Hitchens Wants No Prayers

He hasn't slowed down (so far) on his writing (continuing with his regular magazine columns) or debates on atheism with believers. Pretty amazing. He may not have long too live (though no one can be certain of such things) but he carries on, living, writing, speaking, remaining an atheist, and asking people not to pray for him.

Hitchens's attitude to people praying for him could be described as a mixture of polite gratitude for their consideration and a determined refusal to let it sway his opinions. There have been various studies, he says, on whether or not intercessionary prayer works. ''And one is not surprised to find they don't.'' On the contrary, the most comprehensive study concluded that it could even have a detrimental effect, causing those who knew they were being prayed for to become depressed when they didn't get better, ''because they thought they were letting the side down''.

[...]

In this sense, it might be said that his illness has become something of a battlefield in which the forces of belief and non-belief are waging war. Several Christians have made attempts to make him reconsider his views in light of his illness. ''I think that's cheesy, even if it's kindly meant or well done.''-Christopher Hitchens: Don't pray for me

Much more (and other topics) are discussed at the link, so read the whole article there.