Debate Debacle
So whilst I’ve been in exile, getting my house sorted in Bulgaria, I missed the Hitchens - Blair debate on whether religion was a force of good in the world, therefore this is rather daftly late, but ho-hum, here I go. I was very much looking forward to this, mainly because I thought Blair might actually put up a decent fight. A renowned orator, well travelled, and intelligent politician, in relatively good standing, (relative to what, I can’t say), should in theory be able to string one or two arguments together. Hitchens, on the other hand, in his current medical condition, ‘should’ be rather fragile, and maybe not at his best. I love the Hitch, I really do, and to see him in that way is saddening to say the least, BUT, in a debate, you have to be tough, right, so this would be interesting.
So, in I tune, (to wherever it was I got the video from), and sat down, popcorn in one hand, and remote in the other, (I eat my popcorn trough style, by plunging headfirst into the box), and pressed play.
So, the Hitchmeister goes first. So he barrels forth with his usual wit, and heads straight into his argument. For those who have seen it, I won’t bore you with the details, but it runs pretty much along the same lines as his usual stuff. Original sin, North Korea, Redemption in exchange for critical faculties, and so on, and so forth. However, the part I want to concentrate on is the arguments of Blair. Responding to all these logical, and rational points, Blair seems to have one, and one argument alone.
“We’re not all bad”
Is that really the extent of Blairs debating powers on this subject? I was surprised, to say the least. Considering he has founded a religious foundation, you’d think he would have a slightly more incisive argument. he talks about charity, and all that guff, which in my opinion has nothing to do with religion.
So, they are not all bad. Well, maybe so, but that doesn’t alter the fact that the Church has some rather nasty doctrine, and dogma. The question of Aids in Africa, and the recent, and not so recent accusations of child abuse in the church, and we seem to get the same response.
“Well, we’re not all bad”
Well, not all Nazi’s were bad, but that doesn’t mean the Nazi’s weren’t a bunch of mass-murdering fuckheads (copyright Eddie Izzard). So how IS religion supposed to be judged? By the people following the religion, or by the decrees, and rulings of the authority of that religion? Well, to me, it should definitely be what the Church says as an authority, and the actions of the congregation should also be under the microscope. I’ve covered this before, in “Is religion Evil?”, so you can read what I think there.
Basically, the only 3 things that religion has going for it are these;
*Community activity
*Charity donations, (although they might come with a bible)
*Hope for the hopeless
Now, to me, that doesn’t seem like a purely religious ‘thing’. However, the bad things DO, I think outweigh the niceties by a considerable margin.
What do you think?
PS, All the best to ‘the Hitch’.
