Christopher Hitchens on Jefferson & Bush (7 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.

Category:

Education

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• bush
• christianity
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• george
• god
• great
• hitchens
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• islam
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• jefferson
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• president
• radical
• religion
• thomas

[soapfiction]

@TomPiltoff In that case, you should avoid Bill Maher's audience at all costs.

[TomPiltoff]

Am I the only one who hates the audience laughing at absolutely anything?

[pogopogopogo3]

available at fine amazon dot com everywhere

[WellConditionedChimp]

hmmm, so hitchens is capable of forgetting too

[countertreason]

@SurelyYewJest Haha, he repeats many of his jokes quite frequently. Lots of his arguments, too. However, the crowd always reacts like its a novel joke/argument, so therefore, I suppose most people don't follow him with as much dedication and he knows it.

[luwala23]

@SurelyYewJest

I agree 100.00%, Great comment!

[KeepColdwithCoolidge]

Just in case you guys were wondering, Christopher Hitchens uses the word "Obsequies" at 6:09.

Definition from Webster's dictionary: funeral rites.

That's cool, man! I didn't know that word.:)

[darksmiles22]

I dunno what I think about CH's 100,000 years of heaven watching mankind only to reveal wisdom to the most backward part of the Middle East schtick though. After all literalists revise history to fit their fairy tale timeline and eliminate this argument.

His other stories are all the more powerful because they accept everything Christians say and just illuminate the darkness inherent in the story.

[darksmiles22]

@SurelyYewJest

I've heard CH repeat his lines about celestial North Korea & vicarious redemption (though I wish he would use the phrasing "abandonment of personal responsibility" more when explaining it) so many times that I gag too, but I do think they wake some people up each time.

Also on the upside I have the foundational conceits of Abrahamic religion committed to memory now, while I tend to forget consequent outrages of religion since there are just so many of them.

[AnachronousRex]

@Illimitus I've actually done a lot of work on Zoroastrianism and my impression is that - while it certainly was the first to give rise to the more terrible apocalyptic elements in Christianity/Judaism - it did not arive at any sort of enforced orthodoxy or large-scale, state-backed intolorance until midway through the Sassanid dynasty in about 500 AD.

This it did largely as a reaction to the state-backed Christianity of Rome, so Hitchens point may still stand.

[GaiusIuliusTaberna]

@Illimitus I doubt it, I suspect he's trying not to complicate an already complex discussion by explaining the roots of Judaism .