[Video] Christopher Hitchens: Why Fight Religion

[vow66]

Fight Against This Ultimate Wickedness And Ultimate Stupidity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b1aIuoCq4w

[Why Syzygy]

1. A little bit new around here?

Allow me to assist.

Bigotry and Broad-Brush Smears

When discussing race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or other highly-sensitive personal issues, please exercise the appropriate level of sensitivity toward others and take extra care to clearly express your point of view.

Do not post messages that are bigoted against (or grossly insensitive toward) any person or group of people based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, lack of religion, disability, physical characteristics, or region of residence.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html
snipped/bold added

You wrote:
Fight Against This Ultimate Wickedness And Ultimate Stupidity
Your words. Not the video title.

[Nay]

2. The poster is quoting Hitchens' very last line in the video--so "ultimate

wickedness and ultimate stupidity" is a direct quote, and perfectly acceptable to use, as far as I can see.

[Why Syzygy]

3. Could be...

but I don't agree. That would defeat the purpose of having DU rules/guidelines.
We don't "quote" RW news sources. One could find a "quote" to support any bigotry desired.

[DeSwiss]

6. But that still doesn't change the fact....

...that religion is wicked and stupid. And no amount of fine and comforting words, nor prayers will ever change this.

- And by belatedly trying to compare Hitchens' comments that the OP used to entitled his post to some RW rag just won't cut it. It is not the same thing. And in point of fact, the "wickedness" and evil of religion is a well documented fact, and won't be washed away. It is an on-going wickedness, and is responsible for most of the world's troubles. And in my opinion, the "stupidity" of religion can be ascertained by facts as well. It is also well documented and no matter how much people want it not to be. It still is....

[moobu2]

4. The audience guy asked

“if there is no god, why do you spend your whole life trying to convince people there isn’t, why don’t you just stay home?”

Hitchens chould have ended his answer by turning that question around on the guy and ask him... If there was an all powerful god, why would he need all those people speaking for him? Why would he need a church or Mosque or synagogue on every corner? or something like that.

[charlie]

5. Ugh

I'm glad Hitchens was in his most supercilious, bombastic form in that debate. Frank Turek is one mean, dishonest rightwing asshole.

[rrneck]

7. When it comes to religion bashing these days

low hanging fruit is pretty easy to find.

I don't think religion itself infects everything. It's just a pretty handy infection delivery device for the same ills that have always plagued the human race. Religion is everywhere, it has always been and it will always be. To say that religion should be eliminated to stop the transmission of the infection is like trying to stop breathing to avoid a cold.

Hitchens, as I recall from the clip, is actually condemning the evils of wrath, greed, gluttony, pride and lust. That's five of the seven deadly sins. He is able to make such a convincing argument because he is condemning five impulses that are inimical to the survival of the human species. We know, as humans, that those impulses are bad for us no matter how they are delivered. Religion is supposed to help us avoid them, unfortunately these days it is more often used to promote evil than contain it.

The L'Enfant terrible behavior of Hitchens and the rest are a welcome breath of fresh air for the voices of rationalism and progress in our culture. I say give 'em all the low hanging fruit they can reach but expect a more careful culling of how we practice the experience of faith as we go forward.

[spin]

8. He does point out something that really bothers me...

It's very dangerous to believe in an end times Armageddon in a nuclear age. It might be a self-fulfilling prophecy.