Is religion a force for good or evil? Blair loses to Hitchens

[CptStern]

You may need to set aside the rest of your Saturday to get through this, but here in full is the transcript of the long-anticipated Munk debate between Christopher Hitchens and former prime minister Tony Blair. The motion: "Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world". No prizes for guessing who was arguing for and against.

The debate was hosted last night in Toronto, Canada before an audience of 2,600. Reports suggest that touts were selling tickets for up to five hundred Canadian dollars.

According to post-debate voting on the Munk debate website, Hitchens won the argument against the motion by 68 per cent to 32 per cent

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/11/christopher-hitchens-tony-blair

 

[Krynn72]

Good debate, from both sides. I think Blair harped on his "religion has bad parts but good parts too!" shtick for far too long. Most of his discussion revolved around that point, while Hitches had a much wider spectrum of talking points. Hitchens' bit about George Bush was hilarious.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Vidya. http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/11/blair-hitchens-watch-religion

 

[Warbie]

Good debate.

For people interested in Hitchens, here's an interview that was aired last night in the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wkrbk

This is also well worth a watch if you want to continue the religious debate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InnzB8AyvPg