Atheist Christopher Hitchens And Rabbi David Wolpe Duke It Out Over God

The Washington Post:

Ambling across the lobby with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, my antagonist nodded to me and said, "Hello, darling."

It was almost time for another public debate with Christopher Hitchens.

Read the whole story: The Washington Post

Comments

[Siebenstein]

05:53 PM on 08/12/2010

Since there never will be "evidence" of God's existence, the article's headline question does not matter .

[RonKrumpos]

10:46 PM on 08/01/2010

Confucianism (unlike Taoism), much of Buddhism and most of the Samkhya of Hinduism are non-theistic: they simply omit the concept of God. Many atheists, however, seem intent on attacking the idea of God.

Ultimate reality is what is is, whether we think, believe or desire otherwise. If there is a God, not believing does not change that. If there is no God, then believing will not make it so. Mystics seek the universal reality which underlies our conceptualizing and imagining. I was personally introduced to mysticism by a Nobel physicist who said “God is man’s greatest creation." In my e-book on comparative mysticism is a chapter "To the non-religious." You do not have to be religious or believe in God to be a mystic.

[Janice Rawlins]

10:36 PM on 07/11/2010

The word belief can refer to anything such as believing in getting a new car sometime in my life..lol I have many different beliefs--or maybe I should say believe..that might be better...I love reading everyone's comments on here.. or as many as I can..

[Janice Rawlins]

04:25 PM on 07/10/2010

I agree...

[NevaforLeadership]

04:39 PM on 07/06/2010

The very best to Christopher Hitchens.

[Janice Rawlins]

03:42 PM on 07/06/2010

Let him believe what he wants to believe it is his business or life----let the man live it the way he believes..Preacher leave that man alone...
He has his own beliefs-

[santiago sherwood]

06:15 PM on 07/07/2010

I think he actually enjoys the debate and considering his health engaging debate helps take his mind off his battle with the big C

[Slap999]

11:32 PM on 07/10/2010

or lack of them :P
I don't likethe word "belief", why do we need to belive in a nything we have no inkling about and nobody does.

[Brooklyn73]

10:30 AM on 07/06/2010

I don't know too much about Hitchens but when I see him in interviews he looks like a man who is hiding so much pain.

[de-meme-ing]

12:26 PM on 07/06/2010

A Man of Constant Sorrows, the Christ opher. When you walk through the filth of life, exposing what mankind can and does do to each other in the name of a science, government or religious/philosophy how could you remain A Man of Constant Joy? Was the money worth it? I am sure it was. Knowing that he made an impact can be a greater reward, and was hopefully the cause of the sly wink at the end of the debate.

Was it ever about the money?

If money is the answer, answereth all things, is it the root of good, or evil? Either can make lots of money and I am sure Mr. Hitchens has been accussed of both.

[NevaforLeadership]

04:42 PM on 07/06/2010

If you read his works and listen to his talks and debates rather than looking at him, you will know that rather than a man with so much pain, he is a man with so much experience, wit, intellect and reason.

Having said that, I hope he doesn't have to go through too much pain now, and I wish him and his family the best.

[Dave24]

09:09 AM on 07/06/2010

Rabbi Opportunist.

[de-meme-ing]

10:12 AM on 07/06/2010

Not really. There is a beauty in the salutation, Hello Darlin, both an allegory and a metaphor, which the Rabbi recognized. And which I perceive that Mr. Hitchens knew he would. Of course I too tend towards being sentimental, and a romantic of sorts, as I suspect Mr. Hitchens was under the bluster and bravdo.


Hello Darlin, Conway Twitty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2IGdm8l5ok

Obviously Mr. Htchens was a complex man, not unlike the rest of us.

[elijah24]

01:07 PM on 07/06/2010

"IS"! Mr. Hitchens IS a complex man. Let's not bury him yet!

[Paulo1]

08:48 AM on 07/06/2010

I absolutely love Hitchens. I first saw him on cable but then saw his debate on Intellegence Squared where he lambasted the Catholic Church. (Hint if you haven't seen it you are woefully missing one of the best debates ever, google it)

I have decided that you can not really believe in God until you are able to listen to Hitchens and reconcile your faith with his legitimate critique. Leaning on crutches does not help with his wit and candor. I found that once I was able to leave aside my dogma's and actually REASON out my faith in response it was profoundly life changing.

I won't do wishcraft praying for him, he would be amused and a bit offended at the presumption. But I will hold out my best thoughts for him and thank God he is in our lives for however long we have him.

[de-meme-ing]

09:48 AM on 07/06/2010

I couldn't agree more.

[sunshine14]

08:30 AM on 07/06/2010

Organized religion and Government was a big win win for both, $$$. No different today, use religion also to get get votes in their campaigns also. Why they use abortion gays etc.
I ask did Adam and Eve and Satan and 1/3 of his angles get kicked out of heaven because they were gay? No? rather greed? their jealousy? Liars? Rejected God, falsely accused God of being a liar? But who was the liar? and God's authority over them? It is God's house not ours. A house divided cannot stand? Why all great empire fell? their greed?

[sunshine14]

08:23 AM on 07/06/2010

The Roman occupying forces plus organized religion then, got Christ crucified, for Christ disturbed the Status Quo of the Empire which ruled by opposition, no different then today with what is going on.

Christ came and taught his listeners that they were OK with God, God loved them just the way there are, poor, oppressed, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans and refugees, why Moses came and why God choose the poor, because they were being oppressed by the rich. God choose the poor, who were being oppressed as slaves, to the rich, their greed, men in power.

It was not Moses, who won the wars, but God himself, God said I Will wipe out 7 Nations before you and God did, for Moses completely trusted in God, because of his obedience first, to the authority of God over him, by his great faith in God. Why Moses was found to be a righteous man, like Abraham, Noah, etc.

[sunshine14]

08:06 AM on 07/06/2010

Hitchens his none belief in God, is challenging the religions, disturbing their cash $$$ flow? But as wrong as Hitchen is. One cannot force anyone to accept the word of God. Both organized religion and Hitchen are both doing what is wrong.

Remember Jesus had very few friends inside the temple authority, for Christ challenged their job security, by teaching the people they didn't have to pay the priests for rituals, baths, or sacrificing their live stock, lands to be OK with God. Jesus taught the people the Divine authority lived within them, and they needed no one to teach them right from wrong.

What got Christ crucified was that Christ placed God in the very hearts of his hearers an elevated them to the same level Caesar claim to hold. No different today with all theses religions what they are doing, for big $$$.

[sunshine14]

07:38 AM on 07/06/2010

Were told not to argue over the Word. If some human beings do not believe in God, who cares, why argue, told shake the dust off your feet and move on. The rest is only egos, vanity, pride, which both disobey God and which causes each to sin. For ether are serving or obeying in faithfulness to God.

[Slap999]

11:35 PM on 07/10/2010

Hey good luck with your lobotomy, it seems to makes you very happy :P
And so is God .. another Zombie from the factory.

[William Jansen]

05:23 AM on 07/06/2010

The real money is in Religion. How many professional priests and imams are there in the world? How many buildings do religious institutions own? How many books of religious nature are sold every year?

Hitchens happens to be one of the most succesfull professional atheists, and thus he makes more money than David Wolpe. But on a whole;

The real money is in religion, not atheism.

[BeninOakland]

12:59 AM on 07/06/2010

Religion is not nrecessatry for people to do good.

"Good is better than evil because it's nicer"...Mammy yokum.

"To say life has no meaning is not to say it has no value."...Tom Robbins

"Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you." "Kung Fu-Tzu, 500 years
BC

"Religion is not what ennobles us. Religion is what prevents us from advancing as a species."

"There you have it. Heaven for climate. Hell for society" Mark Twain

I don't need religion or god, the promise of heaven, or the threat of hell, to tell me that lying, cheating, stealing, murder, child molestation, or hate are wrong. All I need is to be a thinking, feeling human being." Ben in Oakland

[smartalek]

07:35 PM on 07/10/2010

Amen, BeninOakland, amen.

Hey, if you named your kid Ben too, he'd be Ben-ben-Ben.
Or Ben-cubed.
But I know you knew that already.
Cheers