Christopher Hitchens DID NOT Convert on His Deathbed!

Christopher Hitchens

I just read David Frum’s recent piece in the Atlantic, “Betraying The Faith of Christopher Hitchens.” Frum is a well-known conservative political commentator and former speechwriter of American President George W. Bush. His piece is a scathing review of the Christian apologist Larry Taunton’s new book: The Faith of Christopher Hitchens: The Restless Soul of the World’s Most Notorious Atheist[image error].

Frum’s takedown of Taunton is so devastating that I will let it speak for itself. Basically Taunton claims that Hitchens was near a conversion to Christianity at the end of his life. He bases this astonishing claim on his interpretation of a few conversations he had with Hitchens. Not only is this evidence anecdotal, but it contradicts Hitchens’ very public and forceful claims made during the last days of his life. Hitchens could not have been more direct in rejecting the idea of a deathbed conversion.

Hitchens’ set out his views of religion in his masterpiece:  God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything[image error]. The idea that Hitchens would reject his lifelong views at the end of his life is preposterous.

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Of course the stories of deathbed conversions of atheists and agnostics told by the religious are legendary. Thomas Paine, the American revolutionary and author of the pamphlet “Common Sense,” was said to have had such a conversion. End of life conversions stories have also been told about the philosopher David Hume and more recently about the contemporary philosopher Antony Flew. The most famous deathbed conversion story is about Charles Darwin, but even the religious site Answers in Genesis acknowledges that this story isn’t true.

All of these stories elaborate on the aphorism “there are no atheists in foxholes.” The idea is that in times of extreme stress or when facing death people are more likely to believe in, or hope for, divine help. But there are a number of problems with the aphorism. First it isn’t clear that the aphorism is true. Second, even if it were true that people start believing in gods when under duress, that says nothing whatsoever about whether those beliefs are true. What the aphorism really reveals is that the source of much religion is fear. And that doesn’t reflect well on religion, although it has made it a very profitable endeavor.

The reasons that the religious are motivated to believe in deathbed conversions are obvious. Some don’t accept that others are really atheists;  others find atheism threatening because it shows believers that they might be wrong; and others hate that they can’t control those who disagree with them. But whatever the reasons, believers seem to find comfort telling themselves that atheists convert at the end of their life.

But this is all so lame. For even if Darwin or Hume or Hitchens did convert at the end of their lives—which they didn’t—what difference would that make? Are believers so insecure with their beliefs that they must be comforted by these false stories? Apollo or Zeus or Yahweh either exist or they do not. If believers in these gods are really sure of the certainty of their beliefs, why would they care that others convert? Clearly the real reason these false deathbed conversion stories resonate with believers is that they seemingly close the door for the believer on a terrifying idea–that most of what passes for cherished belief is just superstitious nonsense.