Christopher Hitchens on debating religion and the elections

[paginipro]

so sad hitchy died ,I'm the next hitchens ,fuck religions logic is god see my website theoreticalphysics.webs.com

[DrFruedienslip]

Instead of arguing over any definition for God, persons might want to ask the question why are there so many people using hard drugs, like alcohol, Meth and Cocaine, and who ever came up with the idea that cannnabis is the gateway drug? Sugar Caffiene and nicotine are drugs and the most addictive and widely used, how many foods have preservatives in them and how does they effect physical stress?

[MrLittletomdj]

Dinesh D'souza??? Really? woah, I wasn't expecting that.

[redtimmy]

Who is the man on the right?

[dakotadenverdexter]

@redtimmy READ. THE. DESCRIPTION.

[redtimmy]

@dakotadenverdexter No need to be a prick. I just read the description. Again. The interviewer is not named. He is referred to as "The editor of "Patrol", which is not really a name, is it?

[dakotadenverdexter]

@redtimmy Lol could have sworn it said his name.

[murrayp4]

cute twink

[TrueKaos1991]

I find it hard to imagine an afterlife whenever I look at all the life of the planet. It's pretty arrogant of us to assume that after we die only humans move on. What happens to all other animals on the planet? The only difference between humans and animals is our intelligence. I've been kept up at night by fear whenever I think about what happens after death. Sometimes I find it hard to keep going but that doesn't mean I need something to guide me. Religion just takes away your fear of death.

[DrFruedienslip]

@TrueKaos1991 One approach within that thought might be that death itself could not actually be experienced, so what would any person actually know? When we die we would find out any truth to this never ending argument, evolution is more scientific, and many religious persons promote any fear within any judgmental deity which is any theoretical supposition asking any question within how anything comes to be which simply cannot actually be known? What does any person truly know?

[SpencerJake]

These two need to get room. The sexual tension is high.

[youztuber5000]

@SpencerJake What?!

[ozzfest72]

@fasfsdfasd How clever.

[johnclavis]

Aslan is gay.

Also, Hitchens rocks and rules.

[ozzfest72]

@johnclavis Thank you for clearing that up. Now what?

[johnclavis]

@ozzfest72 Send me your keys.

[BritishSnail]

UK

I'd just like to announce that the truth is there for all to see now. Check out the DWP's accounts for November 2010.

[XforeverlongingX]

The religious man on the right is so obviously gay, I bet he's going through a lot since the bible teaches self hatred to heterosexuals, I can only imagine the other side of it.

[sundayraver]

RELIGION IS GAY

[musepigg]

@sundayraver No it's not. Don't put me in the same category as religion.

[sundayraver]

@musepigg religious people are deluded. religion is gay

[musepigg]

@sundayraver Yes, so don't insult gay people.

[sundayraver]

@musepigg Gay people are aslo gay. 

[ozzfest72]

@sundayraver religion is clearly hetero.

[nopain341]

Hitchens is a transhumanist, freemason, liar a new world order puppet!!!

[nikur]

@nopain341 y? cause he dont believe in gods? or beacuse he thinks stupid religious ppl rule this world? or may be cause he is smart and religious ppl never argue his points of view?

[digital0707neo]

Consider if you will, that the world can be divided into two very distinct groups. Those who believe in a supreme being, and those who seem to spend all of their time saying there isn't one.

[hdregmore]

@digital0707neo This fact gives credence to my suggestion that the premise of God is inherent in man.

[AngryScissor]

@digital0707neo Actually I think that's very much a misconception. You only NOTICE the people who spend all their time saying there isn't one. A lot of people who don't believe remain silent about the subject most of their lives.

[xavtron]

@digital0707neo I could also flip that and say that there are two distinct groups. Those who maintain the default position that there are no supreme beings and those who spend their lives desperately asserting there is, living a lie and convincing others to as well. Your comment is pointless and if everyone who believes in a supreme being is right, then just how do we tell which one.

[Gorshkin111]

@digital0707neo Or vise versa?

[EXVN07]

The interviewer needs to put a little more bass in his voice.

[SgtDICTION]

@JUANMO94 

[csxtrainwreck]

I think it's funny that he's complimenting Dinesh on his skills when, in my opinion, Dinesh was easily destroyed by Hitchens. During one debate, Hitchens even said, "...that was terrible, Dinesh" to an entire argument.

[yatter1]

Douglas Wilson, as named by Hitch here, says that he has no problem with genocide as long as it´s ordered by god, oh jesus, what is the world coming to?

[n8style]

Keep still man! You're making people nervous!

[raul12ize]

that guy is totally gayyyyyyyyyyy

not hitchens

[BillKiernan]

"don't laugh she does" haha i love hitchens.

[Windlightesh]

Atheists do these three things: poop, spew, and cry. But what they don't know is that we still love them!!! Yes, because we know they are like babies. They think they know everything

[SuperNanel]

@Windlightesh No we don't know everything. And we admit that, that's why we dont reach for god unlike you sheep do.

[magior329]

Dinesh is easily the best Hitchens has debated on religion. Poeple should see the christian book expo debate. Every single one of them are out of their league compared to Hitchens, especially William Lane Craig who is so full of it.

[ghicazorla]

cant believe hitchens praised dinesh. Ive seen dinesh's debates... and hes an irrational idiot., easily.

[timothy51886]

yea i am shocked too, i wasn't impressed by denesh either

[teejayandrade]

no no he's one of the few who actually knows philosophy and theology innately enough to rebuttle secularized arguments by point and explicitly head on. Dinesh is actually extraordinary when listening to in content.

[ghicazorla]

@teejayandrade

I see that Dinesh is usually hystorically correct, yes, but in content, he swings those facts out of context.

[johnromberg]

@ghicazorla

just try to put yourself in place of someone who believes or even an "undecided" when you listen to dinesh. also consider the format of debates which doesn't allow much time for analyzing a single point. that's something dinesh uses to sneak his demagoguery, sometimes not so obvious logical fallacies and rhetoric tricks. so yeah, you can be wrong and still be a good debater.

but hitch probably praises him because of some private conversations...

[ghicazorla]

@johnromberg

I see your point, and i agree.

And it is a shame to have so little time to refute in those debates.

But it hurts to listen to dinesh being a good debater (to most people), when one knows he's full of shit.

[showABCshow]

imagine Christopher Hitchens vs VenomfangX, I think chris would strangle him near the end lool

[SuperNanel]

@showABCshow I would pay A LOT of cash to see that

[NotTooObvious]

Collision was awesome! Hitchens is a superstar

[Samtheamazingpuppet]

Hitchens Rules

[scotttebben]

Its not looking very nice outside. I think it may rain tonight. Make sure you bring in the cloths before you leave. I love you.

[poolerboy0077]

Cute twink.

[CrystalCanyons]

How can you tell that? His high voice may be a genetic thing, he might have just gotten lucky with that perfect knot in his tie, he may just be a person he prefers to put a little product in his hair, he may just.. yep he's gay.

[poolerboy0077]

LMAO!!! Did I make you have to look up the word? :p

[CrystalCanyons]

Had to ask my housemate..

[modramafoyomama]

definitely the bottom

[YellowCakeKid]

i know right

[Chibling]

I'd hold my own in a conversation with HItchens, but im not sure if I could at that kids age.

[caspar01]

To be fair to the kid, he has got his interview notes behind him which means he has to turn away to read them. A schoolboy error, but he's not being rude.

[sarahnewt]

poor kid's really nervous - spinning in his chair, etc... I think I would be a little self conscious if I was lucky enough to meet CH

[1Gr8ttime]

What a humble and well put remark. I applaud your content and especially the last bit, as unneeded as it was. Thanks.

[ParadiseOnLand]

Hitchens is an historical revisionist.

[caspar01]

What do you base that on?

[ParadiseOnLand]

His contention that the Framers of the U.S. Constitution were closet atheists.

[caspar01]

Bearing in mind that it was a time when 'heresy' was still a serious matter and so some lip-service was to be expected, where's your evidence that they weren't? I've seen Hitchens and others talk about this, and I have to say that a) their arguments were pretty compelling and b) no-one I've seen has managed to present a clear argument for the other side.

At a push, one could argue that some may have been religious but still wanted to create a nation not rooted in religion.

[ParadiseOnLand]

The Founders of the U.S. were lay preachers, deacons & overwhelmingly Protestant. They were married in church, their children were baptized in church, their bodies are interred in church yards beneath monuments bearing crucifixes. That's all there is. We are free to psychoanalyze them 250 yrs. later.

[caspar01]

My point about social context still stands.

By 'psychoanalyze', you mean when Hitch quotes them directly?

[regelemihai]

Ben Franklin, Washington, Samuel and John Adams have shown to be somewhere between deists and theists. His claims that they were all atheists goes beyond what they have indeed wrote.

They were not Christians in the conventional sense, but there is very little evidence to show( with the exception of Jefferson) that they were atheists as Hitchens claims.

Other than that, I think the H man is a brilliant man.

[baillou2]

Poor kid. He can't keep up. He's not uninterested, he's just nervous in front of the camera, and even more nervous in front of the intellectual rottweiler that is Hitchens.

[yesanded]

Could this kid look more distracted and uninterested?

[sarahnewt]

he's a little intimidated - most of us would be.....;-}

[Brantinger]

Or he just thinks Hitchens is sexy. Doesnt Hitchens tell us regularly about his sexual charisma...??

[bollockowithalob]

Many thanks for uploading.

[RazaSiddiqui]

If I may, the wearing of the poppy is fairly common in Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia for Remembrance Day (11th November, last day of WWI)

The tradition is not based on the Canadian poem, but on the fields where the fallen soldiers are buried.

[CliveSinclairZX]

It is the same day in Canada, we actually fought together.

[gregstaddon]

"Extraordinary...what an insult."

Instantly summing up any thinking person's feeling to ALL politicians (particularly in the USA) professing their "faith" in the public square.

[amanhart]

what does he say at 5:39 after 'extraordinary'?

[deauvillimus]

I believe he saying" what an insult"

[taz0k2]

Damn. You owned Promatheos!

[taz0k2]

"He wants to murder the most innocent"

Blasphemy! They are born into sin by being born nude! Let them children die! Just kidding

I am sure that Hitchens have said that he is "pro-life", so to speak. I would not say that it is wise to base ones choice president solely upon such a trivial point.

Before birth the intelligence of a fetus is about the same as any animal who we are happily slaughtering all day long.

"Hitchens you need to wake up"

I am pretty sure that Hitchens is not sleeping

[Hopeful71]

"I am sure that Hitchens have said that he is "pro-life", so to speak."

Can you point to anything confirming this. For all his conservative ideals, pro-life, is not one I have seen him go on record for. And in fact I SEEM to remember hearing him in the 90's saying the exact opposite (on PI I think). But I can't remember for sure. What do you have?

[taz0k2]

watch?v=UcYv9hAkenI

[taz0k2]

or search "Hitchens Prolife" on youtube

[Hopeful71]

Thanks for the link. He was slightly obtuse in his answer but definately 'pro-life'

[taz0k2]

"Thanks for the link."

It's okey.

"For all his conservative ideals, pro-life, is not one I have seen him go on record for."

I've never lived in USA but I can't imagine why liberalism/conservatism is such a divider. Everyone have have both conservative and liberal values. Also, there are a lot of other axis in politics.

[Hopeful71]

"I can't imagine why liberalism/conservatism is such a divider."

In this case I was using conservative as shorthand. You are right about people's values being mixed but the whole game of politics is that certain issues are used to divide. In the US they are called 'wedge issues' & are used to impassion voters on a few relatively meaningless issues.

[jhohcable]

"I've never lived in USA but I can't imagine why liberalism/conservatism is such a divider. Everyone have have both conservative and liberal values. Also, there are a lot of other axis in politics."

I'm slamming the thumbs up button a hundred times but it only counts it once unfortunately.

[crixus]

Hitch is not a conservative, neocon or any of that. His position is very clear, he's a humanist and an anti-theist before anything else. For a long time in the Seventies and Eighties he was actually a socialist, and in some ways (philosophically at least) he still is a Marxist - in the sense he thinks dialectally.

Other than that, he's liberal, libertarian and politically homeless. As far as I know, he has no political ties with any group or party anymore.

[VarialProductions]

I agree. Hitchens current positions on social, religion and foreign policy matters are SO consistent with that of someone who thinks clearly, intellectual and practically. To say in other words, COMMON SENSE. Its funny to say that, as Smart and advanced as his stances are and the sheer nature of insight, that his views are actually very easy to understand when compared to say, that of strict Rep. or Strict Dem's. Ones views SHOULD shift naturally between both realms. Do you agree?

[maikeru01]

@crixus actually i've heard him call himself a republican. You could be a liberal republican i guess.

[axl170]

@maikeru01 He also stated that it was unconscionable for anybody to vote McCain/Palin in the 2008 election. I certainly don't think he could be called a Republican in any sense of the word today, if he could ever have been at all. He really is not beholden to any political allegiance, but his principles at heart are clearly informed by the tradition of political liberalism on the one hand and the radical activist spirit of '68 on the other.

[taz0k2]

At 5:25 what does Hitchens mean with "What an insult?". What does he mean is an insult to whom?

[amsp79]

Yeah, was thinking the same thing. It was like watching an uncomfortable, bored, uninterested kid with attention attention deficit disorder. It looked like he "zoned out" every time Christopher was talking.

[KeratinizingSquamous]

lol! Looking away constanly...

[peybak]

By Palin's anti-witchcraft ceremony.

[peybak]

Thanks for posting these Hitchens videos! I finally found a good use for youtube!

[54321pbs]

mccain appointing palin is the insult he is refering to. It IS insulting. a narrow escape.

[steveoco1]

I enjoyed this, some of the q's I would have asked.

[Babaretro222]

you know why hitchens backed obama cause obama said 'Pakistan oh sure id invade them' the hitch is for smoking religious extremist and i know everyone is for that Hitch is God and is not great oh hehehehehehe

[fathead8489]

All Dinesh does is filler buster and make unprovable claim after another. He is on the bottom of my Christian debater list. I think Christopher only mentioned him because they are good friends.

[8080256256]

Thumbs up, though I must say D'Souza is as effective a debater as a believer can get - none of them have any real arguments, so they can only base their performances on rhetorics. And D'Souza excels in that department. That said, substance of his speeches is pure shit.

[threedotsdead]

The hitch doesn´t have any real arguments? Get a brain...

[8080256256]

No, I meant that none of the religious apologists (believers) have real arguments, because they are wrong. I should have chosen a different formulation.

[Lavabug]

I agree completely. Dinesh's arguments are as empty and weak as any other apologist's indeed, but he can really distract from that because he's very literate and speaks well. Anyone that's paying attention will see through this though.

[threedotsdead]

Oh, sorry about that.

[scotsocool]

Have you watched DrOakley debate?

[8080256256]

Nope. Do you have a link?

[scotsocool]

Search on here for DrOakley1689. He has tons of videos, and tends to debate muslims (hes a christian). Many of the islamic crtisisms of christianity, are the same sort of things you will hear from atheists so it's interesting to watch even from a secular position. Although he did take a stab at atheism once or twice that wasnt exactly in good taste :\

Best of luck :)

[8080256256]

Thank you.

[simplybornhuman]

shame man! the kid is shaking in his boots

[cadfish]

he did ok for a noobie, and he'll get better

[DavidlyMe]

Someone should let that poor kid go to the bathroom.

[mccote]

This kids head is not nearly shiny enough to be worthy to debate the Hitch.

[tcrb2]

De Souza was rubbish, it's just that Hitch couldn't make a scientific case quite like his colleagues could.

[MpowerdAPE]

that kid is annoying.

[opmandrake]

God the interviewer looks so totally unconfortable in this. Stay still and quit twiching about like a fish, damn you!

[Promatheos]

He opposes research on cloned human embryos, but has voted for expansion of more embryonic stem cell lines and is in support of federal funding for such research.

His website is written in a misleading way which makes it appear he is against it because he knows it would lose him conservative votes if he supported it.

[Promatheos]

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, on Thursday while campaigning in Florida said he continues to support human embryonic stem cell research, the Washington Post reports. When asked whether recent advances in nonembryonic stem cell research would change his stance, McCain replied, "I have not changed my position yet" (Milbank, Washington Post, 1/25)."

[taz0k2]

It was a good interview none the less.

[Promatheos]

McCain is for embryonic stem cell research. Don't criticize someone for being uninformed and show your ignorance in the same breath.

[rboltt]

..."Let alone his Pentecostal, raving, philistine of a running mate......who believes in witchcraft.......extraordinary­, what an insult!"

[faraz1729]

What an accurate description of her. It's pretty much objectively accurate.

[ultraviolet99]

This kid is a terrible interviewer. Looking away while he's supposed to be listening? Interrupting? Disinterested silence? Lucky bastard, though.

[ed1962]

yea, swinging round on his chair. when the hitch speaks you're wise to shutup and listen.

[nyomythus]

I was thinking Dinesh D'Souza

[lollygager3664]

I am so jelous of this kid. Clams up and mumbles like an idiot.

[Stipoon]

I think he captured it very well saying the religious will not credit humanity for moral development, since it is handed down as gifts to our species. It is not ours.

Contemptuous to think imo.

[calcecini]

In answer to your question about CH's lapel,it's actually a poppy (made of plastic) worn in November in Britain as a memorial for those who have died in war (war remembrence day in on November 11th in the UK). You are given a poppy by people on the street after u give a donation, and that money goes to veterans charity.The tradition covers all war, but is especially associated wth WW1 1914 -18 - as the poppy grows in the area of France where the terrible trench wars took place.

[Stipoon]

Thats deep. Thanks for the response.

[ODDMANtheone]

Look up the peom Flanders Fields...written by a Canadian I believe.

[JohnAdamCulligan]

I would just add that the tradition is still observed in other parts of the commonwealth, not just Britain, as well as in a handful of countries that are not and never were a part of the commonwealth.

[Melvin6566842]

Thanks for the quick answer: a poppy for Remembrance day, from the fields of Flanders, if you don't mind I put your answer in the info box.

[bodeezy]

Hitchens is not afraid of "hell" and (but) is very intelligent.

This combination is very interesting to christians that question their own faith.

I never respect the intelligence of a self proclaimed christian upon first meeting them.

I almost always respect a claimed atheist's intelligence before hearing another word out of their mouths. Rarely have I been wrong about either.

Religion = fear + ignorance

[greycloud24]

the vast majority of atheists that i have met in america are noticeably more intelligent than their theist counterparts. there is the rare brilliant theist, but they are rare. brilliance is much more common with atheists.