Christopher Hitchens and Tony Jones 8 of 11 , 06 October 2009 10:00
New video:
If there were any doubts about writer and general provocateur Christopher Hitchens ability to pull a crowd, they were entirely dispelled by the sold-out opening night of the first ever Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Presented by the Sydney Opera House and the St James Ethics Centre, the Festival brought together some of the more controversial thinkers from Australia and around the world. Hitchens’s keynote address, followed by a discussion with our own Tony Jones, was an expansion on his bestselling, “God is Not Great: Religion Poisons Everything”. Hitchens was at his polemical best, delivering a beautifully constructed speech supporting his argument that religion is not only completely implausible, but often actively destructive. Christopher Hitchens’s other books include “Letters to a Young Contrarian”, “Why Orwell Matters” and “The Missionary Position: Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice.” He also writes a regular column in “Vanity Fair”.
The ‘Good Reverend’ is actually a current-affairs news presenter in this case and isn’t religious as far as i’m aware.Tony Jones works for the ABC. He is an accomplished journalist.
Funny how the bible (t)humpers always latch on to and flog the ‘poisons everything’ point , whereas when challenged on any of their preachments, which readily reveal their absurdity when taken literally, they never hesitate to trot out the “it’s only a metaphor” excuse.
Hitch ought to just say: ‘It’s only a metaphor -and now you know what it feels like when you tell us your miracles are only metaphorical’
hitchens is the most enlightening (not in a celestual way mind you) and eloquent debater I know……plus this guy is hilarious and can bite.
I do think the good reverend does hoist Hitchens up by his rhetorical excess, with the statement ‘religion poisons everything’. While it’s great fun to watch Hitchens dodge and counter, I don’t think he actually wins the point. Btw, please don’t think I’m anything but a wholehearted atheist, but I do look to Hitch for instruction in how to argue with religious folks and I think this is one where he falls a bit short, really the only one I’ve ever seen.
“It’s a crime family”.
Nailed it.
Don’t worry about that. That was written when the videos had just been uploaded. A few hours later everything was fine.
try it from the channel page
works for me!
@szjozsi “And I realised half way through that I had just become the first person in history to have represented the Devil pro-bono”
what is he saying between 8:33 and 8:37? english is not my native so i would be greatful if someone wrote his words in the mentione timeframe
thanks
I like Tony Jones’ he’s a great interviewer, brief and concise.
“I realized halfway through that I’d just become the first person in history to have represented the Devil Pro Bono.”
nice
“Now, I’m sure theres a little-know corner of” FUUUUUUUUUUU
getting sick of those opening couple of seconds
degenerates into cannibalism? what’s wrong with that? i mean as long as the person is dead and all
Thanks again, hitchenschannel!
These uploads are smashing so thank you hitchenschannel, but I don’t wanna watch anything after Part 7, which doesn’t appear to be working.
Argh! 7 is still processing.