Hitchens Article

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darinhouston
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Hitchens Article

Post by darinhouston » Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:07 pm

http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?actio ... id=2233586

FIGHTING WORDS
Faith No More
What I've learned from debating religious people around the world.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, Oct. 26, 2009, at 11:21 AM ET
This week sees the opening on various cinema marquees of the film Collision: a buddy-and-road movie featuring last year's debates between Pastor Douglas Wilson, who is a senior fellow at New St. Andrew's College, and your humble servant. (If I may be forgiven, it's also available on DVD, and you can buy our little book of exchanges, Is Christianity Good for the World?)

Newsweek's reviewer beseeches you not to go and see the film, largely on the grounds that it features two middle-aged white men trying to establish which one is the dominant male. I would have thought that this would be reason enough to buy a ticket, but perhaps she would have preferred the debate held in London last week featuring me and Stephen Fry (two magnificent specimens of white mammalhood) versus a female member of Parliament who is a Tory Catholic convert and the Roman Catholic archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria. It filled one of the largest halls in the city, and many people had to be turned away. For a combination of reasons, the subject of religion is back where it always ought to be—at the very center of any argument about the clash of world views.

Ever since I invited any champion of faith to debate with me in the spring of 2007, I have been very impressed by the willingness of the other side to take me, and my allies, up on the offer. A renowned scholar like Richard Dawkins, who is quite used to filling halls wherever he goes with his explanations of biology, is now finding himself on platforms with dedicated people who really, truly do not believe that evolution is anything more than "a theory." I have been all over the South, in front of capacity and overflow crowds, exchanging views with Protestants most of the time, but also with Catholics and, in New York and the West Coast and Canada, with—mostly Reform—Jews in large and well-attended synagogues. (So far no invitations from Orthodox Jews, Mormons, or Muslims.)

I haven't yet run into an argument that has made me want to change my mind. After all, a believing religious person, however brilliant or however good in debate, is compelled to stick fairly closely to a "script" that is known in advance, and known to me, too. However, I have discovered that the so-called Christian right is much less monolithic, and very much more polite and hospitable, than I would once have thought, or than most liberals believe. I haven't been asked to Bob Jones University yet, but I have been invited to Jerry Falwell's old Liberty University campus in Virginia, even though we haven't yet agreed on the terms.

Wilson isn't one of those evasive Christians who mumble apologetically about how some of the Bible stories are really just "metaphors." He is willing to maintain very staunchly that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and that his sacrifice redeems our state of sin, which in turn is the outcome of our rebellion against God. He doesn't waffle when asked why God allows so much evil and suffering—of course he "allows" it since it is the inescapable state of rebellious sinners. I much prefer this sincerity to the vague and Python-esque witterings of the interfaith and ecumenical groups who barely respect their own traditions and who look upon faith as just another word for community organizing. (Incidentally, just when is President Barack Obama going to decide which church he attends?)

Usually, when I ask some Calvinist whether he is really a Calvinist (in the sense, say, of believing that I will end up in hell), there is a slight reluctance to say yes, and a slight wince from his congregation. I have come to the conclusion that this has something to do with the justly famed tradition of Southern hospitality: You can't very easily invite somebody to your church and then to supper and inform him that he's marked for perdition. More to the point, though, you soon discover that many of those attending are not so sure about all the doctrines, either, just as you very swiftly find out that a vast number of Catholics don't truly believe more than about half of what their church instructs them to think. Every now and then I read reports of polls that tell me that more Americans believe in the virgin birth or the devil than believe in Darwinism: I'd be pretty sure that at least some of these are unwilling to confess their doubts to someone who calls them up on their kitchen phone. Meanwhile, by any measurement, the number of those who profess allegiance to no church (I am not claiming these as atheists, just skeptics) are the fastest-growing minority in America. And don't tell me that warfare increases faith and that there are no unbelievers in foxholes: Only recently I was invited to a very spirited meeting of the freethinkers' group at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., where there has been a revolt against on-campus proselytizing by biblical-literalist instructors.

Thanks to the foolishness of the "intelligent design" faction, which has tried with ignominious un-success to smuggle the teaching of creationism into our schools under a name that is plainly stupid rather than intelligent, and thanks to the ceaseless preaching of hatred and violence against our society by the fanatics of another faith, as well as other related behavior, such as the mad attempt by messianic Jews to steal the land of other people, the secular movement in the United States is acquiring a confidence that it has not known in years, while many of those who put their faith in revelation and prophecy and prayer are feeling the need to give an account of themselves. This is a wholly good development, and it is part of the pluralism and polycentrism that distinguish the sort of society that we have to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair and the Roger S. Mertz media fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2233586/

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christopher
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Re: Hitchens Article

Post by christopher » Wed Oct 28, 2009 12:27 am

Questions I'd have for Mr Hitchens:

He wrote:
I haven't yet run into an argument that has made me want to change my mind.
And have you given one that made your opponent change their mind?

After all, a believing religious person, however brilliant or however good in debate, is compelled to stick fairly closely to a "script" that is known in advance, and known to me, too.
And your observation is that a "believing atheist" is not under such a compulsion? Why are there scores (if not hundreds) of Christian apologetics books written to answer the same 12 objections?

However, I have discovered that the so-called Christian right is much less monolithic, and very much more polite and hospitable, than I would once have thought, or than most liberals believe.
And would you be so accused?

Usually, when I ask some Calvinist whether he is really a Calvinist (in the sense, say, of believing that I will end up in hell), there is a slight reluctance to say yes, and a slight wince from his congregation.
Fair enough. But what's the point of the question if not a trap to make your opponent appear to be the judgmental, self-righteous, religious nut you'd like others to perceive him to be?

More to the point, though, you soon discover that many of those attending are not so sure about all the doctrines, either, just as you very swiftly find out that a vast number of Catholics don't truly believe more than about half of what their church instructs them to think.
And what is this a strike against? Christianity? Traditional dogma? or Thinking Christians? I guess I don't get the point.

Every now and then I read reports of polls that tell me that more Americans believe in the virgin birth or the devil than believe in Darwinism: I'd be pretty sure that at least some of these are unwilling to confess their doubts to someone who calls them up on their kitchen phone.
And how many atheists do you suppose are willing to confess their problem of infinite regression?

Thanks to the foolishness of the "intelligent design" faction, which has tried with ignominious un-success to smuggle the teaching of creationism into our schools
As opposed to the "brilliance" of un-intelligent design that has strong-armed it's way in through legislation?

the secular movement in the United States is acquiring a confidence that it has not known in years, while many of those who put their faith in revelation and prophecy and prayer are feeling the need to give an account of themselves. This is a wholly good development, and it is part of the pluralism and polycentrism that distinguish the sort of society that we have to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Do you really think so little of your readers' intelligence as to insult them with such an over-generalized and unsubstantiated victory chant? C'mon. :roll:

steve7150
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Re: Hitchens Article

Post by steve7150 » Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:28 pm

such as the mad attempt by messianic Jews to steal the land of other people, the secular movement in the United States is acquiring a confidence that it has not known in years, while many of those who put their faith in revelation and prophecy and prayer are feeling the need to give an account of themselves. This is a wholly good development, and it is part of the pluralism and polycentrism that distinguish the sort of society that we have to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic.



Glad to hear there are so many messianic jews, who knew? Re the secular movement gaining confidence? His altruism is touching that he cares so much for his fellow man despite professing we will all die and turn to dust. With this belief what difference does it make what movement is gaining what, i mean eat,drink and be merry , why give a rip?
I honestly think that way down deep inside (Lead Zep) they know, they can't accept it or won't but they know that God is awaiting them and the more deceived sheep they get in their boat the less guilty they look.
Just my hunch and they won't admit it, but i think on some level they know.

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Jason
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Re: Hitchens Article

Post by Jason » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:25 pm

I've listened to a number of Hitchens' debates, including one with his own brother. He has a knack for flowing rhetoric but I still find him much more likeable than Richard Dawkins who seems completely unaware of the world outside his own. Hitchens is a somewhat volatile figure among outspoken Atheists because he was very pro-Bush and favors right wing politics. He's not, however, a theologian, scientist, or philosopher. He's a writer, and a pretty good one at that. Let's leave the subject of God to people who've spent a great deal of time looking into the matter - something his brother pointed out to him.

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darinhouston
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Re: Hitchens Article

Post by darinhouston » Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:03 pm

I've hoped he would debate his brother -- is it available somewhere?

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steve
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Re: Hitchens Article

Post by steve » Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:09 am

You can find such a debate at this link:
http://www.gvsu.edu/hauenstein/index.cf ... 03A04A3318

The rivalry between the brothers, while adding a dimension of interest to the debate, in some ways mars it as well. It is clear that these men have grown up with much animosity between them, with the younger brother Christopher having the sharper tongue and the more biting wit, while the elder brother Peter is less glib (though quite eloquent). Peter's frustration at his brother's irreverence gets the better of him, I think, as would not be as likely the case between debaters who do not have decades of personal bickering in their history.

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Jason
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Re: Hitchens Article

Post by Jason » Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:35 am

Steve, thanks for posting that link. I actually had not heard their formal debate before. I heard them go at it on a radio talk show once and my impression was the same as yours.

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