Famous Atheist has Death Bed Conversion

http://www.satireandcomment.com/0508conversion.html

Why I am Googling "deathbed conversion" on Sunday morning...

I recently caught the 2006 movie The Libertine, about John Wilmot, the 2d Earl of Rochester. A famous rake-hell and non-believer from the court of Charles II, Wilmot's own deathbed conversion sparked about 200 years of Xian sermonizing and pamphleteering.

The best part of the movie is seeing Johnny Depp as Wilmot near the end of his life, looking like the walking dead, half-blind and ravaged by various STD's.

But...Inspector, it seems to be the usual Xian M.O. - get an atheist on the deathbed and badger that person relentlessly, helped by family members. Then the Attending Witch-Doctor takes credit and - most importantly - gets to report the story:

By the age of 33, Rochester was dying, presumably from syphilis, gonorrhea, other venereal diseases, as well as the effects of alcoholism.

His mother had him attended in his final weeks by her religious associates, particularly Gilbert Burnet, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury.

A deathbed renunciation of atheism was published and promulgated as the conversion of a prodigal. This became legendary, reappearing in numerous pious tracts over the next two centuries.

Because the first published account of this story appears in Burnet's own writings, some have disputed its accuracy, suggesting that he shaped the account to enhance his own reputation. However, other sources, including documents signed by Rochester, confirm that in his final months his thoughts turned towards religion and the afterlife...

Burnet claimed that Wilmot's conversion experience led him to ask that “all his profane and lewd writings” be burned; it is unclear how much, if any, of Rochester's writing was destroyed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilmot,_2nd_Earl_of_Rochester

Hmm. According to my drive-by Googling, if they destroyed “all his profane and lewd writings," only about 2% of his writings must have survived...

I mean if you're almost dead, there's no opportunity to perform any pieties*. You risk nearly nothing. Your payoff is eternal paradise. Long odds, but near zero risk. Sure, you could recover, but then you get to play again. :)

---

* Of no relevance: Whenever I see a word with this suffix, I think of a legend about one of my fraternity brothers, napping in a classics class. The professor addresses him, "Mr. X! Would you care to tell us something about Euripides?"

Without hesitation comes, "Euripides -- ya pay fa' dese!"

Edit because some verbs were disagreeable. They're pacified.

--imm

I can believe that.