent his life denying the existence of the Almighty, rejecting the gift of salvation. Unless he did have a ‘Come to Jesus’ in the last moment of his life, why would God offer to save his soul?
I’m not saying God is petty but how many times did someone want to talk to him about faith and Hitchens refused?
I don’t believe Hitchens ever refused to talk about faith; he discussed it a great deal–debated his brother, debated Tony Blair, wrote a book. He was very very concerned about it.
Sorry, I meant he refused the choice of faith in God.
I guess he clung to his faith in atheism to the end.
Perhaps. Do you have vedeotape of his last moments?
He was “made of class”? You must not know the meaning of the word. Read his obituaries, for heaven’s sake. Nobody “made of class” writes with such hate and vitriol about public figures on the occasion of their deaths–including Mother Theresa.
Christians are simply too stupid and sentimental to survive, if the reaction to Hitchens’ death is anything to go on. “Made of class”? Come ON. He was as classless as it is possible to be.
The Mother Teresa thing was unfortunate, and it is a black mark on his record.
And yet we all depended on his insights on the Middle East, and his clear thinking about national security.
And what he endured when he broke with the orthodox left would have driven a weaker man crazy—but he took it in stride.
I’m Eastern Orthodox. We believe that God, alone, knows the truly righteous. Frankly, I suspect God will be more merciful to him than we will.
Yes DaveC, why would God want to save the soul of a nonbeliever? There in a nutshell is the problem for us atheists. It would be a spiteful God that would withold salvation from a good man like Christopher. If God does exist, he has indeed picked a sorry bunch of priests to give us his words
gazzer – we Papists believe that God is an All-Merciful dispenser of Justice. He prefers Mercy and wants ALL souls to attain to the promises of the Christ. In fact, the soul itself chooses his doom. It is God’s wish that ALL be saved. If the soul’s disposition is such that it chooses its ego-need to out-run what is good for it, then God will not stop that soul from going where it wishes most to go.
In fact, part of Catholic Doctrine is that God’s ways cannot be fully known by man… but that ALL souls, whether past, present or future, whether prior to the Word or after Him – or even those who have never heard the Word… are desired by God – who created each and every one out of Love.
As for the picking “such a sorry bunch of priests to give us his words” – I am sorry you feel that way and will pray for your conversion. Because I want what God wants. And God wants you.
All of us were unbelievers at some point.
Some of use chose to follow God, others– like Hitch– emphatically didn’t.
I wonder about ghosts at times like these. We know that God is the most creative thinker in the universe and that what we are allowed to know both via the tools we are given and by revelation cannot scratch the surface of the reality that awaits us on the other side. We realize that there is the possibility of a purgatorial state. Could there be more? We all know of stories of ghosts who walk the earth not knowing that they are dead, and we realize that there might be worlds where they could go in this state unaware of the fact that it might be a further trial of spiritual worthiness. If he is in such a place now I hope he makes the right decisions this time.
“finally knowing if he was right about you know what. I suspect he was right.”
Alas, the curse here is that if you are “right” you’ll never know it. Only if you are “wrong” can you know.
Yes. If they are right, it’s game over within minutes after the last heartbeat.
Christopher Hitchens, to his eternal astonishment, will be welcomed at the pearly gates and walk into paradise. To paraphrase Lewis, he was really serving Aslan all along.
Much as I admire Hitchens for his intellect, I find it hard to believe that all of his atheistic writings were in the service of God.
Still, God is, whether Hitchens or Harris or Dennett believe in Him or not.
IF “a Unitarian is the man who believes in, at most, one God,” then it is possible to become a lapsed Unitarian, I suppose, should even that possibility be foreclosed. (Can anyone give me a citation for this wry definition, whose source I quite forget?)
I’ve never heard an attribution for it. This one is apparently from Garrison Keillor—that in some parts the Unitarians are so militant that they burn question marks on people’s lawns.
Christopher Hitchens was in no way a conservative. But, he was consistent.
And, he destroyed MP George Galloway:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6804714963382152969#
For that, and his defense of humanity in general, he shall be remembered well
Hitchens’ public life was characterized by as total a rebellion against God as any other public figure. The Scriptures do not equivocate on Hitchens’ fate. There is no “well, he didn’t believe, but he was such a nice guy” talk in any of God’s revelations to us. Nor does Hitchens qualify for the ignorance card; his things were done in as full a knowledge as any man can profess to have. Unless he made a fully repentant turnaround before his death, Hitchens has no hope in the afterlife.
God would not be the least bit spiteful or petty in sending Hitchens to eternal punishment; God is the sovereign creator of all that is not He, and His right to do as He pleases is absolute. He has promised eternal life with Him to all who submit to His will, and has promised eternal punishment to everyone else.
It is true.
But we’re only seeing through a glass darkly right now. Soon enough . . .
Ah, there you go too, John. It’s because you profess your God to be a spiteful god that so many of us decide that the whole thing is a grand manipulation.
Of course, Hitch absolutely does not care that the loving god is casting him into hell – he doesn’t believe it will happen!!
The point is what this little feature tells about all of those who wrote the scriptures and “interpreted” what came down from God. If they couldn’t persuade you, they were damn well going to scare you into believing.
Yes, I know you SAID that it was not spiteful, but that might as well have been the motivation
gazzer – then how do you explain that I believe? Is it fear of Hell? Hardly. To think so is a simpleton’s interpretation of why believers believe. May fit the Narrative – but not so. Sorry to say… but you are way off base in this respect.
As for John’s take on the Teaching of the Church, he is correct Doctrinally. Even if it isn’t what perhaps many would like to hear.
Enoch,
I didn’t presume to analyze the motivation of believers. I was merely jumping on what I believe to be the motivations of the people who wrote this stuff. And Dave C just set me off by repeating it. After all, if you don’t think it motivates people, then why is it so central to your belief system?
Let’s be honest – if we were talking about anything other than christianity, then you too would scoff at the notion that you were being asked to believe something for which you were presented less-than-perfect evidence while knowing that if you didn’t buy in, then you’d be damned to hell, no matter that you couldn’t even see what that place looked like!! And, by the way, if you lived a better life than many believers, it wouldn’t make any difference. To me, that’s pretty coercive.
I know many good christians, respect their belief, and like to keep my thoughts to myself, but come on now!
I think that some are a bit taken aback when believers appear to derive pleasure from the prospect of unbelievers suffering in the afterlife.
For some, that’s an honest reaction. However, it is not a particularly good witness.
As I read the Hitchens eulogy posts throughout the blogosphere, and the grace with which the vast majority of folks all along the political spectrum, believers and unbelievers alike, discuss his life, his death, and even his atheism with such grace and respect, I cannot help but reflect on some of the awful posts discussing the ultimate fate of Elizabeth Edwards just before and after her death, and hope for more of this and less of that, in future.
Sorry, gazzer, but justice requires that before a rebel receive pardon from the king, that rebel must first throw down his weapons.
People argue as if John 3:16 read (or should read), “For God so loved the world that He decided to quit being such a stickler for rules.” If God could lower the bar, and still be just, He’d do it.
It makes total sense that a God that is all about love and preaching turning the other cheek would send someone to eternal torment in Hell simply for the crime of not worshiping him.
Seriously, what sort of sick people by into such a disturbing philosophy?
I’m pretty sure that The Anchoress doesn’t like any of the shortened forms of Elizabeth.
Lizzie is acceptable for teasing. Liz is never acceptable.
Lez even less so.
Behave yourself, horrible person.
Didn’t Dante posit a limbo for decent unbelievers?
A place not unlike Taos, New Mexico?
These are deep matters.
Hitchens was a man honey-badger.
Rest in Taos.
Elysium. There are also (obviously) Covenant-keeping Old Testament figures and (not so obviously) virtuous pagans who aren’t in Inferno.
As I’ve been known to note before at a funeral or two….
Why are we speculating? And beyond that, who are we to speculate?
The Grace of Our Lord and Savior may extend past that which we imagine. Or it may not. The only way we have of knowing is if we are correct, and we find out when we meet those who are there in Heaven.
As Ms. Joy pointed out, we see “…through a glass, and Darkly.” When we see clearly, we’ll understand.
In the meantime, the decisions about who qualifies and who doesn’t is somewhat above our pay grade. Truth be told, it’s above the Pope’s pay grade, by my lights.
Whatever. It is given unto all men once to die. I strongly believe where I’m going once I do that thing, but if you don’t, I feel sorry for you. And nobody here runs the Admissions office, so our speculation is pointless. Our thoughts and Prayers may not be, but clucking about it among ourselves means less than nothing.
It is above His Holiness’s pay grade too. That is Catholic doctrine. But to those who are given the grace and want to please God the Church which BXVI shepherds is a trustworthy guide.
Amen
Joy McCann “And yet I cannot buy the Almighty as a dispenser of cheap cosmic justice, either.”
that sounds exactly like an atheist talking. how can you be both. either you wil love God or the Devil.
Joy McCann reveres God the Maker of Profound and Merciful Cosmic Justice. (Not so?)
Hitchens may have been an adversary to us Christians, but he was a class act. He was to politics what Cary Grant was to acting. In death, he’s like the defeated general of an opposing army that the Romans would have saluted for his bravery.
Except for saying Joy’s not Catholic, I agree with everything The Anchoress says about Hitchens, here.