I may have been the only atheist who didn’t know that September 20th was supposedly “Everyone Pray for (Christopher) Hitchens Day.” Ever since he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, his illness and his attitude about it have been widely publicized and examined. I’m sure many congregations, groups, and individuals murmured prayers for the healing and salvation of one of the most outspoken and unequivocal atheists of our time.
In response to people praying for him, Hitchens has made it clear that he:
- Doesn’t mind if they pray for his healing if it makes them feel better.
- Doesn’t want anyone praying for his salvation or demise.
Looking for Results
So, the 20th has passed, and I’m wondering if these millions of prayers for the healing of Mr. Hitchens have made any impact at all. Christians of all stripes are firm believers in the power prayer can have on the life of another, even to the point of miraculous healings, conversions, and so forth. So, is he healed? Does he suddenly believe in a god? Which god? I’m sure people of many religions prayed to their gods for him. How would anyone be able to tell which one decided to act? What if all the gods teamed up together?
If Hitchens is not healed, converted, or shown any form of “improvement” in his situation, what sorts of excuses and rationalizations might be made to explain it? I can think of a few that I as a Christian might have used:
- It wasn’t God’s will. He has a bigger plan that involves a terrible cancer and a painful death.
- Hitchens has to have faith that he will be healed before it will work (aka “blame the victim”).
- God doesn’t want to heal him.
- And one I wouldn’t have used: Cancer is a punishment for his sin against God.
As an aside on this last point, Hitchens quotes a man who believes exactly that:
Who else feels Christopher Hitchens getting terminal throat cancer [sic] 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 can’t say this surprises me. But most of the Christians I’ve talked to or read on the subject have expressed their hopes for Christopher Hitchens’ conversion and healing so that it would be a great sign to the world of how loving and powerful Yahweh truly is, and how much impact prayer can make.
So far as I know, even these millions of genuine prayers have done nothing to impact the life of Hitchens. Perhaps there is nothing to be done since there is no one to hear their prayers except themselves. That’s my belief, anyway.
photo by Catholic Church (England and Wales) on flickr
The ruler and figurehead of the Roman Catholic Church really knows how to come out swinging. The United Kingdom’s increasingly secular society is a great threat to the success of his religion there, and so he starts his visit to the UK with this gem:
Pope Benedict XVI urged the UK to resist “more aggressive forms of secularism” .
He said: “We can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews.
“As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society,” he added.
“May it [Britain] always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate,” he said.
By “aggressive,” I think he means secularists who don’t just sit back and accept the influence and rules of religion on the laws, standards, and traditions of their country.
Terms like “neo-atheists” and “atheist extremism” are thrown around like insulting buzzwords within the religious community. Those of us who speak up against religion and confront the theology and doctrines with which we disagree are seen as a menace, a group without morals, and apparently the same desires for society as the Nazi party. These insulting words are carefully crafted to make atheists with opinions seem like fringe groups with violent, anti-societal agendas. I have my own views on “militant” and “extremist” atheists. We’re really not worth the propagandized vocabulary.
In response to the pontiff’s slight against secularism, the British Humanist Association said:
“The notion that it was the atheism of Nazis that led to their extremist and hateful views or that it somehow fuels intolerance in Britain today is a terrible libel against those who do not believe in God.
“The notion that it is non-religious people in the UK today who want to force their views on others, coming from a man whose organisation exerts itself internationally to impose its narrow and exclusive form of morality and undermine the human rights of women, children, gay people and many others, is surreal.”
If any of us is “extreme,” I’d say it’s the Roman Catholic Church.
(Thanks for the tip @Fargough)
EDIT: Pharyngula posted a long list of quotes by Hitler that apply to this papal insult. Check it out.
photo by Marty Stone
I could go into all kinds of (obvious) reasons why this is so, but my first response is this (and you’ve probably heard something like it before):
I am an atheist because I do not believe in any deities. None. Zilch. Zip. Baal? Nope. Helios? No. Lotan? No. Yahweh? No.
Christians, Jews, and Muslims (for example) are also atheists. Do they believe in Baal? Nope. Helios? No. Lotan? No. Yahweh? Well, yes; that’s the only difference.
If my atheism is a religion, then so is the atheism of every single believing person on this planet. And if all of atheism is a religion, then Christians, Jews, and Muslims may have a problem since they’re not supposed to worship anything but Yahweh, Yeshua, and the Spirit. According to their own teachings, they should not have two religions.
Don’t worry, believers; atheism is not a religion. It simply means you don’t believe in a god. Welcome to the atheist club … because you are one.
I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
–Stephen F. Roberts
via wtfschmuck.tumblr.com
Any deity that refuses evidence honors the intellectually dishonest, the ignorant, and the gullible.
… Or this deity is totally hands-off and doesn’t give a shit, which basically means we don’t need to give a shit either.
… Or this deity doesn’t exist.
Choices, choices.
Chris on 
Bill the Heathen on 
jabran on 
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