Rector's Reflection—1st Sunday after the Epiphany
January 8, 2012

Lost in the hustle and bustle of Christmas was the death of Christopher Hitchens, 62, on December 15, 2011. He died in Houston after a bout with esophageal cancer. Hitchens was arguably the preeminent atheist of our time, along with the likes of Richard Dawkins and Sam Hill. He was a political columnist and quite the pundit, in demand for lectures, talk TV, radio shows, and public debates. His 2007 book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, was a runaway best seller.

During a visit to Portland, Oregon, in January of 2011, Hitchens was interviewed by Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell. This is a part of the interview:

Sewell:	The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I'm a liberal Christian, and I don't take the stories from the scripture literally. I don't believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?
Hitchens:	I would say that if you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you're really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.
Sewell:	Let me go someplace else. ...For Paul Tillich, God is "the ground of being." It's his response to, say, Freud's belief that religion is mere wish fulfillment and comes from the humans' fear of death. What do you think of Tillich's concept of God?"
Hitchens:	I would classify that under the heading of "statements that have no meaning at all." Christianity, remember, is really founded by St. Paul, not by Jesus. Paul says, very clearly, that if it is not true that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then we the Christians are of all people the most unhappy. If none of that's true, and you seem to say it isn't, I have no quarrel with you. You're not going to come to my door trying convince me either. Nor are you trying to get a tax break from the government. Nor are you trying to have it taught to my children in school. If all Christians were like you I wouldn't have to write the book.
Sewell:	Well, probably not, because I agree with almost everything that you say. But I still consider myself a Christian and a person of faith.
Hitchens:	Do you mind if I ask you a question? Faith in what? Faith in the resurrection?
Sewell:	The way I believe in the resurrection is I believe that one can go from a death in this life, in the sense of being dead to the world and dead to other people, and can be resurrected to new life. When I preach about Easter and the resurrection, it's in a metaphorical sense.
Hitchens:	I hate to say it—we've hardly been introduced—but maybe you are simply living on the inheritance of a monstrous fraud that was preached to millions of people as the literal truth—as you put it, "the ground of being."
Sewell:	Times change and, you know, people's beliefs change. I don't believe that you have to be fundamentalist and literalist to be a Christian. You do. You're something of a fundamentalist, actually.
Hitchens:	Well, I'm sorry, fundamentalist simply means those who think that the Bible is a serious book and should be taken seriously.

The interview goes on, but I suppose what I find the most amazing... and why I wanted to share it... is that Hitchens got it right. It is one of the great ironies of our time that an atheist can articulate the heart of the Christian faith better than many Christians. Hitchens didn't believe in Jesus, but he understood the issues. In an age when many Christian apologists have gone from true apology (as in speaking in defense of the faith) to apology (as in "I'm sorry if my Christianity upsets you"), Hitchens knows perfectly well the hard edges of the Christian faith.

It has been noted that Hitchens' own writings in the last year or so raised the question of death-bed conversions. Not long after he was diagnosed with cancer, Hitchens said, "No evidence or argument has yet been presented which would change my mind [about God]. But I like surprises."

I have always believed that a true conversion can happen at any time... that while there is still breath, it is never too late. I am sometimes cynical about 'death-bed conversions' and 'jailhouse conversions', but such conversions don't have to garner my approval, only God's. A sinner may repent at the last second, but no one can count on that happening. I just remind myself that there were two thieves who died alongside Jesus. One was saved "that none should despair." One was lost "that none should presume."

So where is Christopher Hitchens now? I don't know; that is strictly up to God. Whatever his thoughts were, whatever longings were in his heart, are known only to the One who created him and the One in whom he did not believe. But I believe in a God of grace and mercy who will do the right thing, because God makes no mistakes, with Christopher Hitchens or with any of us.

Susan+

Last Modified: January 8, 2012
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