In Memoriam, my courageous brother Christopher, 1949-2011

December 16, 2011

By Peter Hitchens


How odd it is to hear of your own brother’s death on an early morning radio bulletin. How odd it is for a private loss to be a public event. I wouldn’t normally dream of writing about such a thing here, and I doubt if many people would expect me to. It is made even odder by the fact that I am a minor celebrity myself. And that the, ah, complex relationship between me and my brother has been public property.
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Posted by Tom at 19:50

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...
December 17, 2011 at 12:07 AM  

I have spent some of the evening on the web and seen plenty of reactions on the news of Christopher's passing. Most of them are of course like-minded enthusiastic skeptics with kind words like "You were such a great inspiration to me, I can't believe you are gone, we will remeber you". There has been the occasional gleeful "guy knows now he was wrong" but what has struck me most is responses such as the one his brother wrote. Deeply religious christians who really thought Hitchens was doing evil and harming the world, people who will not back away from a discussion. People like these, even with their firm beliefs have shown respect and acknowledged as much as they possibly can of his greatness. They may not agree with his world views but at least they can muster a "he was one of the great atheists I could have enjoyed a beer with" or "he was a great writer, RIP". It is nice to see people calm down for an instant at the moment of a person's death and see them show some nice respect for the one who passed.

 
Anonymous said...
December 17, 2011 at 12:07 AM  

I have spent some of the evening on the web and seen plenty of reactions on the news of Christopher's passing. Most of them are of course like-minded enthusiastic skeptics with kind words like "You were such a great inspiration to me, I can't believe you are gone, we will remeber you". There has been the occasional gleeful "guy knows now he was wrong" but what has struck me most is responses such as the one his brother wrote. Deeply religious christians who really thought Hitchens was doing evil and harming the world, people who will not back away from a discussion. People like these, even with their firm beliefs have shown respect and acknowledged as much as they possibly can of his greatness. They may not agree with his world views but at least they can muster a "he was one of the great atheists I could have enjoyed a beer with" or "he was a great writer, RIP". It is nice to see people calm down for an instant at the moment of a person's death and see them show some nice respect for the one who passed.

 
Glenn Donovan said...
December 17, 2011 at 2:19 AM  

How touching, thanks for giving us this very personal note. Condolences to you and the world.

 
Anonymous said...
December 17, 2011 at 5:25 AM  

A lovely column. Somehow comforting to hear that they were on good terms at the end. Thanks for posting it.

 
kheck34 said...
December 17, 2011 at 9:01 AM  

RIP Christopher... u were such a great inspiration for us all... through ur courage n wit u have made ur mark on this world..u will live on forever in through ur work n those that these works have inspired- me being one of them... thank u Christopher, watever happens after death I hope ur at peace

 
Anonymous said...
December 19, 2011 at 6:19 AM  

RIP, indeed, dear Christopher. For years, I have looked forward to your books, television interviews, and, most of all your contributions to those periodicals you've chosen to grace with your thoughts on so many subjects but especially regarding your religious beliefs. Years ago you made it possible for me to finally muster the courage to "come out" to my family about my religious convictions and admit to them I am AT LEAST an "intellectual agnostic." The clarity of thought you've expressed in your writings about your self-admitted atheism helped me immensely thorough several bouts of self-doubt before I finally left the "closet" to admit my now firmly held religious beliefs (or lack there of).

 

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Christopher reads from Hitch-22: A Memoir