Do NOT Rest in Peace, Hitchens

So Christopher Hitchens died. He was one of the most prominent atheists of our time, known for disarming arguments for religion with logic and dry wit. I didn't read a lot of his stuff, but what I did read (or listen to) I found encouraging. I was especially intrigued by some of his thoughts on facing death and how it did not make him reconsider his opinions on the existence of an afterlife.

I have to admit that I've thought a bit about death since leaving Christianity. I still possess a slight ingrained fear that I might end up in some awful place called hell. But hell always seems so illogical to me that it never really coalesced into a solid image. I was able to picture heaven a bit more clearly, but the idea of worshipping God forever never inspired a huge amount of excitement - I enjoyed church, but 24-7 for an eternity seemed a bit much. So all in all, the idea that there might not be an afterlife isn't too disconcerting.

But living without the goal of eventually achieving some sort of reward in the hereafter - now, that gets my heart pumping and my brain twisting. Seriously. If this life is all there is, then what am I doing with it? Am I doing anything of value...but then, just what can be considered valuable anyways? Is it most valuable to pursue as much pleasure as I can or to build a legacy that will be remembered or to serve humanity in some obscure but impactful way? If this life is all I've got, then I should be taking care of myself better so as to extend it as long as possible.

Such thoughts then extend to quality of life and the ethics of euthanasia issues which I am not going to focus on in this post.

But, going back to Hitchens death. The media is of course full of obituaries. The irony is that many of the articles and posts include the phrase 'Rest in Peace'.  Hello!?  While this is a common phrase addressed to those who have passed on, to me, its use in this case is more insulting than respectful, given the person to whom it is addressed. To Hitchens, there was no life after death. There is no entity which can experience rest. He is dead. He is a collection of biological material decaying in the earth. As crass at that may sound, that is presumably what he believed.

So skip the 'Rest in Peace'. Say goodbye. Say he'll be missed. Say his ideas will live on. Anything but 'Rest in Peace'. And don't address anything to him - he's gone.

So for me, I'll speak to the world instead and say "We've lost a good man. A man who made us think. So, in respect for his legacy, take some time today to truly consider what you believe and why and act accordingly."