The Dark Side Of Religion | Christopher Hitchens @ FreedomFest
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- Опубликовано: 19 авг 2024
- / sciencereason ... The Dark Side of Religion - Christopher Hitchens @ FreedomFest (Part 3).
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Dinesh D'Souza and Christopher Hitchens go at it again at the 2008 Freedom Fest as the "Main Event".
FreedomFest is an annual festival where "free minds meet" to celebrate "great books, great ideas, and great thinkers" in an open-minded society. It is independent, non-partisan, and not affiliated with any organization or think tank.
Founded and produced by Mark Skousen, since 2002, FreedomFest invites the "best and the brightest" from around the world to talk, strategize, socialize, and celebrate liberty. FreedomFest is open to all and is purely egalitarian, where speakers, attendees, and exhibitors are treated as equals.
www.freedomfest...
Christopher Hitchens (born 1949) is an author, journalist and literary critic. Currently living in Washington, D.C., he has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Slate, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets. Hitchens is also a political observer, whose books - the latest being "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" - have made him a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits.
In 2009 Hitchens was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the "25 most influential liberals in U.S. media." The same article noted, though, that he would "likely be aghast to find himself on this list" and that he "styles himself a radical", not a liberal.
www.hitchensweb...
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This man is one of my heroes. Even in death he continues to inspire me and many other people who are now just finding his lectures and debates. His books have changed my life for the better and I hope for the rest of you. Thank you Mr Hitchens you are greatly missed.
I discovered him after he passed....he set me free.
@Arlando Little "god" is made up. Avail yourself of your first opportunity to research christianity's history; the whole affair, i.e., "the one true god", is a fabrication. I'm not sorry to say, Arlando Little, you are a victim of christianity.
Your religious brainwashing is probably never going to let you escape from its clutches!
Do yourself a favour,
And ask yourself a question!
If you were born in a different part of the world,
How likely is it that you would have the same religion regardless of just geographical birth!
Asking questions about your religion will set you free!
Think about it,
If you dismiss every other religion as not truthful not accurate or complete man made nonsense!
The same is true about your religion and beliefs....
You are truly brainwashed,
And beyond help,
I feel sorry for you,
And the way your religion has mentally tortured you,
Keeping your brain hostage and in a permanent state of dictatorship.
It's incredibly tragic really!
It's tragic that this man had to leave us so prematurely. Potentially we have missed another 20 years of this man's work.
well you can't blame God.
Not just work. But change of World's mentality.
One of the many great things about this man is when he discovers/feels he made a mistake/error in judgement he has no problem admitting it. He articulates everything so wonderfully. There are not many people who can write and speak at such a level as Mr. Hitchens.
This is true of not just Hitch but of most liberals because part of their worldview is to update it based on new evidence. Conversely, right-wingers will hold on to their lies and conspiracy theories and keep doubling down on them until the day they die or at least until these fabrications are not politically or psychologically useful for them any longer.
Thanks for posting. Great video. People who accuse CH of being arrogant haven't listened to him acknowledge, as he does here, that he once endorsed the wrong man and it was a mistake. Always pursuing the truth, doing his research and bringing it to the world, Hitchens brought nobility to the profession of journalism.
The world needs more people like Chris Hitchens.
"Christopher". He didn't like circumcision, even of his name.
Hitchens was the greatest, he was amazing and every thing that came out of his mouth sounded like poetry spoken.
The world really does wallow around in a quagmire of religious nonsense. Hitchens and his like have done a very good job to encourage some intellectual honesty and remove the stigma of being a contrarian and vocal about it.
"wallow around in a quagmire of religious nonsense." ... I need to look up "quagmire", sounds like a fun word to use.
As church lady on SNL used to say "isn't that conveinent" . What works of charity have you done or are you motivated to do any at all, if so good, but look at stats religious americans outgive to charity compared to no religious 3 to 1.
serferten Foesnt prove a thing about the existence of god or a sky fairy! Means religious people give because they are frightened of something that any sane person would realise is all myth , fairytales and plain lies.
Andrew Snowdon It doesn't to you, but it does to those on the receiving end of charity. So,are you saying, as the Bible does, that left to his own devices,i.e. w/o God, mankind can get selfish and murderous as a reason why non beleivers don't care about their fellow man?
Dont have to be religous to be charitable. Dont need god to be chatitable. Your bible sanctions slavery, murder and genocide.
This man left us with great insight. This life is all we have. Live it to the most, it's all we have.
Amen. These days if you're smart and others see it you won't even be allowed that.
A true Giant of a MAN A man who teached the real truth
"It's nice to have a heterosexual scandal in the Roman Catholic Church every now and then." - Savage... :-)
He might have added "and with an adult".
The world must stop teaching mythology to the young. Then it will just fade away.
+Stephan Williams But what if the mythology you were taught tells you to teach it to others?
I grew up in a hard-core church. Rejected it, but married a christian. I straight up told our 3 very young children that we stopped going to church because we caught them lying too many times. It's hard to g8ve up the society of friendships, but I don't want to pollute our youngins with dogma.
Joseph Campbell talks about man's Mythologies; Bill Moyer did a excellent program on him filmed at the George Lucas's "Star Wars Ranch". This should be in High Schools! Love the Hitch too.
Mythology fade away? Nonsense! Humans are myth-making creatures. You can criticize the myths, and you should, because critics are part of the process.
Nathaniel Hellerstein
I don’t think he meant that mythology should fade away, just that religions should. Creativity is great. Religions are fables masquerading as truth. And they get a huge pass for terrible doctrines (eternal punishment, original sins). Religions need to fade away into an interesting and disturbing historical footnote.
Sometimes you have to thank God. That there isn't really a God. Just believe in the goodness, that the human mind, can give humanity.
+Fred and Patty Chandler I would say the human mind is most responsible for evil, not good.
+Ethan Lintemuth I would say I disagree with that assertion. I think humans are inherently good and only become evil when warped by some defect in the brain or in their environment. (ie: Religion)
Jimmy Giles I would say there is a balance of both good and evil in each person. Over there life it may stay like that or one may increase while the other decrease via many things
Ethan Lintemuth again I disagree. Sure we have aggression to survive as a species but if we had as much evil as good or more evil as you originally stated and as religious folks assert then we humans would have wiped ourselves out by now.
Jimmy Giles Not all evil leads to murder
Loving "the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" theme on someone's phone at 1:39
Just heard it . Hilarious
He presents so much most of us have given little or no thought to.
I love these videos, and totally appreciate the effort that you've put into editing them down. My only, very gentle, suggestion is that it would be nice if you put a link in the description to the full debates. Apart from that, nice work, dude!
Just watched this video three times in a row. Didn't get sick of any of it
A Brilliant Brilliant man....RIP....
Did anyone else hear the theme from "the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?"
Yes
I dont even got my trousers off and shes calling time. shit.... this is my new favorite line.... Im gonna try to pull it off in front of my parents.
Does being religious make you a "Better," "More moral..?" I can't get past the simple Fact that the very place on Earth that there are the most Christians just so happens to be the same place with the Most incarcerated citizens...
Quite telling. Quite telling, indeed.
Methinks you have misspelt “kkkrischuns”
Indeed, that fully represents the facts and reason behind Hitchen's philosphy, morality, and humanism.
God is not great
Hitchens is ♢
It's an artifice to pretend Hitchens or anyone else mattered, no worldview has any real value, we all are destined to the same nothingness, how we fill the time before nothingness is inconsequential.
To argue with someone that doesn't think as you do is vanity, your words are ultimately as meaningless as anyone else's.
What you state is your preference, and some strange intellectual vanity that pretends your understanding of your meaningless existence is somehow more meaningful than another meaningless use of time.
What's so great about a dead man that no longer exists anymore than a god you think doesn't exist?
Speegs23 wonderful day
Is it? What is wonder and why does it matter?
+Speegs23 You say, "To argue with someone that doesn't think as you do is vanity, your words are ultimately as meaningless as anyone else's". If you can prevent someone from wasting their precious life following this garbage, then words are meaningful. But I do congratulate you on one of the most pretentious, vacuous and trite entries in the history of RUclips, and that is an honour hard won.
@WILD BILL Why would Hitchens go to hell??
If there is a god I'm sure he would appreciate his honesty (and maybe humor, too).
The Vatican is a bit like the Jedi Council in the third Star Wars movie totally unaware of the really bad things
I love Hitchens, he was so much more than an atheist, and I think he wants to be remembered for his mind, his writings, he was a world traveler, he met so many leaders, in all fields. Yes, he was a atheist, but he was more something else.
Why is it so bloody hard to understand that there cannot be a God in the sense as described in these 'holy' books!? We live, we die: end of story. The arrogance to believe that there must be an after-life or even a meaning to our lives? The universe gives a crap about whether we exist or not. Everything is randomly existing.
There could be an afterlife. It may excist, if not understood. If it is so, how can you relate it to any god? For if afterlife is real, it is therefore natural. No god or gods excist.
Our atoms keep om existing for ever or for as long as the universe does not collapse into one giant black hole. Our life is short and only WE can extend it through research, maybe live for hundreds or thousands by producing new body parts. Everything is possible, but no AFTER life. Makes no sense at all.
Alex Graas I can't understand a possibility of a natural afterlife being connected to YOUR god. There are no gods.
You tell 2 people the same story and one will conclude it's proof of (a) god, while the other is sure that it isn't... one will say it's proof of a design, the other will think that's rediculous... one person see's a face in a piece of toast and thinks it's a miracle, you and I will just think it's funny that it looks like a face, then take a bite and forget it ever happened... the only thing both agree on is that the other person is wrong...
Stephan Williams @Alex Graas isn’t talking about a God. Why do you keep asking about “his” god? He said there’s no afterlife end of. 🤦🏽♀️
man I miss hitch.... hard shoes to fill....
Not hard to fill.....impossible to fill...
No second coming of Hitchens, but his teachings will outlast all religions.
I became an atheist in 1958, and, under the influence of Chris, an anti-theist in 2017 .... I am an ex Englishman living in the US as a citizen, and I could not have done this without Chris coz US religiosity is crushing and I get told I have no moral core...
@@sammyquinn1 I think we have much in common apart from the rather large fact that I am an incorrigible atheist and you are religious. However, when it comes to how we should live our lives, I reckon you and I would be in complete accord. A 17 year old Muslim stabbed a gay man to death in New York yesterday. Had the 17 year old been me, or you, the dead man would still be alive. I am an atheist and you are religious, but the difference is the killer was not decent and we are. i.e. Decency works independent of, and not dependent on, religious beliefs...
You say you are deceitful and wicked yet walk around quoting the bible ? Are you that guy who hangs around in the bus station ?
There never was a "Christ". Perhaps there was a Jew called Yeshua .(whom Christians call Jesus). Faith in Yeshua cannot give you "eternal life"! He's been dead for 2.000 years and we never heard from him again!
Tell it to the 2 billion indoctrinated sheep out there
I liked "The Good Band and Ugly" theme that snuck quietly through for a short while. Or I may have had a flashback to the 60s.
That was hilarious
Who, on Earth, will possesses the eloquence to replace this brilliant thought leader if he succumbs to his illness and leaves us prematurely? The question saddens me.
There are Christians who are lightly brought up thus, who dont give it much thought, go to church on occasionally sundays and dont REALLY believe, inside. And.. there are fierce christians who are crazy, and consider everyday events to be miracles and rant in the streets and think prayers work. They may pray for their leg to get better after a fall; it does, quite naturally, but- to the mind of the crazy christian, its no more than a prayer induced miracle. 'Well let's concentrate on this one 'miraculous' success, and completely ignore the fact that most people who die of cancer are prayed for so hard, by so many, that the hands of their loved ones actually hurt from the pressure...''
Joseph Campbell talks about man's Mythologies Bill Moyer did a excellent program on him filmed at the "Star Wars Ranch"!
1:39 The good the bad and the ugly
Can you imagine the lectures he is giving them if he were in heaven.
I wonder what would happen if those carrying on Christopher's work were to take the discussion beyond "religion is illogical" and to provide the religious-but-becoming-curious person with a roadmap to intellectual recovery, akin to a 12-step program and AA.
I advocate: Don't just preach a position, but help people adopt it, embrace it, own it. Empathize with them, make them feel welcome and connected, part of a larger group with a shared understsnding.... oh, I just advocated providing all the ancilary benefits of religion to those contemplating leaving religion... It might help. Food for thought!
I've seen an awful lot of Hitch on youtube but that was one of the very best clips. Fabulous arguments, evocative phrases - "the insanitary consequences of his being allowed out of his cage" lol - and plenty of wit. The world needs him back. God, could you please.....just kidding.
Who chopped up Hitch? Don't edit the author, not a syllable is wasted when he speaks.
Then WHY is he rambling here ? ? ?
Giving and wanting a blessing is what religion is built on "I'll be get a blessing later, or get back 10 times" then turn around and judge everybody and other religious factions !
We miss Hitchens!!!
If only he were alive today to witness some of his truths of Putan
There is a God and He is Saucy, not bloody. His Meatballs are large beyond comprehension. The Fountain of All Flavors, His Noodliness will soon overcome the false prophets who venerate the torture device. Al dente will be revealed as His Truth, above Cheesy Crust!
+Phillip Moore May the Sauce be with you...RAMEN!!
His noodley appendage be upon us all!
Pasta worshipers are heretics and blasphemers - FOLLOW THE NOODLES!
Lord of Liberals I came in to check this thread just to make sure his noodly appendage was mentioned.
And RAMEN!!
These guys come and go. Christianity has survived 2,000+ years. It will continue to survive.
Religiosity is down across the board in pretty much every industrialized country, more for each generation. Religion is slowly dying, the only shame is that it managed to stick around long enough to possibly doom our species what with global warming...
I'm the same way...can watch/listen to/ read Hitch over and over.
"I've barely got my trousers off and she's already calling 'Time!'"
xD
OH, your intelligence, insight AND rapier wit will be missed, Hitch...
But at least, hopefully, some of that intelligence, some of that insight, and maybe even a dash of that wit will live on in us, the next generation of free thinkers!
Christianity: God sent himself to die for himself to save us from the punishment he himself will sentence us to. lol
There seem to be few examples of how religion can make us better. I am an atheist and I was very quick to contribute to relief funds for the Earthquake victims in Japan. That is just one example of many that people like me have done.
How do we get rid of the (seemingly innate) desire for dictatorship?
I look forward to seeing the new generation of those whom have taken Hitch's eloquent arguments into consideration. Often, I've read comments that criticize his stridency. That being said, let's not forget the stridency of "The Parties of God" when superstition and religious indoctrination hold sway. We have a duty to ourselves and those who come after to shed these hideous death-cults in modern society. Please, believe as you will, as there are many in parts of the world that risk their lives to protect those rights. "Rights" people... How many will be scorned or sacrificed for people's "rights" to harm others due to indoctrination? Speak up!!! These various "religions" seek to see the end of the world in the wishful "faith" in a better one. Do you? If so, ignore this post at your great-great-great-great-great Grand-children's peril (if we get that far). I hope against their fatalistic hope. Wish-thinking is something I think we all share. It's time to move "wishes" aside and look things in the face of evidence. Could I change my mind? Ofcourse! If I were to see these fictional characters assembling on Earth and defeating, through reason and demonstration of their supernatural reality the ills of our planet, I might be persuaded. So far, all I see is genocide, racism, sexism, tribalism and sexual hysteria... Etc, etc.. I don't care what consenting adults do to sexually amuse themselves in private. It holds no bearing on their opinions of public interest. We've all seen "benevolent" rapists before. While that is concerning, the idea of public religious contrition, rather than a true and reasonable one in the face of misconduct as being the moral high-ground is absurd. "I have sinned against You, My Lord" just doesn't cut to the heart of the problem. You contributed to the ruination of lives and made a profit from it Falwell. Disgusting. "Liberty University"??? Isn't that a contradiction in terms if not an out-right misnomer in that case? Rant over... For now... 9ish.
robert9ish I totally agree with you. I'm really surprised that these so-called people who make the claim that I will "burn in hell" for receiveing another's blood (too much Asprin caused a stomach bleed) which could've killed me but I listened to the doctors in the emergancey and I'm still alive because f this. I've been an Atheist and an agonstic for 20 years now. I really liked your comments. Take care, Gene.
*****
Thanks, maurieer. I"ve had enough of bullying from people who claim to love me, yet beat me in the face with their "certainty". I don't want to make superstition a daily issue but the crack-pots won't leave me alone! Lol... You take care too. Regards, R.
Thank you for posting this, FFreeThinker.
How wise that man was
I don't think I ever had an agnostic phase, I went from an indoctrinated 12 year old, to an atheist 13 year old. But since I discovered Hitch, well, Hell! I'm antitheist now! I'm with R. Gervais on this one, religion is holding us ALL BACK.
Religion is the best and the wort. There is its beauty.
I argued the same point when I was a believer. Then in Grade 6 I started to learn Science. I learnt what a Light Year was and the size of the Cosmos. I see 200 Billion Galaxy's through Hubble's eyes, Each with Billions of Suns. I understand the Cosmos has no idea we're here on this speck of dust. I understand this wasn't done for us. I looked at worlds your god still doesn't know exist through the eyes of a Microscope. I opened my mind to the Natural world and lost the supernatural.
Tell us what you know, not what you 'believe' you know.
I stopped after the second time, but I can relate to that. I also feel a slight urge to show it to some friends and family - some are fundamentalist christians. Wouldn't expect much, but I'm interested in how they'll react and rationalize...
Religion does not make people treat better, but it offers peace of mind. Some people prefer denial to the idea of inevitable non-existence. I would too, if I could.
1:41 Ennio Morricone! Raise your volume folks!
Brilliant Christopher
Wow. Your interpersonal skills are top notch. You sir, are a credit to your species. Please, teach your children to argue like you do so they can see what a fist to the jaw feels like. Maybe they will learn what you never have.
I thought I was tripping but I heard the Good, the Bad and the Ugly theme too...
Whenever reject an idea, you have to provide an alternative.
So if you say religion is false, then tell me which is true.
If the world didn't start the way the religion says, then tell me the way it did
I have heard this a few times and never heard that +1 on you friend thanks much, it adds a bit of something.
How many people do we know who a) have the level of this great man's intellect b) the articulacy and the stunning use of vocabulary and c) the clarity of mind to see things the absurdity of religious belief in the way that he does? the answer is... no-one.
Hitchens once said that he accepts that religion is here to stay,I believe this to be the case because most humans have something known as death anxiety.
You are the one who keeps telling me that I am smart and that I know it all. I am just confirming what you say, with some amusement actually.
he is spot on.
@ketsan And Hitler was a religious man. He himself said that he was protected by the "Divine Providence" and that he was doing "God's will".
The Hitch at his best,long may he live
This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.
2 Days to think of that one well done. Not surprised though it must be hard to find the time from all of your LOLing. LOL
the human brain is capable of amazing things if you just think...
I miss Hitchens.
Did anyone hear the good bad and the ugly theme really faintly at 1:40-1:50 LOL I think I'm losing my mind.
I am smart and I am a know it all because I have biblical knowledge; you wish you could say that but you cannot because believers can never be free. Only knowledge will set you free, belief never can so until you sit where I sit, you will go on in life thinking you have the dead sea scrolls and you have life by the short hairs.
Excellent observations!
there's a guy at my work who's super religious, but strangely he is so crooked, we in our group stay away from his customers cause they r often angry cause he lies to them a lot.
I am not claiming that you did. All I am saying is that the literal theists do the same thing. They will take a quote like that and apply it to their own reasons and methods without misquoting. What I am trying to show you is that there is much MORE that goes into a brilliant quote such as the previous listed one. I am not trying to find enemies or troll, but I like for people to be able to give a good definition. A quote like that needs pretext and posttext to really give it true meaning.
There have been many times in which I have watched debates between the theist/deist and anti-theist/atheist groups and for their own devices, will quote Darwin, Einstein, Hawking, Newton in an attempt to gain higher ground has if they have any to hold. When you put the entire quote into context by showing them what came before and after and WHY the person in question made the statement in the first place, it completely decimates their argument and you maintain your status at the intelligent.
Do you part your hair in the middle? Close resemblance! LOL
@sailcat9 I could not agree more. Growing up Christian, I was always troubled with the negativity of it all. Sure, we got 'Jesus loves you', yet it was not a love unconditional; it was a love based on self-hate, loathing of the true human spirit--the one that pissed off medieval powers who simply used this religion to excuse slavery, torture, intolerance and sexual discrimination. I'm glad to have moved on to better things!
I’m so sick of being saturated with the Christian mythology.
Jesus is just a copy of a copy of previous demigods. See Horas, Mithras and others.
God bless him
Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and cull the living flower. - Karl Marx
I have been declared dead and revived. I can tell you there was no light, no fire, nothing.
Would you like to explain it to me?
Might it be that the declaration was made in error?
I got a shovel! All you need is a preacher! LOL
Actually, there are millions of people who would testify how the spirit of the living God has delivered them from their sinful ways, when nothing else seemed to helped. In my life, the spirit of Jesus gave a lot of kindness, compassion and purity that I never had before.
i don't think we should hate on people who believe in religion, that makes us look elitest and just mean, but explain why you think religion is goofy in a nice way and let them decide, i don't think you can change the minds of people who have been brainwashed since they were children
So far, I would tend to agree...
ketsan all German soldiers had inscribed on their belt buckles. God is With Us.
People who trust what science tells them don't necessarily worship science. They just trust evidence. There is a difference between having "faith" in supernatural claims that you can't believe unless you suspend your disbelief, and looking at the most logical evidence you have available at the time and forming a hypothesis.
Good luck to you, I hope the weather holds out!
anyone else hear the theme tune from "the good the bad and the ugly" at 01:40?!
Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.
Yes. It is feasible. It is also feasible that some super inteligent entity created it all. But you failed to answer my question.
Do you conclude that it is a specific entity with a specific history and characteristics or are you concluding that there has to be "some kind" of entity in which your defining your own definition?
god bless him...
One of the strangest things in this world is this obsession with religion and especially people blabbing about the “good” it does. I see virtually no evidence whatsoever of that. To me, some people are good and decent DESPITE religion, not because of it!
Can you demonstrate that we are something more than just physical?
@MissSaharaja Life is a beautiful albeit rugged journey. When people find a special meaning for themselves amidst the chaos and call it spirituality, I don't see negativity in that at all. My issue is with people who wish to force their beliefs on others, form clubs based on them and chastise people for not joining. Some people consider love, empathy and inspiration forms of spirituality. I don't know if that is true or not, but humanity rarely suffers under people who believe this way. :)
I am a Christian, yet his argument does not even scare me because he mostly argues against powerful churches such as the Roman Catholic church and the Russian Orthodox church. As a Christian, I too see the corruption and such that could arise from such institutes and am very much against them.