Christopher Hitchens at Freedom From Religion Foundation 4/7

[gallus1]

I knew it wouldn't be long in coming Hitch, but i miss you already.

History will forever keep you alive.

[writersblock26]

Thank you for posting this, Flirmy.

[KittenButter]

Not all religions are apocalyptic, let alone all theistic philosophies.

[writersblock26]

@KittenButter Of course not all of the religions practiced today contain an eschatological element, but nearly all of the monotheistic ones, including the largely inactive ones ike Zoroastrianism, have one in some form or another. In fact, I'm having a hard time thinking of an exception.

[drabarne]

Parthenogenesis is indeed possible... but the result would be female.

[RhondaH]

I highly recommend Chapman's book 40 days & 40 nights on the Dover trial. Great reading. You'll enjoy it very much.

[QuasiRandomViewer]

Hitchens at his most powerful.

5:43 -- "Remember again, part of our charge against religion, part of our belief that it is fundamentally wicked and anti-human is precisely its eschatology. Religion is predicated on the idea that our time here is short and should be%G%@ shorter. That our job is to bring on the end of days. That this is just a veil of tears and guilt and shame and excrement."

(cont)

[QuasiRandomViewer]

(cont)

"This, the only life we have, this life that contains music and art and literature and solidarity and sex and love, all of this should be swept away. We can't wait for the end times to come. That's what they all have to believe."

[kadene2]

The whole idea of aggressive atheism is akin to the evangelical thrust. What Hitchens needs to realize is that religion is going to be around for a very long time indeed, as long as ignorance and illiteracy persist. If even among the educated there is still a need to acknowledge a Chief Controller, it means that it will take a considerable period for a new level of consciousness to spread where man overcomes his terror of death, understands the elements around him and no longer needs religon.

[Astylebabe]

Psychology could help: studying the harmful effects of particular beliefs on the mind & using psychology to present atheism in a 'positive', sensitive way. The religion vs. atheism debate can also make us think how to create more humane, warmer societies so that losing faith doesn't equate with losing hope... But I think we also need big-mouths, in-your-face types like Sultan, Hitchens & Dawkins. Atheists can fight too.

[Gliktch]

Good points Astyle.

Are you familiar with the work of Jacque Fresco? :)

He can seem a bit kooky because he's been quite ahead of his time for several decades, but well worth a listen on the issues you're raising ;)

[Gliktch]

Except that atheism isn't a religion, or a dogma, or any unified body of thought. Atheism is simply a lack of belief in a god or gods. There's nothing to 'preach' about atheism. Though of course an argument could be made, that most active persons which proudly take this label tend to campaign against irrationality and intellectual abuse, but this is not inherent in the lack of belief in invisible friends.

You're right that superstitions take time to die out, but it's certainly a worthy goal.

[Astylebabe]

I'm just aware that for some people, believing in a god can prevent or ease depression (god cares about me) & allow them to feel part of the community (church, rituals...). But it's not good in the long-term.

Re: Jacque Fresco, I think his work is quite interesting, but he appears to have some connection with some cult. Enough of cults already!! : /

[jesserai]

I'm sure Hitchens understands how entrenched religion is in this world, I think thats evident in his "aggressivness" for goodness sake kadene, dont you agree, to change something we need to stand up and move? Hitchens has to work so hard because humans aren't standing up from under the weight of this mind disease known as religion he has to work so hard because we aren't pushing forward from behind this blinding veil known as religion

[prodigy00073]

Who was that he mentioned at about 1:00 ?

[blahblahhuh1]

Katha Pollit. Former colleague of his at The Nation.

(and Matthew Chapman, but he says who that is)

[humanist7117]

Brilliant! As always.

[PlanetoftheAtheists]

i love Hitchie till he starts talking bout how we need to fight against Jihad. " hesistancy to follow the 82nd Airborne, George Bush and Paul Wolfowitz"???? You are right about that, Mr H, there is no way i think the these people can, or even want to stop fascist Islam...they are crooks, liars, war profiteers. And the majority of our troops are christians! yeah, i'm sure thats gonna stop the tide of religious fanaticism, send in more religious fanatics.

[soloman81]

Distrust of our government is a completely different issue. The fact that jihad needs to be confronted, in principle, NEEDS to be supported by the modern world. If Bush is crooked, that's something to eliminate and fix. But regardless, Jihad MUST be discredited. It MUST be fought.

[Freshhhhh1982]

I agree with you completely.

[johnclavis]

@soloman81 Well put. Too many times, Hitchens has tried to score points by conflating concern for the oppressed peoples of Iraq with endorsement of the criminal and inadequate efforts of the Bush Administration. Just because a drunk driver is "going my way" doesn't mean I'm getting into the passenger's seat!

[Hirnlego999]

The war on terrorism is bogus and even if you believe in it then it's totally backfiring.

Even a PNAC neocon such as Wolfowitz knew enough that a huge motivation for 9/11.

The West needs to stop selectively support muslim dictatorships while at the same time say they wish to spread democracy. And a balanced support in the israeli-palestine issue most begin to happen. If not, moderate muslims will continue to become radicals and fight for our downfall. Not that they can do it, they're guarillas..

[waltermh111]

you are right.

Hitchens is right, but in the sense that we must not fight with guns but instead fight with intellect and by example.

As long as we fight them they grow stronger. At no point in history has fighting radicals slowed them down.

Somebody name one time.

[waltermh111]

i meant, as long as we fight fire with fire, we are just creating a bigger fire.

Educate the people so they dont need their god to explain things.

Show them what peace can do for people, make sure they can feed themselves and help their sick (sanctions dont work and only make enemies hate you more and creates enemies with each generation that is under sanctions).

We keep intervening in middle east affairs for decades then wonder why they hate us

We created Iraq and put a dictatorship in iran

[Brantinger]

Actually Hitchens states one quite regularly, as Jefferson fought the islamic pirates during his presidency....

[waltermh111]

Pirates are not a whole culture

Its one thing to fight some rag tag group, but not to fight a whole civilisation

The islamic culture is enormous and they may not care about some lost pirates, but they darn well do care about family and friends being killed around them fighting not for material but for religious beliefs

Christians did it in the past and won, why do you choose not to understand things from their perspective?

You can do that without believing they are right

[Brantinger]

It wasnt piracy in the usual sence, the barbary states of northafrica demanded tributes from the infidels (USA) for the passing of the mediterrain sea based on the right of the Koran, the US ended that. Hitchens is telling the story in his Jefferson-speeches.

[togio100]

I wonder if Hitchens has read Joseph Campbell, who's written an explanation of why so many gods and cultural heroes are born to virgins in Hero with a Thousand Faces.

[keithapm]

I have, love the book. Very interesting and far too Freudian, but still a good read none the less. Makes no odds though does it? It makes a good stab at why we invent Gods and heroes born of virgin mothers, but doesn't say why we believe them to be real or want them to be.

[hackenbollox]

I don't think he has. I saw a recent interview in which he said he didn't know much Campbell. Great book, though.

[dmlled]

can't agree on Russian politics :). But for the rest, I agree

[waltermh111]

yeah, i thought that comment about russia intimidating georgia was off. Georgia is its own worst enemy or does he deny that georgia invaded ossetia giving russia an excuse to hit it over the head.

[surfdude000]

It is enormously pleasing to see CH remind the audience that back-slapping at a conference is not going to make a jot of difference to radical Islam. That's one topic that needs to be addressed head-on, fatwas be damned.

[eXcommunicate1979]

Great Hitchens speech... I've heard it all before, but he delivered it well here. :)

[nontheistdavid]

I have been following his speeches for a long time and he continually is coughing. It is annoying as hell. I think his smoking has caught up with him.

[parkt6792]

its not that bad

[reedbraden]

I talked with him at AAI 2007 and he mentioned he was going to try to quit smoking. Needless to say, the small crowd he attracted around us had their jaws dragging on the floor after the comment was made.

[johnclavis]

I wish Hitchens would recognize that the liberals and progressives *are* his side; that we want what's best for everyone, just like he does. The left is often attacked for being "secular"; so what's his complaint? Doesn't he understand that our criticisms of the Cheney Administration stem from charges of incompetence, corruption, lawbreaking and wrongheadedness? I wish he would get that.

[hitchenswatch]

He knows, but he doesn't care.

[Catalyst399]

Yes, you people look at the world through rose stained windows. You don't just get good and evil period! The jihadests must be met with force and then we can try to change the ideology, but only once they are defeated. I'm concerned, do you think giving extremists flowers will end it?

[templarart]

Brilliant!

[baresolid]

Christopher Hitchens is an orator that I would very much wish to emulate one day. What an excellent man he is.