The two men disputed religion in Toronto Friday night at the Munk Debates before a sold-out crowd of 2,600 — scalpers outside were asking as much as $500 a ticket — as thousands more watched online.
Blair argued for the proposition that religion is a force for good, while Hitchens was against it.
Preliminary results on the Munk website said 68 per cent of the votes backed Hitchens and 32 per cent Blair. Both men gained about 10 percentage points from the pre-debate standings, when 21 per cent were undecided.
Hitchens argued that religion is divisive and causes conflicts or makes them worse.Blair conceded that "horrific acts of evil" have been committed in the name of religion, but said people like Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot, who opposed religion, had been evil, too. "I agree in a world without religion, that the religious fanatics may be gone, but I ask you: Would fanaticism be gone?"
Blair pointed to the Northern Ireland peace process as an example of different religions working for peace. Hitchens replied that 400 years of religious warfare in Ireland entailed "people killing each other's children depending on what kind of Christian they were."
"To terrify children with the image of hell ... to consider women an inferior creation. Is that good for the world?" Hitchens said.
Blair said bigotry and prejudice are not "wholly owned subsidiaries" of religion. But he said the hardest argument he faced was the assertion that evil done in the name of religion is based in scripture.The ancient religious texts contain many ideas that now appear "very strange and outdated," he said, but religions must be seen as a whole.
Hitchens, a columnist for Vanity Fair, wrote a book in 2007 called God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, which sharply criticized organized religion. Blair started the Tony Blair Faith Foundation two years ago to promote understanding between religions.
(from cbc.ca)
Here's a taste of the debate.
Interesting story Chris. I can't help but wonder if our changed focus to "me" has shaped our view of religion and God. I see people every day in my workplace who choose to look away when approaching you in a corridor or on the street. If they're unable, unwilling or scared to make contact with another human being, how can they connect with God or even acknowledge the presence of a deity? No wonder Hitchens won. No wonder we're becoming so insular as a society.
ReplyDeleteFor me – a self-described “disenfranchised Catholic” – I know my move away from Catholicism and belief in any organized religion for that matter, was a personal choice that resulted from years of indoctrination in our now defunct denominational school system. That was not the only reason mind you, but being told to hate the other team because they didn’t like the Pope or to go to mass or “You’ll burn in hell” are not great selling points. Also, the Catholic Church’s views on contraception, women priests, belief that homosexuality is a sin - I could go on - is not appealing.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you’re right regarding the focus on "me" and the move to a more insular society. But religion, and who and how a person chooses to worship, is a deeply personal choice. I don’t begrudge anyone’s faith or how they choose to practice it. I do resent people trying to ram it down my throat.
Someone once asked me if I believed in God. My response: Which one? I’ve got no problem with God per se – it’s the people telling me that I have to worship their God that pisses me off.