Christopher Hitchens Awarded the Freethinker of the Year Award

The Secular Coalition congratulates Christopher Hitchens on receiving the Freethinker of the Year award at the Texas Freethought Convention on Saturday.

Hitchens is one of the most well recognized voices of the New Atheism movement and a self-described antitheist. He has written several books, including God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, published in 2007, as well as columns for several publications such as The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and World Affairs.

Hitchens’ newest book, Arguably, a collection of essays, was published last month and earlier this year he was awarded a National Magazine Award.

In June 2010 Hitchens was diagnosed with Stage 4 esophageal cancer and due to health reasons has significantly narrowed his schedule and the number of public appearances he makes. However, Hitchens said he made an exception for the convention in part because it coincided with his move from England to the United States almost 30 years ago, to the day.

The award was presented to Hitchens by Richard Dawkins of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, which sponsored the award.

This year’s event marked the fourth annual Texas Freethought Convention which was co-sponsored by the Atheist Alliance of America.