Cancer 'cures' atheism

Not ones to miss an opportunity to convert sinners and non-believers no matter how horrible the circumstances (much like 'shock doctrine'), some religious types are discussing on the internet that author Christopher Hutchins could be 'cured' of his atheism now that he has been diagnosed with cancer. The logic behind is that in facing possibility the horror of death, somehow non-believers will need to seek consolence in the belief of the after-life and possible miraculous recovery by the hand of the almighty. As what Francis Phillips wrote in the Catholic Herald:

Some years ago, I happened to mention to a saintly Irish priest (his one small vanity was to think he looked like the actor Robert Mitchum) that the scientist Francis Crick – of Crick & Watson, the well-known firm of DNA supplies – had just died. “He didn’t believe in God,” I added. “He does now,” replied my Irish friend.

Perhaps visiting his doctor will be a wake-up call for Hitchens?

While George Berkin, writer for the New Jersey-based Star Ledger wrote this:

But maybe God is doing it this way because he desires that Hitchens give up his "god," that is, Hitchens' pride in being different from the run-of-the-mill mortal. Maybe God is doing it this way so that Hitchens can encounter the God he has been denying for so long, before eternity sets in.

To have someone religious insinuate that someone 'deserves' to get cancer so they can change their view to the 'right' way is disgusting.

All this is something quite personal to me as I too have been through stage III cancer and months of chemotherapy. What happened in my case is that when I was in hospital suffering from complications arising from post-chemo loss of immunity, I was paid a visit by the hospital chaplain. The last thing I was up to then was dealing with anyone other than the nurses, doctors or family, so I was very much uncooperative. Thinking that a person of the chaplain's capacity in a hospital would possess a great sense of empathy, I thought that my initial hostility would dissuade her from engaging in further conversation. Unfortunately that was not the case. She interpreted my non-cooperation as some sort of anger over having cancer, and proceeded to ask me questions to this vane. "Do you feel angry at God for having you go through this ordeal when there are bad people out there who are healthy?" she asked. I was flabbergasted, as I believed that the Bible taught not to compare yourself to others and look at retribution or anger. Obviously I have been mistaken. I answer by saying "No, because I have cancer, it was just my luck and there's nothing I can do about that. So why worry about seeking some sort of justice when my main priority id getting myself better. To think that way is wasting valuable energy and time for nothing". She was relentless, constantly asking me about God and in a way, trying to use my very disvantageous position to 'cure my atheism'. She was not there to help. In the end, I explained to her that the most important person who can help me get over cancer is myself. If I don't do it, noone will. She eventually got the picture that I am 'incurable' and left.

This reminds me of a story I once heard, of all places, on Radio Pyongyang, the North Korean shortwave radio service that I used to listen in the early 1990s. In one of Kim Il-sung's many reminiscences (he seemed to have a photographic memory of the minutiae of rather uneventful events from more than 60 years back - I have trouble remembering 5 minutes ago), he told of a story when he confronted some evangelical Christians, who happen to be very active at the time in Korea (Kim Il-sung apparently used to be one before discovering Marxism). It was a time of great hardship in Korea, as it always seemed to be until he came into power (by his reminiscences) and so the evangelicals decided to pray for hours for salvation, while Kim and his crew when out to the fields and worked for hours. In the end the evangelicals were left with nothing but empty prayers while Kim's gang ate the food they gained from working on the fields. OK, it's propaganda, but it does put the point that the only way you can get something done is not by relying on some greater mythical force but by doing it and believing in yourself. The fact that I still remember this story must mean that it does have some value.

What I do also believe is each to their own. If a belief in a higher being and afterlife helps you, then good on. All I ask is that anyone who believes otherwise or differently be treated with the same respect they bestow on you. As it says in the bible: Do as they be done by.