I wondered how long this was going to take. The apologist who was Hitchen's friend and other evangelicals are spreading the old cliché we have seen so many times from Paine , Twain , and now Hitch. Bull Shit!
http://www.charismanews.com/culture/56590-did-famed-atheist-author-chris...
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(Pure rage)..............
It's obvious that Larry Alex Taunton is using the fame of Hitchen's to promote his agenda and to sell his book.
And all the while warping Hitchen's image in the eyes of the general public. In the words of many thousands of people, "Now this is some bulls**t."
Relgionists twist everything. Their selective use of the Bible/Torah/Koran for their "teachings" proves that. They really are a muddle-headed lot. Just proves that religious faith doesn't improve objectivity or listening skills.
As Chimp3 says......
Theists have been trying to pull this stunt since Darwin died...but still it comes around again and again.......
link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathbed_conversion#Charles_Darwin
but remember..... the Hitches work stands by it self ...... (this after-all is what makes him a target for the increasingly desperate God Squad..)
As mykckob4 points out ...this particular specimen of a snake oil sales man is utilising Hitch's name to sell his book..... and ,of course, at the same time harnessing his own daughters HIV to boost his own income ....... truly a prince among men ...... but ,I'm afraid par for the course.
The wondering Wiseman returns, once again with a great post.
Hitchens was seemingly preparing for the moment when theists would say these things about him. He left us plenty of ammunition to fire back at them :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4cPe_YS8i8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoyjZs-9hJk
His wife Carol Blue with an eyewitness account of his passing :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16GF6gDwEJM
I don't get off track by stuff people say. Religion will go the way of the Dodo all by itself.
Hitchens had his 15 minutes of fame and others will follow similarly spouting out against the apologists. It just doesn't matter. Do I think Hitchens wasted his time? Yes, and no. Yes, if he could have been doing something that bore more fruit into his own life and, no, if that fruit was the joy of bashing people's belief systems, which I will simply call being mean, because he took some joy from it. I think he feasted on the latter and I have to say that kind of a man I don't have much use for. Yes, he had a problem with the people and pageantry of gods and their spun-off religions but, really, are we to acknowledge him as a hero or just another nut-case of Kevorkian-like proportion and credibility? After all, he took the stage to stamp and shout about....wait for it...nothing. Nothing of which he ranted about ever existed and yet he took great measures to show himself as a champion for fighting against (again), nothing. It simply wasn't enough to declare himself free of such nonsense and walk away from it. He had to dedicate his life to beating every dead horse he found or kill some if he ran short.
You can't have good without the bad. It depends on you and how you feel about hurting someone for gain, or profit of some kind, when you feel you are more important than those you'd sacrifice for your own ends. America illustrated that nicely at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The island nation could have gone under the siege of Allied forces. With no military threat left in their defenses, the Japanese people would have come to their senses swiftly enough and sued for peace. It's all so very relative. People are pretty weird regardless of their cut of ethics and morals.
There isn't a person alive or dead I'd prop up on a pedestal. Hitchens, to me, was just another false messiah of the anti-theist militancy and a really poor representative of atheism. If he claimed to be an atheist he either had a very poor understanding of its definition, or he chose to misrepresent it to the street to make all non-believers soldiers of anti-theism in the eyes of the public. I like to think the latter was his intent and, indulging myself in that thought, I really had no use for him. The reason for my opinion? Never did I witness from him any regard for the pacifism and strength of the atheist mind, and its tolerance of those it declared freedom from. To publicly acknowledge that would have made him the poster boy for playing the fool.
Lastly, so what if apologist deceit slanders him on his deathbed? It isn't as if there's going to be any benefit or loss from it in any manner. He will be remembered as the anti-theist by his body of work who converted at the 11th hour in his last breath. Or, the public who knew him will preserve him through his body of work and dismiss the slanderous tongues seeking to neutralize him. It doesn't really matter much how it goes down. Two feuding nut-cases throwing stones at each other might be a good TV sitcom but I think the britcoms have already given it some pretty good coverage over the years.
Ye blaggerd, get ye identity confused arrogance out o' ere. Be ye an atheist, a nihilist, er' both?
An' if they be any amongst you wonderin' why I be talkin' like is', it be a custom o' Pastafarians teh' speak like a pirate at every opportunity.
Pitar : "Never did I witness from him any regard for the pacifism and strength of the atheist mind, and its tolerance of those it declared freedom from."
What do you mean by the pacifism of the atheist mind and "its" tolerance? Where is this atheist mind you speak of? When I joined this club I don't remember pacifism and tolerance being a prerequisite.
Arrr, it be just like Jeff pointed out(te' post be 'round ere' somewhere) He seems te' me te' be just a wee bit arrogant, wit' a not-so-healthy side o' nihilistic philosophy, an' that's not includin' teh' fact at' he seems te' think is' definition an' only is' definition is correct.
Pitar: " Do I think Hitchens wasted his time? Yes, and no. Yes, if he could have been doing something that bore more fruit into his own life and, no, if that fruit was the joy of bashing people's belief systems, which I will simply call being mean, because he took some joy from it."
You mean wasted his time sorta like you just did going on about about him?
It's never enough to declare yourself free of nonsense and just walk away from it. In many places religious nonsense is a direct threat to anyone who wishes to exercise a free mind, to act as a free person. The threat may be overt violence or the molding of society to make atheists outcasts (which encourages violence and social nastiness). Think of those who, though fed religious lies, would fight back in some way if they only had some good intellectual weapons. Think of those who are cowed by towering, religious authority that is arrogant and unchallenged. It is an atheist's duty to break that grip of violence and fear, to challenge that authority, and that means getting into other's faces on religion. Intellectual pacifism won't do here.
As for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two important naval construction sites in WWII, the matter of dropping the bombs does not admit to easy moralizing. Americans were shocked by the ferocity by which the Japanese defended their outlying islands despite overwhelming odds. Extrapolating that experience convinced U.S. authorities that we could lose as many as a million men trying to take Japan proper, and many more Japanese would die in the process. Using 20-20 hindsight to judge matters is unfair; jumping on conspiracy theories is even worse. One must judge the matter by what Truman and his military experts probably believed at the time, and they were clearly worried. I'm not going to take sides on this debate but I am throwing a caution flag out there as a warning against easy answers.
Avast, ere' it be. Jeff's last post ere'
http://www.atheistrepublic.com/forums/atheist-hub/why-isnt-anti-theism-p...
With apologies for "necro posting".....
But just for the sake of obtaining "closure" .......
"Taunton says that Hitchens was his “friend”, but he marks his true friends and allies against a godly checklist and finds them wanting. The defender of the Christian faith spies Lawrence Krauss and cannot restrain himself from calling him “the smarmy little physicist Lawrence Krauss” (the professor is not only a renowned theoretical physicist but has also made the scientific case against the existence of a god or gods, ergo Taunton must jeer). Stephen Fry is not just an actor and writer but a “homosexual activist”. And Salman Rushdie becomes “the serial blasphemer Salman Rushdie”.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/04/deathbed-conversion...
If you were left with nagging doubts about Hitch's passing....check out this review of Tauntons book....
Blistering attack on that ass Taunton. Skepticism in journalism saves the day again.
It is shameful that these people would try to deceive people and question Hitchens' resolve in his last hour.
However that will do nothing in my opinion to dissuade the atheist. I am not an atheist because of Hitchens or Dawkins etc. I am an atheist because I do not believe. I got courage because they were outspoken to be bold in my disbelief thats all (and even though I say thats all, I realise it is a big thing in its way).
I like David Silvermans approach when he was questioned about the billboards at christmas he said that his target was the closeted atheist to tell them he was not alone not to reconvert christians.
But it does go to show at what lengths apologists can stoop to justify their impotent gods
Yes, deception and trickery are the theists greatest assets, besides mass propaganda and brain washing. Thell try just about anything to keep their religion on top, because they know that if they don't people won't follow their dogma any more....
There are a few certainties in life: Change, taxes, death, and religious lies about death bed conversions of famous atheists. The lie of a death bed conversion is a certificate, the ultimate mark of success, that is awarded to every atheist that burns brightly in his course and finishes as an atheist. If you are an atheist, you hope that one day you will be worthy of that ultimate mark of a successful atheist! :)
Although It does prove one thing. That no matter how many people claim that they believe in god because of a personal relationship with him/her/it, and no matter how many people claim they love god as much as god loves them. They are all full of shit.
The only reason they believe is because they are afraid of death. That's why they lie about death bed conversions. "Hitchens was so afraid in his last hour that he began to believe." That's their mentality. fearful, ignorant, petty fools.
In the end all they have for us is fear because all they have ever received from that trash is fear and more fear.