is religion a force for good? tony can't scratch his hitch

[knobs]

christopher hitchens vs tony blair (pt 1, other parts are from the same account)

this is the most recent edition of the monk debates in toronto, with far and away its most high profile guests yet. the back and forth is pretty monotonous, mostly because blair just can't seem to stop himself from following the exact same strain of thought and elaborating on the exact same argument every single time he gets a chance to speak. a contentious topic like this is no place for an apologist, and blair clearly can't get past the first hump of the debate. though the question doesn't exactly lend itself to a whole lot of extrapolation - it sort of implies a set of scales, one of which weighs the good and the other the bad, and measuring which comes out on top; the monk debates have a bad habit of this btw - the climate question was 'is climate change humanity's most pressing issue?'. it's just not all that relevant, nor even answerable, and this one is along the same lines.

the debate isn't really all that great, with the exception of hitch's casual insults and long rants which are on point as per usual. i guess i figure it's worthy of a thread, if only because of how famous these guys are, and because the monk debates are a good resource through which people can inform themselves. like i said, they've done climate change, as well as foreign aid/development, health care, global security, etc.

plus with a title like that, i'm guaranteed at least a few hundred replies.

here's the link: the monk debates

[pete's montreux]

I never post in these threads but overpopulation is by far the world's biggest problem, IMO. The human race as a whole is living beyond our means.

[Mista Kool]

Hitchens is a bigoted real-life troll. Thankfully he's in his last days and will be worm food in the not-too-distant future.

I haven't watched the debates but I'm highly skeptical whether or not Tony Blair is a worthy opponent. I'd recommend Hitchens debates with William Lane Craig and brilliant mathematician William Dembski instead.

[TennesseeFan]

Lol @ arguing about the force of good. The force of good is through action, not sitting in a chair arguing against an opponent about how many people are helping with this affiliation.

The thing is, there are too many people arguing religion vs. atheism when there are people in Africa and Mexico who are dying. And I believe Jesus Christ has commissioned his people to help the people in need, not argue and say "why oh why has God put people through so much suffering?"

Because you're not doing anything about it. God rewards them eternal life, you're the ones not acting on what you know is right.

[Stuckey]

that cooper thread makes me believe jesus was an alien or created by them

i'm doubting religion now