The prospect of death and the implications of what comes after death frightens even atheists. When confronted with the reality of death, atheists seek a loophole in their argument for the nonexistence of God..."
Friday, July 23, 2010
To Pray or Not to Pray
"Christopher’s Hitchens’s cancer has provoked a debate on the Internet: should people pray for an atheist when that person does not believe in God and does not believe in prayer? The reaction has been mixed, but both Jews and Christians believe that it is appropriate to pray for an atheist while most atheists say that people should not pray for Hitchens.
The prospect of death and the implications of what comes after death frightens even atheists. When confronted with the reality of death, atheists seek a loophole in their argument for the nonexistence of God..."
The prospect of death and the implications of what comes after death frightens even atheists. When confronted with the reality of death, atheists seek a loophole in their argument for the nonexistence of God..."
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7 comments:
Christopher Hitchens is a Conservative.
Iceman -- I finally figured out how to restore the Tory Blog Roll -- you spurred me on. I had corrupted some Blogger code a while back.
I'm not sure what the argument is regarding praying for an atheist. Since the atheist is certain that no God exists then any such prayer is simply empty words spoken to empty space. On the other hand if they are concerned that the prayer might have some effect then they are admitting God exists.
Actually knowing Hitch, he would be offended if people prayed for him only because it meant they weren't spending that time doing something useful instead!
now that I have read the article: what a load of tripe. He mis-characterises Hitch and Dawkins, while never addressing the points they make.
Of course, it is based on a false premise. The implications of what comes after death do not frighten the atheist. Why would they? The universe existed for 15 billion years before I did, and that hardly bothered me a bit. Why would the 15 billion after I am gone cause me any inconvenience? (to paraphrase Twain)
You only know the outer Hitch, the Hitch Hitch chooses to reveal to the public.
Many persons who think about the implications of atheistic death -- their extinction, the extinction of their person, of "them", of the "you" I am addressing, find it a horrifying (not necessarily terrifying) notion. That "I" should exist, and then then, knowingly and consciously face the knowledge of my pending eternal extinction is a horrifying notion to many.
It's certainly something I considered when I began to ask if there might be something more to life and existence.
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