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Clive James Says Defiantly 'God Has No Leg To Stand On' Despite Terminal Illness

Terminally Ill Clive James Says 'God Has No Leg To Stand On'
Paul Vale
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There will be no deathbed conversion for Clive James. The author and poet, who is terminally ill with emphysema and leukemia, gave an extraordinary interview to Channel 4 News on Friday, telling the broadcaster that lingering on his own mortality would be "indulgent."

While discussing his latest collection of poems entitled "Sentenced To Life," James said: "I don't mope around the house all day thinking 'oh my god, tomorrow I'll be dead.' I'm too busy watching Game of Thrones."

Echoing his late friend Christopher Hitchens, who died in 2011, he said: “You’re lucky to have had a life. That’s not even to say blessed because that brings God into it and God has no leg to stand on.” The 75-year-old Australian added: “As one approaches the end one does see things with a new clarity."

Atheist Billboards
(01 of08)
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In this Sept. 9, 2010 photo, a billboard erected by atheists in Oklahoma City reads " Don't believe in God? Join the club". Nick Singer, the coordinator of a local atheists' group called "Coalition of Reason," recently received $5,250 from its national counterpart to erect the billboard along Interstate 44 near the Oklahoma State Fair. Oklahoma ranks eighth in the nation for percentage of residents who self-identify as Christians (85 percent), according to an analysis of the 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life. (Sue Ogrocki, AP) (credit:Sue Ogrocki, AP)
(02 of08)
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Atheist billboard on Capital Blvd. in Raleigh, North Carolina, can be seen March 29, 2011. (Chris Seward, Raleigh News & Observer / MCT) (credit:Chris Seward, Raleigh News & Observer / MCT)
(03 of08)
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A billboard sponsored by an atheist group is displayed near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel in North Bergen, N.J., Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010. Now, the Catholic League has countered by putting up its own billboard near one of the tunnel's New York City entrances. (Seth Wenig, AP) (credit:Seth Wenig, AP)
(04 of08)
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An atheistic billboard in Chicago. (Eric Ingrum, Flickr) (credit:Eric Ingrum, Flickr)
(05 of08)
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(credit:Flickr:eioua)
(06 of08)
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A billboard sponsored by a Catholic group is displayed near an exit of the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010. Similarly, a billboard sponsored by an atheist group is displayed near the tunnel's New Jersey entrance. (Seth Wenig, AP) (credit:Seth Wenig, AP)
(07 of08)
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From RNS' Diana Fishlock: A billboard erected in one of the Harrisburg, Pa.'s most racially diverse neighborhoods featured an African slave with the biblical quote, "Slaves, obey your masters." It lasted less than a day before someone tore it down. (credit:Religion News Service)
(08 of08)
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An atheist group was blocked from erecting a billboard in a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. (credit:American Atheists)
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