Prolific writer, political journalist and renowned atheist Christopher Hitchens has released a book entitled, “Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens,” that he claims may be his last.
Hitchens was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2010, and admitted earlier this year that medical efforts to beat the cancer had been to no avail.
“Arguably” is his first book of essays since 2004, and includes titles such as: “God of Our Fathers: The United States of Enlightenment”; “America the Banana Republic”; “Why Women Aren’t Funny”; “First, Silence the Whistle-Blower”; “Iran’s Waiting Game”; “Easter Charade”; “Words Matter”; and “Wine Drinkers of the World, Unite.”
Typically, the book also contains Hitchen’s particular brand of ‘anti-religion’ speech. The author of “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” is a determined champion of ‘New Atheism,’ the belief that religion should be countered, criticized, and exposed by rational argument.
According to CNN, Hitchens describes himself as an antitheist rather than an atheist.
“You could be an atheist and wish that the belief was true. You could; I know some people who do,” he told them. “An antitheist, a term I’m trying to get into circulation, is someone who’s very relieved that there’s no evidence for this proposition.”
Although Hitchens' religious viewpoints have been debated by several leading Christian figures, his brilliance as a thinker, writer and speaker has never been in doubt. Hitchens wrote in the introduction to ‘Arguably’ why it might be his last work:
“...About a year ago, I was informed by a doctor that I might have as little as another year to live. In consequence, some of these articles were written with the full consciousness that they might be my very last.
“Sobering in one way and exhilarating in another, this practice can obviously never become perfected. But it has given me a more vivid idea of what makes life worth living, and defending, and I hope very much that some of this may infect those of you who have been generous enough to read me this far.”