Should people pray for top atheist who has cancer?

A call for prayers for Christopher Hitchens, an anti-God journalist and author recently diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, is being treated with scorn and ridicule by some atheists.

The urging for Christians to pray for the self-described "anti-theist" comes from Rev. Robert Barron, a Chicago-area Catholic priest and founder of the WordOnFire blog. 

In a column posted yesterday on CNN's website, Barron explained: "Jesus said, 'Love your enemies; bless those who curse you; pray for those who maltreat you.' Christopher Hitchens is undoubtedly the enemy of Christianity – even of Christians – but he is also a child of God, loved into being and destined for eternal life. Therefore, followers of Jesus must pray for him and want what is best for him."

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But not everyone is thrilled with the suggestion to ask God to intervene on Hitchens' behalf, including those who don't believe in God.

CNN.com is posting comments from some of them, such as:

• "There have been multiple scientific studies that show that prayer does not have any impact on whether someone is cured of a serious illness. It's time Christians just stopped worrying about people that don't believe in their sky god. Atheists don't care if you pray for them, your god does not exist."

• "As an atheist, I find it objectionable that anyone should feel the right to pray for me because I don't believe as they do. That's as bad as that idiot church who thinks it's a good idea to baptize dead Jews or protest at military funerals. It's the worst kind of pandering."

• "Try to consider it from our point of view. If a Satan-worshipper drank the blood of a dove because he thought it would cure some disease you contracted, but in reality was hoping that if the disease was cured you would accept Satan as your lord and savior, would you 1) be grateful, or 2) be insulted?"

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Another commenter who shares no belief in God took less offense at the call for prayer, noting:

• "As an anti-theist, like Mr. Hitchens, I see no harm in this meaningless but quaint activity. I see it as no more than a ritualized version of 'you are in my thoughts,' as, indeed, Mr. Hitchens has been in mine since he made the details of his illness public. Atheists 'rejecting' prayers strikes me as somewhat more ludicrous than those saying them! I will salute Mr. Hitchens tonight with a good cigar and a glass of my finest brandy. I have no doubt he would approve of this method of prayer!"

Some Christians are taking issue with Barron's premise, stating:

• "Rev. Barron's main point is right on target. As Christians, we should, indeed, pray for and love those who oppose, ridicule and even persecute us. However, Rev. Barron states and uses as his basis for praying for Mr. Hitchens that Hitchens is 'a child of God.' For a reverend, a ministry founder, a host of a religious program and a religion professor, I am astounded at Rev. Barron's ignorance of the Bible. According to the Bible, as an atheist, Mr. Hitchens is not a 'child of God.' That description is reserved for only those who receive and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (John 1:12)."

• "The man we are praying for is a child of the devil, as we all were once before salvation when we were translated into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Therefore we are not of this world."

Other commenters are questioning the way atheists think in general:

• "Amazing how angry the atheists get when those who have belief pray for them. Says something about the atheist mindset, I guess, and not in a good way."

• "I am constantly amused by the hysterical reaction of atheists to any aspect of something they claim not to believe in. They protest too much, methinks."

As WND reported in July 2008, Hitchens took part in a high-profile Las Vegas debate with political writer Dinesh D'Souza, a devout Catholic, to grapple over the existence of God.

"I'm not an atheist, but Hitchens would almost make me one," Robert Spencer, a Catholic spectator at the event, told WND.

Hitchens, whose 2007 best-seller is titled "God Is Not Great: How Religion
Poisons Everything," teamed up in recent years with an
informal group of prominent "new atheists" who prefer to call
themselves anti-theists. Along with Hitchens, the "Four Horsemen" are
biologist Richard Dawkins, and philosophers Daniel Dennett and Sam
Harris.

Hitchens told WND his purpose is simple.

"I do it because I think the essential argument that underlies all
other arguments is the one between belief in the supernatural and
repudiation of that," he said. "It cuts across all the left-right,
libertarian-statist arguments."

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