http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/05/hitchens-on-cancer-diagnosis-why-not-me/
It's engaging and sometimes moving. Death turns out to be yet one more topic on which Hitchens has interesting things to say.
But his preemptive invalidation of any possible religious conversion he might yet undergo (around 7:30 of the video) reminds us that religion is the single topic on which Hitchens has nothing interesting to say, and now he's promising us that he never will. Can you imagine as lively and intellectually honest a thinker as Christopher Hitchens declaring that he will never change his mind, never acknowledge contradictory evidence or experience should it come his way, never credit superior opposing arguments -- on any possible question? When the question is the existence of God, unfortunately you can.
Fr. George Rutler once predicted to his face that Hitchens would die a Catholic (see the entry for May 1, New York City). Who knows? But that eventuality, or something like it, obviously seems plausible enough to Hitchens that he wants to inoculate himself against it with a declaration of very uncharacteristic closed-mindedness. At least he isn't bothered by people praying for him. I shall continue to do so.
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