I was reading my news feeds this morning and came across this article. It is about the well know atheist, Christopher Hitchens, who has been diagnosed with Cancer. He is in his 4th round of Chemo and to his admittance, "he is dying... just faster than the rest of us". There is a group of people that have planned a "Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day." He will not be attending.
Reading this article, brings about some interesting questions. He declares that there are many people that are praying for him and that he puts them into three different categories,
those who seem genuinely glad he's suffering and dying from cancer; those who want him to become a believer in their religious faith; and those who are asking God to heal him. It's these categories that got me to thinking.
If you fall in the "glad he's suffering and dying from cancer" then that's just really sad. My guess is that he believes there are Christians in that category that believe he's getting what he deserves based on his strong Atheistic views. If that's the case, than shame on those people. They really aren't Christians after all. It would be those Christians that should pray the most for his recovery, if for no other reason than then they could say "see, God does exist and healed you".
These would would be the folks that I would see in category two "those who want him to become a believer". What better way to try to convert him than having a special day set aside to do nothing but pray for his heath. If he gets better, than maybe he'll see the light and believe all those prayers were answered. Or would he? That is the question I'm pondering. Would an atheist such as himself ever be able to believe that God answered those prayers or would it be all a coincidence. Knowing you had so many people praying for you to recover, and you do when all odds are against it... would that open your heart to believing? And, would God really answer those prayers for the sole purpose of hoping for that conversion, or would God really let him suffer based on his previous actions? All good questions that can generate a lot of conversation, but possibly not any useful answers from people. You'd never know what could have been done with a conversion, until a person is healed and then actually willing to consider something other than coincidence. It would be that category three "praying for healing" that would have to have some good consideration were that to happen for him.
One interesting comment in the article, was " It's that third group _ people who are asking God for Hitchens' healing _ that causes Hitchens to choose his words even more carefully than normal. Are those prayers OK? Are they helpful? "I say it's fine by me, I think of it as a nice gesture. And it may well make them feel better, which is a good thing in itself," says Hitchens.
That response is something I'm familiar with in my own life having a man in my life who is an atheist. When Tim went through his brain tumor surgery three years ago, we knew at the time it wasn't life threatening (meaning it wasn't cancerous). But Tim received many many prayers for him to come through it all safely, prayers for myself and his family, etc. And, he was very appreciative of those prayers. It touched him that people would take the time to pray for him, even though it isn't something he believes in or would do himself. He knows that prayers mean something to others and is an important part of their lives and he is very respectful of that. He believes that in that context, it is good for everyone. For those praying for him that they feel like they are doing something for him, and for himself, it was touching that they cared enough about him to pray for him. I am not at all comparing him to Hitchens in any way other than that they are self proclaimed atheists. Trust me, Tim is way more respectful than I've ever found Hitchens to be about other peoples belief systems. I'm just saying that maybe there are those out there that are lumping all Atheists into the same broad brush as they are currently trying to lump all Muslims. Atheists come in all levels of their dis-belief system the same way believers come in all levels. Some are very very extreme on both sides. Others are very very respectful. It's all in how you go about it.
So, as the Christian that I am and hope to show to others, I would most definitely pray for Christopher Hitchens. Not to prove a point to him that God will answer my prayers and certainly not to pray for him to die. I will pray for him because it's not only the Christian thing to do to pray for those suffering, but it's the right thing to do as a human being for someone who is suffering. After all, if you don't like him, at least think of what his family and his children are going through with the thought of losing their husband, son, sibling, father. It's very simply, the right thing to do.
