Brockport Student Government Presents Hitchens Vs. Wolpe 4 of 10

[TonyBtheEG]

Thanks for sharing.

[epiksonik]

I don't think I can understand the religious...they make no sense, and after all, Mister Hitchens only seems to debate men on this matter....funny, so high and mighty the religious, but feminine reps? So f*cked up..Off with his head!

[region1111]

Putting your hands on your kid and "blessing" him, nice act though it may be, still doesn't make religion true.

I refuse to lie to myself. No matter what positive side effects religious actions may have, religion is still a 100% fabrication and 100% man-made. That's a point that apparently must be driven home again and again and again.

[adknerr]

Hitchens starts again @ 5:25... for those looking to skip Wolpe.

[RAMSEY1987]

thanks for this

[qarohc]

@adknerr

ty

[leporidus]

Empowerment of women, giving them control over their reproductive cycle (9:24); a human right more societies should try to establish and honor.

[antonc81]

hmm the rabbi comes close to making an interesting point about consciousness and morality then wrecks himself by giving a non-answer to Hitchens point about ethical nonreligious behaviour and unethical religious behaviour.. he totally misconstrues the argument.

[jessc1979]

It's true that 'blessing' someone isn't something a non-religious person *would* do. But is it really an ethical act? Has anyone proven that blessing works?

What Wolpe should understand is that being blessed by his father is his fondest memory because it shows his dad loves him. That's something any dad would've done with or w/o religion.

Wolpe needs to find another answer.

[201curzonst]

@jessc1979

I totally agree. Isn't the act of 'blessing' synonymous with the expression of good wishes? Unless the blessing specifically invokes the name of a deity, you wouldn't know whether the well-wisher was religious or not.

It seems more ethical for a parent to give their independent blessing, rather than to command an invisible personality to do it!

[jessc1979]

Actually, I'm now not sure if a non-religious parent wouldn't *bless* their child. Haven't we heard of parents who give their kids money for losing their baby teeth, given chocolate eggs, or dressing up as Santa even though the parents don't believe in the Toothfairy, Easter Bunny and Santa?

Of course, a non-religious parent wouldn't believe his blessing had any special powers but he/she might do it anyway to make their kid feel loved.

[jessc1979]

If anything, the *un*ethical act is making the kid believe in the power of 'blesses' in the first place.

[201curzonst]

Oh yeah, and it's rather like a parent wishing their child 'good luck' - a parent doesn't have to believe that they can influence the course of fate, fortune or whatever.

I thought this was interesting because I'm a 3rd generation atheist and my family is perfectly happy to use the word bless in this secular sense as in, 'I asked for my parents' blessing before going off to university/ getting married/ etc.'

[architect333]

great video, thanks for the up, just a suggestion, put your videos into a playlist, so the entire series goes through in one go!

[felandath]

The difference between 1 and 0 is 1 dumbass!

[gph61]

Question: What's the difference between a religion and a cult?

Answer: 200 years.

[adknerr]

Hitchens comes back on at 5:25 btw.

[DiabSoulBooker]

thank you!

[tyuerty]

ha, thanks!

[Epicure1878]

lol

[Handyandy58]

I'll remember to never get lessons about arithmetic from Mr. Wolpe. The difference between 10 and 1 is 9, but the difference between 1 and 0 is 1. Unless he sees addition and multiplication as interchangeable. Or perhaps he was talking about cardinality? In which case there is an infinite amount of numbers between any two numbers (assuming we're not just talking integers). Perhaps Mr. Wolpe should just leave mathematics alone. Clearly his knowledge is only that of a third grader.

[adknerr]

Well probably one of the least nit-picky things I would do to attack Wolpe's rediculous statements, but yes you are syntactically correct.

However even I would be guily of saying, if I had a can of coke and my friend had none, that I had infinitely more cans of coke :)

[stevao]

Hes using a vague concept of zero to suggest its difference from the remaining integers is infinite, im guessing. As a mathematician it makes me a feel a little sick hearing it. This is childs play for Hitchens, but im surprised the audience arent a little more supportive of his ideas. Maybe they require more thought than wolpe's vague arguments.

[IanBillings00]

Hitchens made an excellent point about the cure for poverty there, one I have never seen him make before this debate. I am very surprised that only one (maybe a couple) people clapped for that, I was expecting the whole room to clap.

He is absolutely right in this. You give power to the women in an impoverished area and you will see the community grow and become stronger. Education will rise, orphans will be cared for, and people will generally be less content with remaining in that condition

[tigers123123]

If the religious people do good things that they would not do if they would not be religious and if good would not make them to do then they simply ARE NOT good persons. They are doing it not because they want to but because they HAVE TO!

[richardcadbury]

NOT trying to add any innuendo to this, but doesn't Wolpe look quite a lot like Oswald Mosley?

[Hurlman418]

00:18 - "between 1 and 10 is nine. Between 1 and 0 is infinite." What on Earth does that mean? Between one and zero is one. If he's referring to percent change of 10 to 1 versus percent change of 1 to 0, then the respective changes are down 90% and down 100%.

[anwyll]

Yeah he fails harder at math than evolutionary theory

[markomat666]

Go to their youtube channel, missing videos are there!

[chessdawgz]

WHERE'S PART 5???

[stevao]

hitchens must be tired of these guys. They just dont stand up. Thanks for the vid, looking forward to 5 and 9.

[TheMonkeysMagic]

Wolpe is a complete tosser! I actually think he has head up his ass.

[HitodamaKyrie]

5:16 to be rid of him.

[The42ndAdams]

You wouldn't mind posting part 5 and part 9 would you? I've been enjoying listening to Hitchens, and it was cutting off right in the middle of his point.

[JoJeck]

Handels Messiah could have been dedicated to anything awe inspiring like the Universe. Secular music and art can be just as good as religious. Wolpe is just arrogant in claiming this.

[Saerain]

Yeah, religion has only dominated culture for thousands of years. That couldn't be the reason most art is religious, could it?

Who'd've thunk it?

[thruthem]

Missing Part 5

[Triploblast1]

How dare Wolpe say that no long-standing charitable act could be committed by non-believers. This man has no idea what he is talking about.

[fortmyersroyal]

Wolpe needs to learn who the two most charitable people in human history are. One is atheist Warren Buffett and the other is atheist Bill Gates.

[Triploblast1]

Rabbi Wolpe is full of crap. I am a non-believer and my wife and I send money every month to my sister-in-law, now a widow after her husband was killed by a drunk driver. We are committed to doing this in the future as long as we are able and God never entered into this decision and never will.