Is Christopher Hitchens Roasting in Hell?

A distasteful subject...

... especially during Christmastime, when we celebrate the birth of our savior.  It is made only slightly more palatable by the though of Hitch decking the Korean pot-bellied pig upon the face to face encounter, while Saint Peter busily checks the rolls in front of the pearly gates.

I do not enjoy such speculation.  I have my own salvation to work out "in fear and trembling," but Bill Bennett started it by going out of his way and off topic during a CBS interview, to say this...

"He was left and I was right.  We had great debates, great drinking bouts...  And I hope that, being the big atheist that he was, he's in for a big surprise."

Pretty ungracious for a man who extols the Socratic virtues of intelligence, candor and goodwill.

Granted, Christians have a duty to rage against the slouching, pablum-powered It's-all-good-universalism that completely ignores The Bible, but that statement was particularly harsh.

Bennett's apparently premeditated outburst sparked Allahpundit to explore three possible fates for our beloved writer:

1) He's damned.
2) He secretly converted, which he pegs as an insult to a man of strong and clear atheistic convictions who made his deathbed and unblinkingly laid down upon it.
3) “well, maybe God will cut him a break.”

Allahpundit marvels at how many Christians who loved Hitch's work fall into the third category.  He concludes...

"... he’ll go down in history as a blasphemer of world-beating vehemence — and yet there are still millions of believers who so love and admire him for his art that, in spite of it all, they’re straining to somehow get him off the hook with God anyway. Now that’s a legacy."  (Allahpundit)

Ross Douthat explores the third possibility in Hitchens and Hell, giving us a thumbnail sketch of theological thought that supports the salvation of Christopher Hitchens, concluding...

Rather, the point is that we just don’t know. As Henry James had it: “Never say you know the last word about any human heart.” Or in the words of Saint Paul: “For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.” Both the goats and the sheep are surprised by God’s judgment. And even for the most confident believer, the plain words of the New Testament suggest that Christopher Hitchens’ ultimate fate will count among the least of the next life’s many surprises. (Douthat)

Doctoral candidate in theology Kevin Considine asks a provocative question about the eternal fate of Kim Jong Il, a rapist dictator responsible for the death of millions.  It could just as easily be asked about the fate of Christopher Hitchens, or any one of us...

So, we are forced to live in ambiguity. We have no way of knowing. So maybe the better question to ponder is this: should we want there to be salvation for such a brutal man, even if justice is somehow achieved as a prerequisite? And what does it say about me (and us) if I prefer a “pound of bloody flesh” to trump God’s ridiculous love for all human beings? I’m not sure I want to answer that question. (Considine)

If that statement intrigues you, follow the link and read the short article. Also, read the comment threat; it contains some thoughtful responses.

But more importantly, what do you think?

Link:  Considine - Is there salvation for Kim Jong Il?

No One Gets Out Alive

Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011

Christopher Hitchens has died, and it saddens me.  I loved his work, with the exception of his atheistic screeds, but even those served a purpose in making us Christians reexamine the fundamentals of our faith.

The 21st century is sorely lacking bold thinkers, loud polemicists and skilled communicators like Mr. Hitchens.  His prose was beautiful artistry in written word.  I will miss his mordant wit and always interesting take on anything and everything.  He was an Orwell for our time, giving hell to "Bastards HQ" daily.  Liberty lovers everywhere should follow his example.  The bell has tolled, and his death indeed diminishes us all...

Suffering and Dying in Luxury

One of the many paradoxes of modern life: Medical care has advanced to the point where everyone, regardless of station, can now outlive their money.

In one of his last essays, Christopher Hitchens, himself enduring a long and very public death watch, reflected wryly upon the demise of atheist philosopher Sidney Hook:

Toward the end of his long life he became seriously ill and began to reflect on the paradox that—based as he was in the medical mecca of Stanford, California—he was able to avail himself of a historically unprecedented level of care, while at the same time being exposed to a degree of suffering that previous generations might not have been able to afford.

Hitchens concludes:

So we are left with something quite unusual in the annals of unsentimental approaches to extinction: not the wish to die with dignity but the desire to have died.

He describes not his fear of dying, but his fear of losing that which makes his life worthwhile:

I am typing this having just had an injection to try to reduce the pain in my arms, hands, and fingers. The chief side effect of this pain is numbness in the extremities, filling me with the not irrational fear that I shall lose the ability to write. Without that ability, I feel sure in advance, my “will to live” would be hugely attenuated. I often grandly say that writing is not just my living and my livelihood but my very life, and it’s true.

Tyranny Lives Forever

Today, we receive word that Eastern Europe's champion of freedom Vaclav Havel has died.  With each light of liberty snuffed, the world grows a little darker.

Young or old, we all must become dissidents and contrarians if we want to save our nation.  Final words from Christopher Hitchens...

Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.  (Christopher Hitchens -- Letters to a Young Contrarian, p. 140)

Further Reading:
Christopher Hitchens:  Most Memorable Bon Mots
Vanity Fair – Christopher Hitchens Tribute
Slate – Christopher Hitchens
Matt Labash – A Hitchless World
American Spectator – Hitch-62
Christopher Hitchens: A Thank-You, of Sorts
Johah Goldberg Remembers Christopher Hitchens

Why Orwell Matters

"Thus he faced the competing orthodoxies and despotisms of his day with little more than a battered typewriter and a stubborn personality."    -- Christopher Hitchens, Why Orwell Matters

Christopher Hitchens is very much an Orwell for our times, only more caustic and with sharp edges. He wrote a book back in 2002 entitled, Why Orwell Matters. It's a great introduction to Orwell for those who may only be familiar with his two greatest works, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four.

George Orwell was many things: A brilliant essayist who was considered a mediocre novelist who ended up writing two of the 20th century's most gripping novels; a socialist who was an anti-communist; a hater of war who warned his fellows about the dangers of pacifism; a champion of the poor and benighted who could suddenly provide uncanny insight into the mind of the overlord.

George Orwell was completely unencumbered by received ideology and orthodoxy, a rare genuine freethinker. He faced life as it presented itself to him, and that's what makes him such a compelling and authentic figure even today.

He was a truly independent man, holding views anathema to both left and right. Disdained by both, until the other side deploys one of his arguments, then they fight over who the true Orwellites are. Truth is, nobody owns him. Like God, he is not on anyone's side; we can only hope to be on his side, because he was unwaveringly on the side of liberty over tyranny, humanity over bureaucratic mechanization, natural beauty with warts and all over ginned up fripperies packaged by elites and sold to the rubes.

Best of all, he was a keen analyst of life, using his experience and the light of reason to draw logical inferences that bore themselves out with frightening accuracy.  Yes, communism really was slaughtering millions.  Orwell knew it, years before the truth slipped out, even as useful idiots on both sides of the Atlantic sung the praises of Uncle Joe Stalin and wrote glowingly of strong men making the trains run on time.

If you're looking for a short and well-written introduction to George Orwell, Hitchens' book is just the thing.

So Much We Know That Just Ain't So

Loose Links

I don't know how you guys roll, but I generally bookmark things I find interesting and potentially blog-worthy.  I always end up with more links than posts, and I figure it's a shame to just throw them away.  Here are four quick bites for your Sunday..

Christopher Hitchens slams Noam Chomsky

Some of you may be only vaguely familiar with Noam Chomsky, that lecturing hero of the America-hating international left.  Shunned here at home, he travels the globe with the grateful earnestness of one who has finally found credulous fools willing to listen to his 9/11 troofer nonsense.  Euro-lefties and third-worlders eat up his contradictory message that "America deserved it" and "Osama didn't do it, maybe it was a neo-con Jewish conspiracy."

Hitchens focuses like a laser beam on the Chomskyite "cognitive dissonance" as he describes traveling in the Middle East and ...

"...meeting the hoarse and aggressive person who first denies that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center and then proceeds to describe the attack as a justified vengeance for decades of American imperialism." (Slate)

He proceeds to dismantle such America haters in a crisp, acerbic fashion.  This is a good one to save for the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.

T Boone Pickpockets is at it Again

His Quixotic windmill plan flopped a few years back when we learned the windmills would be powered not by wind, but by billions in taxpayer funds whooshing into Pickens' pockets.  Now he's back, this time with a different angle involving gas and hot air.

We should challenge all grand progressive projects with one question.  Is it economically viable?  If yes, then the private sector will jump at investing in it.  End of story--No taxpayer money needed. 

"Fair Trade" is a Crock

Dalibor Rohac provides a public service by exposing "Fair Trade" for the guilty liberal feel good scam that it is.  Only a naive liberal could believe such fairy tales.  If they think America's rich and powerful are rapacious, they should travel to the third world. 

And the main benefit flows to fair-trade cooperatives -- groups of landowners, not laborers. The certification includes no incentives for the owners to pay higher wages to farmworkers, who tend to be poorer and more vulnerable. (NY Post - Dalibor Rohac)

Newt's Operatic Flameout

And finally, Rich Lowry at National Review has the best take on Newt's latest flameout involving his characterizing the Ryan plan as "Rightwing social engineering."  I love Lowry's vivid use of the language.  I wish I could write like that...

Gingrich’s hesitation about the Ryan plan is understandable and shared by other potential GOP candidates. Only Gingrich, though, felt compelled to take a rhetorical flamethrower to the document endorsed by almost every House Republican.

He can’t help himself. Gingrich prefers extravagant lambasting when a mere distancing would do, and the over-arching theoretical construct to a mundane pander. He is drawn irresistibly to operatic overstatement — sometimes brilliant, always interesting, and occasionally downright absurd.(NRO - Rich Lowry)

Have a happy Sunday!