Upon the death of a fellow atheist, Kurt Vonnegut took pleasure in saying, "He's in heaven now." And it is funny, because it reveals how there isn't much useful secular language to explore the meaning of death, or even just to mourn without speaking religiously. It would be easy to say Hitchens' soul lives on in those he inspired, but that is purely figurative.
I didn't pay attention to Hitchens until his final years, when fighting religion seemed to become his full-time gig. And what a pleasure it was to watch him unload his anger, brilliance, irreverence, and dry humor on religious folly.
His writings didn't inspire me much. He wrote a sort of William F. Buckley, erudite mush that he seemed all too happy with. But as a speaker and debater, he was engrossing. I've spent many hours watching his interviews and debate appearances. I'm saddened that there is now a finite number of those.
I think he would have made a terrific old man--perhaps even more hilariously cynical, skeptical, and impatient.
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