When Christopher Hitchens Came To Alabama -R.I.P

I am sadden by the death of Christopher Hitchens.

There seems to be quite an outpouring of Christian grief , celebration of life, and hope he made it. In some ways this would appear strange. This is quite different from the death of atheist journalist Oriana Fallaci who died in 2007. Oriana much beloved by Christians and Catholics was an athiest to the end but she recognized the importance and good in Christianity. See The deathbed friendship between a bishop and an atheist.

Hitchens on the other hand never had such an open view. Still people respect folks that buck convention and have sincerity and he was that.

I hope like this Southern Baptist Theologian does that Hitchens made it to Heaven. See Christopher Hitchens Might Be in Heaven. Though as a Catholic I am banking much more on the process of purgatory and thus will pray for his soul. That is the least I can do. It might be futile and I shall not know till dead but there is hope.

The Anchoress has a great post and much of links up ar Christopher Hitchens: A Singular Voice Silenced

However the first image thing that came to mind to was his Southern USA tour this morning. I followed that with some great interest as he toured the Bible Belt at times giving encouragement to Dixie Athiest and non believers which was covered by the local press.

Catholic Amy Wellborn had a good post on his visit to Birminghan Alabama. See Pity The Neanderthals!. For whatever reason since I read the piece this image of Hitchens is the first to come to mind and brings a smile to my face. She writes:

..I watched Hitchens sign books for a while – until I spotted Noah Lett of EWTN in the crowd and went to talk to him. It was pretty entertaining, in an awkward way, to watch the Super Friendly Southern Atheists who were so happy to see Hitchens come around the table to have their pictures taken , fling their arms around him without asking him if it was okay, give him big old hugs, and put their faces right next to his. His expression was so pained – and I don’t think it was the cancer....

I wonder how much of that cultural difference perhaps "pain" Hitchens had to endure on his trips down South