Nothing could be better

Christopher Hitchens, the archpriest of the New Atheism, is dying. What's next?

Christopher Hitchens last year / London Telegraph

Atheism is in decline, according to American pundit George Weigel. Really? That wasn’t my impression, but he cited figures from the International Bulletin of Missionary Research which claims that their global number is now 137 million. They have been dropping steadily over the past decade.

However, I remained sceptical until I read a London Telegraph interview with Christopher Hitchens which was both poignant and terrifying. Mick Brown, a veteran interviewer, had gone to Washington to meet the archpriest of the New Atheism.

Hitchens has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The disease is now at stage four, Hitchens says. “And the thing to note about stage four is that there is no stage five.” A man in love with life and surrounded by admirers of his wit, intelligence and superb powers of expression is making his last journey to a place he calls “Tumourville”.

It reminded me of Kurtz’s dying words to Marlowe in Joseph Conrad’s novella The Heart of Darkness: “The horror, the horror”. Surely this must be one of the reasons for the decline in atheism.

I do not suggest that Christopher Hitchens has on his conscience the dark crimes which Kurtz had. What drove those terrible words from Kurz’s heart in his dying moments is a literary conundrum. But it is hard not to feel dismay at observing someone about to embark on a final journey into annihilation.

The poverty of a life lived under the illusion induced by the fallacy that because there is no scientific proof for X, then X is not true is a dreadful condition. For ordinary mortals the bleakness makes the burden of atheism too great to bear. T.S. Eliot reminded us that “humankind cannot bear very much reality”. And humankind is clearly not buying the limited reality which Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett & Co. are proposing to us as the be-all and the end-all of existence.

Brown tells us that Hitchens has faced his illness with great courage. He has, and it is admirable. But as far as death is concerned why does he need courage? By his lights, there is nothing to be afraid of. Just Nothing.

Nonetheless Brown observes that, “you sense not only an anger with the institutions, teaching and practices of religion, but also an exasperation and bemusement with the very fact of belief. Put simply, he just doesn’t get it.”

“‘With religion, try as I may, I can’t think myself into the viewpoint of the faithful. I can’t think what it would be like to believe that somebody had died for my sins, for example. I don’t get it at all.’ So it is that people’s experiences of faith will always be ‘delusions’; the consolations they may derive from it always ‘false’ ones.”

Brown and Hitchens discussed another notable British atheist and his fear of death, the late poet Philip Larkin.

“‘What Larkin was saying was, you bloody fools; that’s exactly what I’m afraid of – annihilation.’ He pauses. ‘It is a disagreeable thought.’

“‘However, put the contrary case. You get tapped on the shoulder, but guess what? The party’s going on for ever; you have to stay. And not only that, but you have to have a good time –- the boss says so.’ He gives a slight shudder. ‘Anything eternal is probably intolerable.’”

Brown asked him if he thought he had been a good person?

“‘No, not particularly. Not as the world counts these things, because the world expects, for that definition to apply, a good deal of selflessness. And while no one scores very high on that, I score lower than most. I don’t do much living for others, I really don’t.’”

Perhaps that is the real crunch. The prospect of eternity in that state of mind really is intolerable. And that is where “the horror, the horror” really bites.

While the prognosis for Christopher Hitchens is grim, there is a glimmer of hope. He is taking part in a clinical trial. It turns out that there is a genetic mutation expressed by the tumour for which there already exists a drug. His chemotherapy treatment is based on this information.

The irony is that one of the doctors taking an active interest in Hitchens’s treatment is Francis Collins, one of the best known scientists in the US, and the head of the National Institutes of Health. Collins is an evangelical Christian, the author of a bestselling book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. “It is a rather wonderful relationship,” Hitchens told Brown. “I won’t say he doesn’t pray for me, because I think he probably does; but he doesn’t discuss it with me.”

Perhaps all this will prove to be something beyond irony.

Michael Kirke is a freelance writer in Dublin.  He blogs at Garvan Hill.

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