Christopher Hitchens - Night at the Royal Ontario Museum

FYI: this post has been moved here.


  1. Speaking of Dawkins, his latest audio discussion with Lennox on "Does science bury God?" can be found here.

  2. Thank you mucho!

    Mariano .

  3. So Camile Paglia is a Democrat now? in the 80s she was one of Reagan's biggest boosters and bragged about how she had become enlightened to give being a Democrat. She also said people in the third world are use to prover and don't mind suffering because they have unimportant lives.

  4. .

    In this post I critique a debate between a Christian apologist and Christopher Hitchen's



  5. The colour of one's teeth, alleged state of inebriation, penchant for mumbling or running over one's own words, smoking, or facial appearance is no indication whatsoever that one's arguments are untrue. You condemn Hitchens for ad hominem attacks yet commit the most egregious examples against Hitchens. The Ten Commandments speak of women as the possesions of a husband along with his house, ox, donkey, or any “thing” else that belongs to him that you might covet (the neighbour is also assumed to be male). Hitchens is spot on.

    Since you seem fond of philosophical terms for bad arguments, your quote of Dylan is a prime example of false dichotomy. You suppose without reason or evidential merit (perhaps from a position of theological smugness) that the only two choices are serving God or serving the Devil. These are not the only two choices in the universe of possibilities, and you frame the quote deliberately in this way merely to further your position through unjustified means.

    Furthermore, your entire “critique” of Hitchens’s comments on the metaphors of “flock” and “sheep” is entirely without scientific, logical, or evidence based reason, but it is predictably emotive. It is obvious he is possessed of an intelligence and wit that can humorously characterize the nature of a religion which refers to its adherents as “sheep,” members of an unthinking, unquestioning “flock.” It is Hitchens’s own and warranted opinion that the lowly characterization of Christians as “sheep” is insulting to the humanistic principle of individuality and free-thinking intelligence. Sure, he is taking a swipe at the bleating, dull-eyed “flock,” yet he does it with such charm and erudition. He is a polemicist but at least his facts are straight and his metaphors and humour apt. That you interpret his dry humour as serious positional arguments merely reflects badly on you.

    You have characterized Hitchens in an emotive fashion without regard to accuracy or truth, twisting his dry humour into the supposed reasons he rejects God. Had you read his work and honestly reported his reasons for rejecting God you might not be shown up by your own argument to be a hypocrite. Perhaps you need to update your argument.

  6. I concur in CitizenX's objections, and I would like to add that I see here no reason prefer the God of the Bible as a shepherd over the mundane "shepherds" of cigarettes and alcohol.

    Hitchens asserted that "shepherds don't look after sheep because the like sheep.... They look after sheep so they can first fleece them, then kill them. (http://is.gd/1jrt6)" Simply pointing out two other shepherds that figuratively do the same thing does not establish either the God of the Bible, or his representatives here on earth, as more benevolent, trustworthy shepherds. Hitchens' objection stands untouched.

    Also, regarding the your response to Hitchen's argument that the prohibitions against murder, etc., did not need to be divinely inspired:
    "It was not that no one knew murder was wrong until then, ... but that as the nation was established, so were its laws. Would we besmirch the new Iraqi government for stating in their new constitution that murder was illegal? Do they not know that? Then why state it?"

    Though Hitchens is fond of besmirching the Ten Commandments, he does not use that particular observation to do it. He uses that observation to rebut the assertion of many theists that religion is the only source of morality. That rebuttal, too, stands untouched. In fact, your example supports it.

  7. This amounts to 95-99% anti-Christian / anti-Jewish and 1-5% anti-miscellaneous.

    That seems inaccurate. In God Is Not Great, Hitchens devotes more to Islam and its texts than any other tradition.

  8. A thoroughly despicable mischaracterization of atheists and atheism rife with character assassinations and even poking fun at Hitchen's appearance. This is low even for a fundamentalist Christian. You don't come close to portraying the real Hitchens. You make him sound more like a street bum. If after reading your poison penned polemic one were to actually experience Hitchens in one of his talks or debates, he/she would be profoundly shocked at how he is nothing like your jaded description. He/she would witness the real Hitchens, a man of intellectual depth and scope. Because Hitchens has bigger fish to fry he wouldn't give sophomoric blogs like this the time of day. Were he to do this however, the swift and decisive intellectual bitch-slapping he is capable of administering would by most entertaining.

  9. Mariano: You are one ugly Mother Fucker.
    Now let us get down to business.
    The Bible is filled with horrible verses and examples of lack of morality these can be found at my website. WWW.SCIENCECLUBOFLONGISLAND.COM

    Let us all look at these beautiful verses in the Bible:

    Eat Human Feces!

    Eating Shit and Drinking Piss
    "But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?" (II Kings 18:27) You must now follow your God's orders and eat shit and drink piss! Enjoy!

    When are you going to start eating your children?

    Expose Her Breasts!
    kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make the vile, and will set thee as gazingstock." (Nahum 3:5-6). Is your wife going to act like a slut and expose her breasts?

    Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh. (Isaiah 16:11) Are you going to fart to please your lord?

    Since you want to be a tough guy and pick on the Atheists let us show you how tough we can be. The Science Club of Long Island Inc. Publicly challenges you to prove the existance of God!
    At stake one million dollars. Let us see how tough you really are?!