Christopher Hitchens on Jefferson & Bush (2 of 8)

Christopher Hitchens, one of the most highly-regarded political commentators in the U.S. today, visited Grand Rapids on October 3, 2006, to talk about President Thomas Jefferson's war in Tripoli and President George W. Bush's war in Iraq. He also gave a preview of his work in progress, "God Is Not Great."

Christopher Hitchens, one of the most controversial and compelling voices in Anglo-American journalism, has written twenty books, including biographies of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and George Orwell, as well as scathing critiques of Henry Kissinger, Bill Clinton, and Mother Teresa. Most recently, he wrote the book on atheism, "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," and edited "The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever." A contributing editor to "Vanity Fair," he also writes regularly for "The Atlantic," "The New York Times Book Review," "The Nation," "Harper's Magazine," "Slate," and "The New York Review of Books."

Christopher Hitchens returned to the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies in 2007 to debate his younger brother Peter Hitchens on God and the Iraq War.

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Education

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• foreign
• george
• hitchens
• iraq
• jefferson
• middl
• policy
• president
• states
• thomas
• tripoli
• united
• war

[yerk3]

@twikiriwhi "A commonly myth?" What does that even mean? If the "God" you're talking about is the one in the Old Testament, then yes, the science contradicts practically everything he is recorded as having done. In Genesis, it says the world was created in 7 days, even though science tells us that it was actually more like billions of years. The Bible tells us that we all descended from Adam and Eve, but the science supports evolution.

[tristramshandy3]

actually, i am a voracious reader and writer. haven't owned a television for over 15 years.

his letters are historical documents that discuss, for the most part, our government and our society. He is not writing a love letter to his mistress, he is discussing political matters. His letters are important historical documents and help shed more light on the political philosophy of our most brilliant founder.

Have a great day.

[svenboden1]

something wrong with the audio ...shame....still always refreshing listening to hitchins...

[MrAtheism33]

@ITown35 Yeah, that is where Jefferson's beliefs become a little hazy. At times, he seems to agree that the creator does not interract with the world, but then speculates that the creator may. He did believe that the creator was benevolent and had a certain "care" for human beings. My ultimate opinion would be that he hadn't really determined what the relationship between the creator and world is, but was speculative.

[ITown35]

@MrAtheism33 "So we agree that Jefferson was a deist. " - Depends on your definition :)

[MrAtheism33]

@ITown35 So we agree that Jefferson was a deist. That is the only point I tried to make to begin with.

[ITown35]

@MrAtheism33 I agree with your last post, my only argument is that Deism has a different definition today than it did in Jefferson's time. Although there are some modern definitions of Deism - as the belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it. I'm not sure that Jefferson would agree with that.

[ITown35]

@MrAtheism33 Haha, exactly. It's seems I keep getting into these debates that end up in general agreement. That's why I said please read all of my posts. I never claimed these to be my arguments, but they are Jefferson's arguments. he may not be an authoritative person on the subject but he does raise good questions about early Christianity when you read his writings thoroughly.

[MrAtheism33]

@ITown35 If we define a deist as one who solely believes god to be an architect of the natural world, then Jefferson was most CERTAINLY a deist. If we define a deist as anybody who believes in a single god, then Jefferson was ALSO most certainly a deist. Whether or not he was a Christian on top of that becomes a matter of dispute. He falls short of the biblical mandates for being a follower of Christ, and most Christians would not find his beliefs sufficient to be considered Christian.

[MrAtheism33]

@ITown35 So I don't see where we disagree. We both agree that Jefferson did not believe some of the doctrines of Jesus, curiously, any and all that made Jesus a DIVINE figure. In the end, you and I are merely in a verbal dispute over what characterizes a Christian. There is no stable definition of one. Jefferson came up with his own, but that does not make it an authoritative account.

[ITown35]

@MrAtheism33 Jefferson believed in the doctrines that he felt came originally from the mouth of Jesus, which he clearly defines in his letter to Dr. B. Waterhouse - June 26, 1822 on "A Unitarian Creed". Jefferson believed that Jesus never proclaimed to be the actual son of God but was later added in an attempt to deify him.