Comment by Gaytor on July 1, 2010 at 9:13pm

What Sullivan doesn't get is that facing life as a non-believer is liberating in itself. Making choices and being able to determine the potential consequences and not fearing the ethereal is liberation. Hitchens smoked and the consequence is Esophageal cancer. It's not punishment, it's cause and effect. Not worrying about it being God's choice is liberating.

I wish him the best and in my best Hitchens, I won't have need of your impotent God, I have doctors.

Comment by Graham E. Lau on July 2, 2010 at 1:42am

Ya, that's pretty pathetic... I've never heard of Sullivan, but he sounds like a douchebag.

Comment by Allen Sneed on July 2, 2010 at 4:22pm

Maybe God poisoned Sullivan's sense of common decency.

Comment by SabreNation on July 3, 2010 at 11:47pm

You guys are taking it the wrong way. Sullivan and Hitchens are actually friends, mainly on account of Sullivan's blistering criticism of "Christianists" as he calls them (Christian Fundamentalists). It wasn't meant to be a kick in the face so to speak, just a friendly dig directed towards a friend he's likely debated dozens of times about faith and religion. Here is a follow-up post titled "Should We Pray For Hitch?":

"I will, in part to piss him off. I don't believe in treating the sick as suddenly tender souls who cannot enjoy humor and debate - and that would apply in truckloads for my dear friend. I'm delighted that no one ever pulls a punch with me on the grounds of chronic disease and I'm sure Hitch would feel the same way."

Comment by ZachsMind on July 4, 2010 at 3:54pm

I still think we should plan now for Christopher Hitchen's wake. I want lots of booze and smokes.

Comment by Monica Salcedo (Monicks) on July 5, 2010 at 1:06pm

Zach: Sadly, you might be right. I've heard that at this stage of Hitch's cancer, mortality rate is 95%.

SabreNation: Thank you, like Neal said, this puts Sullivan's post in context, but I still think his words were poorly chosen.

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