Hitchens in the new Vanity Fair. An infant and a corpse. They are the most common images of Christ ― the baby in the manger or his mother’s arms, the dead man on the cross ― and they offer a final refutation and a last hope for Christopher Hitchens for all time. Hitchens, the great pugilist pundit, died a little over a week ago, and he went out with a beautiful flourish. His last essay, “T... More

I was shaken by the news of the death of Christopher Hitchens. I felt bad. Like so many, believers and non-believers alike, I was rooting for him. And like so many believers, I was hoping for a deathbed conversion. If Hitchens had such a final moment, only God knows. It’s a sign of the Christian charity of his opponents that I’ve read no articles lambasting Hitchens or hoping he is in Hell... More

Welcome to the Lunchtime Reader, where we assemble important stories to keep your eyes on. Pat Archbold is still praying for Christopher Hitchens, an atheist writer who passed away this morning. [Correction: he died last night.] http://is.gd/uOtopL Our own Thomas Peters encouraged Catholics to pray for Hitchens when word first broke out about his cancer back in 2010. http://is.gd/ZODe9L Pla... More