No, it's peddling your beliefs disguised as a noble statement. I cannot and do not want to speak for Hitchens so I will only speak for myself. My view is that

No, it's peddling your beliefs disguised as a noble statement. I cannot and do not want to speak for Hitchens so I will only speak for myself. My view is that believing in an afterlife is crazy and absurd. (Don't get me wrong: I would love there to be some sort of way for my existence to continue after death. I'm terrified of death. Just wishing for there to be an afterlife doesn't make it happen, though.) I think it is very much distepectful to say things you know the person would have thought of as crazy and absurd when commenting their death.