Christopher Hitchens: iconoclast, critic, essayist, columnist, editor, author, and outspoken and unapologetic atheist, died from pneumonia as a complication of esophageal cancer at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas on December 15. He was 62.

I had the good fortune to meet Hitchens a few times. When I was an editor with Free Inquiry magazine Hitchens was a columnist. He had come to Amherst, New York, where Free Inquiry is published, to speak at the Center for Inquiry. We had taken him to dinner where he had, not unexpectedly, imbibed quite a bit of alcohol. He seemed to have not been affected much by it because he shortly thereafter delivered an excellent speech, focusing largely on threats of Islam throughout the world.

During the dinner I was amazed at Hitchens’ erudition. He discussed numerous subjects, including politics, higher education in England, biblical studies, and the civil rights movement. Hitchens was of the opinion that Martin Luther King performed remarkable deeds despite his Christianity. After his presentation at the Center I gave him a copy of my first book, African-American Humanism: An Anthology. In that book, there are articles and interviews demonstrating how Humanism and Humanist ideals substantively developed African American activism and intellectualism.

The first time Free Inquiry encountered Hitchens was after the publication of his provocative book on Mother Teresa, The Missionary Position. Hitchens took the religious icon to task for cozying up to dictators, opposing birth control which led to increased poverty, and overseeing unsanitary conditions.

Hitchens agreed to an interview with Free Inquiry. However, he made it clear to then-editor Tim Madigan that he wanted everyone to know that he was not merely criticizing certain aspects of religion. He was a proud, no-nonsense atheist!

Hitchens was huge among intellectuals and in the popular culture. Indeed, according to Nicholas Jackson of The Atlantic, The New York Times stopped the presses after getting the news that Hitchens had died.

Hitchens wrote for The New Statesman, Harper’s, The Nation, Slate, Vanity Fair (where he was also contributing editor), The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post. He wrote or edited about two dozen books, including God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, For the Sake of Argument, Prepared for the Worst, Arguably, Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring) , and a book critical of the Clintons, No One Left to Lie To.

Hitchens was an enigma to many. Early in his career he was a socialist. He opposed the Vietnam War and supported progressive causes. However, after the events of 9/11 he came to view militant Islam as a genuine threat to liberty worldwide. He denounced Osama bin Laden and supported the war against Iraq. He strongly disagreed with the movers and shakers at The Nation on this topic, and he eventually resigned from the magazine. He voted for George W Bush in the 2004 election, and harshly attacked Islam, while defending the West. He supported Israel against the Palestinians, though he believed that religion was a major problem on both sides.

During Bill Clinton’s presidency, he accused the commander in chief of being sexist and dishonest. However; he continued to be progressive on most issues. He supported Obama during the 2008 election.

Ironically, Hitchens angered many women – including some comediennes – when he wrote the provocative Vanity Fair article, “Why Women Aren’t Funny.” Though some of his male defenders maintained that the article was actually complimentary toward women, most women were not amused.

Hitchens was a forceful debater in support of atheism. He debated such figures as Al Sharpton, William Lane Craig, Rabbi David Wolpe, and Dinesh D’Souza and Dennis Prager (at the same time!). He, along with Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, were regarded as the leaders of “the New Atheism.”

Hitchens had his detractors among Humanists. Some believe he was too combative. Others believed he did not focus on how best to live morally without religion. Still others accused him of attacking religion composed of a straw man. Some go so far as to say that he did more to harm the cause of Humanism than to help it. His legacy among Humanists, feminists, progressives, and others will likely be mixed. However, his intellectual honesty will be sorely missed. Despite his ill health at the end, he never wavered in his atheism. At least as I write this, as far as I know, there are no phony deathbed conversion stories about Hitchens making the rounds.