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  • She is yarn, Fry is a cat.

  • Wow, if these are the best spokespeople for his case that an all powerful deity can put forth, it's no wonder he's losing.

  • Fucken.... Stephen Fry, how you be so coo?

  • It's the BEST relief for your ears when you go from Anne Widdecombe's awful voice to Stephen Fry's amazingly soothing voice. It's like having rocks thrown at your head and then feathers.

  • as a liberal if its what they want to do as regards being catholic priests celibate that is their choice, to impart your views on someone as not being normal is the height of ignorance, im sorry mr fry but by being the hunted you have become the hunter.

  • "I knew somehow when we came here tonight that we'd be discussing child abuse" - the very weary tones she uses to speak that sentence I find offensive in the extreme. "Oh, you're not going to talk about the systematic instituionalised rape of the vulnerable by those charged with a duty of care are you? Change the record" How dare she trivialise something so horrific.

  • I find it insulting that the premise that the "world would not be a better place" if the Catholic Church was not involved appalling. Just by studying history you can see the negative influence that the church has had on places like Latin America and Africa

  • Where did this debate take place? I was in London not long ago and I feel like I recognize it.

  • @raptorjesus11 Houses of Parliament I believe.

  • God, I hope this is the only time Anne Widdecombe speaks. Her voice makes me want to cry

  • I ought to have said "British politics.":)

  • Is it just me, or is Ann Widdecombe the most bitter, hateful, disgusting, unlikeable, evil cunt of a woman still involved in politics today?

  • @gregorisgod It's just you. You're entirely ignoring American politics in that assertion.

  • @gregorisgod Ann. Coulter.

  • @gregorisgod Her sky god views are crap but don't slag off her political abilities.

  • Did I hear Ann Widdecombe use the term "physical releif of the poor" to mean institutionalised child rape?

  • Professor Umbridge?

  • I almost disliked the video by 2:13, but I had to give it a thumbs after the great Stephen Fry spoke. xD

  • 2:30 for anyone not wanting to listen to the toad

  • @munch910 LOL thanks:)

  • i sincerely think this is the best speech i have ever heard :) i get teary every time.

  • ask jeeves/ ask jeeves/ that's all they ever say/

    ask jeeves/ ask jeeves/ he'll take your faith away...

  • Audience members not clapping during Fry's speech - idiots.

  • Very few people are awesome enough to be able to pull off describing sex as 'jolly'.

  • The Catholic church was just bent over their collective knee, which surprised the church, because bending little children over one's knee had been their jobs for so long.

  • thats right every single catholic is anti_gay pedophiles hates jews and ever other church , catholic and the pope cannot say who has the right to heaven , and heaven on earth

  • Correct me if I'm wrong, but you talked a few pages back about the translation issues with the Bible which led to the people concerned being killed - that's hardly the best reason to kill someone is it??? Incorrect translation?

  • I've just looked up the figure surrounding the number of catholics on earth - 1.1 billion. That probably includes some people who go to church and call themselves catholic but don't go every sunday. It's a bit like me - I come from a religious background, and go to church, but not every sunday. If that statement has an ounce of truth in it, that figure would go down to probably c. 8-900 million. That's hardly "billions", is it???

  • self-appointed moralists and busy-bodies, what recourse of ancient laws have I? None whatever. Nor would I ask for any. For unlike these blistering imbeciles my belief in my religion is strong and I know that lies will always fail and indecency and intolerance will always perish." - Stephen Fry.

  • "I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance. That is my religion, and every day I am sorely, grossly, heinously and deeply offended, wounded, mortified and injured by a thousand different blasphemies against it. When the fundamental canons of truth, honesty, compassion and decency are hourly assaulted by fatuous bishops, pompous, illiberal and ignorant priests, politicians and prelates, sanctimonious censors,

  • Lol trollin :)

  • @phatbimmer He is far more normal than you. He isn't an ignorant homophobe for a start, which is what you are. And that makes you a worthless cunt

  • @phatbimmer "Fry is why people hate fags" Who are these "people" that you speak for exactly, a few of your (Most probably Catholic) friends and family perhaps? Because you certainty don't speak for me, nor do I think that you speak for the majority of us in these comments.

    And who the fuck are you or you're beliefs to dictate what makes someone a normal human being, when you look up normal in the dictionary, it never once mentions sexuality funnily enough you ignorant self righteous bastard.

  • @phatbimmer u mad ?

  • I love it how Fry puts on his glasses at 2:48 to only immediately take them off again. It's a sign of genius

  • The food/sex analogy was absolutely brilliant. Steven Fry is a genius.

  • Just can't get over how irritating this women is..

  • This is my second favorite debate of all time. Fry is awsome!

  • @Kalumar1988 Whats the first? :D i wanna see it o.o

  • @Kalumar1988 What’s your favourite?

  • trying to win a debate against steven fry is like trying to fight a tyrannosaurus with a squirt gun

  • They cut some 10secs from Stephen!

    

  • Would the world be better off with Catholicism? Of course. Would the world be better off without religion? Of that I'm not so sure.

  • When Ann says "Intellectuals" what she's referring to is anyone smarter than her. I guess we can all take that as a complement then.

  • ann you tit!

  • I am also not aware of a single person being burned for reading the Bible in English. The BOOKS were burned, and the TRANSLATORS persecuted, but no one was ever burned for reading the Bible in English, that's ridiculous. It was also not the notion of a translation which was the issue, but the quality thereof. Tyndale's translation was deemed heretical first of all because it seemed to undermine the very role of the clergy. It was also based on Luther's translation, itself enough for a ban.

  • @Gilmaris ARGUE NOT WITH THE SACRED FRY!

  • @jsabbath01 I love Stephen Fry, but sometimes he talks nonsense. I'm still a bit irked about what he said about the boiling point of water.

  • @Gilmaris oh and THAT makes it ok to burn someone does it???

  • @hoof118liverpool Huh??????

  • @Gilmaris Your facts are entirely wrong. Learn your history before making such insane claims.

  • @venicemidnight No, my facts, as presented, are entirely right. You simply wandered into this comment section, with no knowledge of the topic (as evident of your claim), with a mere desire for me to be wrong. Well, I am sorry to disappoint you, but these are topics of great interest to me, and I have studied them carefully. I suggest you take your own advice and next time, instead of simply saying, "nuh-uh", try actually bringing something to the table.

  • What? Galileo tortured? What rubbish. And for teaching the Copernican model of the universe? More rubbish. Galileo was placed under house arrest, and never tortured. The Church also had no trouble with Copernicus, so it was hardly heliocentrism that bothered them. Galileo presented the ideas in form of a fictional dialogue, however, with the Pope being the ignorant party in that dialogue. Marshal your facts better, Steve.

  • @Gilmaris Did you find those facts in your local Catholic library?

    Next time, when you go by that library, could you also look up the Catholic experiment results about why condoms spread HIV?

    Pff, talking about facts... Sigh...

  • @Rynnakokki Feel free to prove me wrong. I am an atheist, by the way, but one of the things I absolutely cannot abide is historical ignorance trumpeted with confidence.

    What on earth do condoms have to do about the objections I brought up, anyway? Oh wait, did you think I was a Catholic?

  • @Gilmaris Yup, I'm sorry for my misconception. And I don't know about mr Fry knowledge about the subject, but I'm sorry for attacking you with no knowledge about the situation of Galileo. I assume you were right and I dismiss my own comment.

  • 6:05 'thats not nice' so simple, so effective :)

  • While obviously the genii Stephen Fry and Hitchens stole the show, I must say I rather thought Widdecombe held her own quite well, despite her rather embarrassing eye-rolls at "child abuse" and "condoms" (in a context of AIDS of all things), which I imagine did little to ingratiate her with the audience. Considering Onaiyekan's job is "Support Church" and Widdecombe's is "Be Tory Political Activist", she did rather better than he championing the Papacy.

  • I found it highly ironic that the BBC tickertape at the bottom indicated the stoning of an adulterer and the "mercy" of the authorities to wait until the woman he impregnated to give birth and then stone her to death. (timstamp approximately 2:30-3:00)

  • I don't Stephen Fry agrees with Uganda nowadays.

  • Fry & Hitchens destroyed those two. Frankly I felt embarassed for them.

  • @gextvedde Really? Imao. you make me laugh.

  • I would like to say the most apt symbol for the Catholic church would be a big bum...but it's not,sadly it is a little bum.

  • why does Widdecombe's voice sound like it's breaking

    more proof that she's really male

  • My life has been made. I just heard Stephen Fry describe sex as "jolly"

  • Mister Hitchins was probably jealous to not get the final turn :-)

  • @skiddyhainz He chose to go first.

  • @assym2006 That term "fraud" can be applied to every religion.

  • the church didnt choose their debateing team well.....christopher hitchins and stephen fry are understandable, and nice to listen to. the archbishop however, though i understand it isnt his fault, was not understandable or convincing. and as for ann, i reckon if the church has so silly sins, her voice should be one of them.

  • Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens. Can anyone think of a more charismatic, convincing pair in modern history?

    I mourn the passing of the latter member of that pair. I hope we can all continue their argument, however less eloquent we may sound.

  • @johnbenjamin12 james bond and the hypnotoad...?

  • @johnbenjamin12 They need Dawkins too. Should have been the UNholy trinity right there

  • @johnbenjamin12 echo

  • so fabulous - that for all our flaws - in this era- this debate can be undertaken in public

    I - of course agree with ch + fry - tho those poor catholics were out - brained and out gunned

  • After this debate.The church is still standing.And Will do so

  • @Conservatitive sadly.

  • is there such a thing as a Fryslap? because I think that just happened...

  • Widdecombe has revealed the Catholic Church's rapacity through its own "benevolence". How else would the Catholic Church be disposed to billion of pounds if it weren't for the fanatical oppression carried out in its name? How else would they be so rich if it weren't for their victims? These helpless people are in such dire ways, BECAUSE of the Catholic Church's overbearing and violent influence. It is entirely cyclical; they take away to give back what is naturally theirs.

  • The world without ANY religion would be a perfect world. Fuck religion.

  • Catholic Church: Unity through faith (as in V).

  • Stephen Fry is God

  • @TheRealKai099 don't insult Mr Fry like this :-)

  • My view is that no organised religion could ever help humanity. People should find thier own belief. they can believe in a god or not without being judged by anyone else. If there is one thing that the three monothieistic religions share is that humans are impure. We lie, we cheat and manipulate. if thats the case why should we belive any of them. Are they exempt? Surely your relying on thier words to believe what they tell you. If God is truly loving he would accept us all not just some. <3

  • She presupposes that there isn't a human bone in any of us without the Catholic church.

  • would someone give that cunt a tracheotomy

  • well I'd never seen Stephen Fry properly debate before, he's an impressive and passionate orator once he gets going, great stuff

  • sex is jolly....LOL!

  • Bla bla bla Ms. Widdecombe... you're so full of shit, I'm afraid you're gonna explode.

  • man, fry is like a modern day cicero

  • I'm Catholic but I love Stephen Fry, especially here!

  • Its almost like the others are just taking pot shots with BB guns and then Stephen Fry is an atomic bomb.

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  • @Widdecombe, the Catholic Church IS about contraception and condoms... if that's what you say we'll go to hell for for eternity. And you DO say that. Your church has clearly stated that. So do not avoid painful subjects and beat about the bush with soft topics.

  • I am a catholic and i believe child abuse is disgusting and i am disgusted with the people that did it however i don't like the fact that people genralise the idea that because a few thousands or tens of thousands raped a lot of children that all 1 Billion catholics are bad. How does that work?

  • @erimaster123 That is not the argument. The argument is the institution itself is bad. That doesn't mean that the people in the institution are bad.

  • @erimaster123 The Catholica are not bad friend, in fact i feel sorry for them. They have been misled to think that their acts of worship and confessions will get them to heaven and everybody else will burn. Confession is a complete lie invented by the church to gain an insight and material for bribes. Its just completely against the bible that tells us the only person we can confess to is Jesus. They may appear to be good, but look at the organisation you are a member of.

  • @erimaster123 - your church leaders covered it up.... your church and your doctrine are more interested in protecting their image and reputation rather than protecting children, 1 billion Catholics may not be bad but they sure as hell condone the practice with their silence and their continued support of the palace of the Vatican.... (Jesus had no worldly possessions) food for thought.

  • They live in hope...because they're either ignorant peasants - or stubborn and/or delusional

  • I have a church too and it's the church of Crap Arse Trash Horseshit O Like Ironing Catshit. C.A.T.H.O.L.I.C

  • Interesting that a person representing an organization claiming to represent the ultimate moral authority would say that said ultimate moral authority should not have recognized the most moral answer to a certain question ('should we rape kids?') because the rest of the world had not yet come to the moral conclusion.....

  • I notice that in Anne Widdecome's speech she offers no justification for the discrimination of homosexuals. Though I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion I wonder if there is any viable or acceptable explanation she could give for discrimination of any group of people, particularly when said group is born that way.

  • false hope false salvation ! a world without the churches would be PARADISE !

  • A man with a summer palace is no friend of the poor.

  • Widdecombe, Onaiyekan and the rest of the catholic church just got Fry'ed in this debate!!

  • Stephen Fry is in my opinion, and I can say this honestly and with little opposition, one of the best people alive right now.

  • @homestareddsworldman One of the few brains that still work, nowadays. I wish that I can becomes half as intelligent and as passionate for the pursuit of knowledge as Stephen Fry.  Sadly, I doubt I'll ever reach that level, but I am more than willing to try! I hope more people could share such an aspiration, because a world of Frys would be nice. Haha!

  • @homestareddsworldman That is true since yesterday...

  • @homestareddsworldman Only because Hitchens just kicked the bucket and the world is poorer for it

  • Anne Widdecombe - Absolutely typical of any religious zealot. Spouting nonsense that is based on absolutely nothing but emotional misinterpretation of reality.

  • Dolores Umbridge?

  • I think it's funny that she says that the catholic church donates more money than anything else, then claims that without the church all of that would go away.

    Is she saying that all the Catholics around the world that donate money so that the catholic church can donate money wouldn't anymore because the church was gone? That's not a very good opinion of your congregation if you think they will only donate to the church. It's almost like the church has to guilt them into it...

  • @KemaTheAtheist Yes, she is and yes, that is what happens. They donate to the church to gain grace, to earn indulgences which hasten them on the road to Heaven. They give to the church because not to is a sin. I would argue that not to help ones fellow man is a sin, but they would argue that helping one's fellow man was not enough, that God didn't see it; that only money given DIRECTLY to the Church is recorded in God's big black book of everything. How well the RCC has trained its adherents!

  • sex is indeed jolly

  • @egodeosum As Anne Widdecombe will realize if she will ever have sex.

  • Does Widdecombe realize that she embodies every single old british lady stereotype?

  • I like it when jimmy carr trashes ann widderwomb

  • Bible says women should shut their mouths and not tell men what to do so why doesn´t that Anne follow the "good book" and just shut shut her mouth?

  • I would give Steven Fry a wicked blow job. (i'm not gay)

  • @DJTeaKay I'll lick his balls while you do that (not gay either) Now who volunteers to buttmunch him?...

  • Urgh everytime i look at Widdecombe i die a little inside....

  • Skip to 2:15. Your ears will thank me later.

  • It makes me sad that, in this age of supposed intellect and enlightenment, people with views like Anne Widdcombe exist, and are given attention by so many people. I would have thought that by now, we as a species, could have moved beyond the need for religion.

  • @Strike86 So true.

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  • When talking about the good of Catholics... Might want to leave "developing world" out of it.. don't think the South Americans were too fond of Cortez and all the "good" he brought.

    Just sayin

  • a world without the chatolic church...no, i world without religion would be a better world. a much better world.

  • @mechupanlamonda - how very true. Find a war and you won't find religion far away.

  • She dug herself and her little church, a nice big hole

  • That bitch is pure evilness

  • @DeterminationForever Oh come on! You disagree with her but don't take it too far!

  • @OTimeMasterXO Okay, the bitch word was maybe a little too much. Let's just say she is annoying as hell

  • @DeterminationForever fair enough

  • I love Fry to bits, and I may be poor but I don't begrudge him his success, he might be posher than the queen but he's a defender of the young, a wonderful loving man and I'd love to meet him more than any other human being - to have a nice cup of tea and a chat with Fry for a couple of hours would be infinitely better even than £2000 and given the choice I'd choose Fry every time - the money would get spent on bills, but the memories would be with me all my life!

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  • Finally, she shuts up and Lord Fry speaks.

  • Stephen Fry destroyed them. What a man. 

  • If I had to sit on the stage next to her while she talked I would piss my pants laughing. Her voice is sooooo funny!!! Steryotypical old English ladies voice!

  • I like how she slags off Hitchens for bringing up condoms without attempting to refute his point at all. Pro tip: if you attempt to look down on someone for bringing up a genuine point and don't attempt to argue it at all, the point is still valid.

  • The Catholic side really should have just used the non-religious arguments, could have won that easy.

  • I'm sure even Hitler had some redeemable qualities, yet he didn't do those good things in the name of the Nazi Party or Aryanism. He did them because there's no such thing as evil or 100% bad, and every human has capacity to do good and bad. Both terms are entirely subjective, so that assertion is undeniable. The problem with this woman, and the institution's argument is that so many of those injustices 'harped on', were done in the NAME of God, not just in the human instinct for doing bad.

  • @UberNoodleX

    Exactly, if you removed hitler causing ww2 and the genocide, he was a brilliant leader in Germany, he basically turned a self destroying nation into a well polished machine that was set to be a dominant power for a very long time.

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  • it seems every time the church shows up, hate and bigotry shows up, as well as child rape! Mrs. Widdecombe really needs see past the shinny. You are not judge only by your good deeds. Moreover, you are judged most severely by the mistakes you make and how you except responsibility of them. How you change as an entity to never let them happen again!

  • "Condoms...they came in the end."

    It may be childish, but that is the one quote that I have chosen to draw from Ann Widdecombe's entire argument.

  • For an apologist it's a bit funny that she says "...with no apology whatsoever".

  • Ann Widdecombe is a hypocrite simply because she is a convert. She used to believe in one lie then when it did not fit with her deluded politics of said lie she switched to one that did. She cannot get sanctimonious about Catholicism. rant over

  • @theshadow180 Untruth, not lie.

  • @cucumbermoisturecrem No. Lie. Religion lies to people. Simple as. Why do people need a bureaucracy in order to communicate with their imaginary friends? There is no need for a "route to God" except for the need that people have been raised to believe which is an abject lie: believe our story or burn in Hell. As Jimmy Carr said "We all have imaginary friends I've just grown out of mine!"

  • @theshadow180 Depends on who is telling the story.

  • Ann Widdecombe is a hypocrite simply because she is a convert. She used to believe in one lie then when it did not fit with her deluded politics of said lie she switched to one that did. She cannot get sanctimonious about Catholicism. rant over

  • It appears to be a popularity test between the personalities and STYLE of debate and not the substantive aspects of the debate in hand. FAIL.

  • thank fod for stephen fry! :D

  • i like the stephen fry part, not the other part, as she is a fucking moron

  • atheists 1, religion 0

  • Steven Fry is a glorious, beautiful man with an incredible mind.

    He is a glorious human being and a gift to the world.

  • So the point that Widdecombe tries to make is, that all the real abuses that the catholic church really did and do mean nothing because they give people hope by telling then some fantasy stories about an allegend after life they have no proof about. She's a good example how crazy religious people can be.

  • @mollie2810 Amen!

  • wiped the floor with 'em

  • Intresting that the ignorant only see the appearance or the sound a person makes, not the heart and mind or indeed the things they say. Widdecombe made some very valid and strong points, least of all the Catholic church's roll in helping Jews in the second great war, something Hitchens and Fry appeared to be a little uncomfortable with, given their blood line.

    Hitch and Fry are likable and charismatic men, though not as intelligent as they would have you believe, foolish to ignore history.

  • She sounds like Dobby !! "You will not hurt Harry Potter ."

  • I wish the speaking time was 30 minutes.

  • @nighthawk42ht I could not listen to Widdecombe for that long!! lol

  • widdecombe u stupid old cunt

  • She sounds like a pompous old lady living in a first world country that thinks the things she does are better than everybody else