Religious lunatics, skeptics, and fanatics: "Religion has been a positive force in culture." ~ Video Debate between Chistopher Hitchens and Dr. Barry Brummett

That was excellent, having sat through it, I can well understand your decision to post this. Thank you, I genuinely enjoyed it. To anyone reading this kinda still thinking "weeell do I don't I ..." - go cheat (!) - watch the last video clip first ... you'll want to see the others :) Its for both the Faithful and Atheist, religion is treated with great respect throughout by both the debaters. It is not an attack piece.

Brummett is a self confessed academic .... as he stated I suspect a little exasperated in the middle, having been called out for - frankly - not debating the proposition. He had taken the academia route of proffering questions, hypotheticals and scenarios, frequently changing the question to suit his style - somewhat naughty, and detracted from his stance, such as it was. It was not a good start when describing Aristotle only in his contrived terms as using rhetoric and dialectic .... when from my viewpoint he was desperately avoiding using the word Logic - Aristotle's claim to fame. I can understand why, he could hardly use the word logic and continue an academic avoidance of fact when he spoke of religion. He did the latter somewhat shamelessly throughout.

Hitchens I thought was brilliant, he stayed on debate to the proposition, continually referred to facts more than esoteric hypothetical concepts, and frankly nailed it hands down. The audience standing ovation they gave him said it all.

Best quotes? .... loved these two... both Hitchens

1. The gods we made are exactly the gods you would expect a species like us to make, when we are only half a chromosome away from a chimpanzee.

2. Religion must take credit for the good culture it created, but must, and does not at present, take credit for the bad.

The most telling point of all, was the attack, the only words for it, on the Catholic Church for policies towards women, disease and aids. That was remarkable, as it was delivered with a far greater intensity than his other statements, and a directness that totally contrasted his contribution to date - it was also spot on.

Nice one .... those videos are excellent. Your thoughts on Hitchens ...I agree, absolutely, has a tremendous intellect, he will be a sad loss when he passes on.

What a wonderful post - kind of raises the bar for debate. That was a real pleasure to watch. Thank you and I concur that Hitchens' death will be a great loss.

Zydor, the second of the 2 quotes that you noted is absolutely spot on, but will be lost on the average zealot! More is the pity.

These should be compulsory watching for quite a few people that I know!!!!

Awesome video's Dave. When Hitchens passes it will be a big loss. Also, thank you for introducing me to his writing and debates. I've yet to see a debate between an atheist and a religious person where the religious person comes out looking good. They usually come out looking like they're grasping at straws and what-ifs.