If you ran into a bunch of men on a dark night, would you feel relieved or not to find out they had attended a prayer meeting or Bible class? Here Dennis beautifully compares Hitch to a Scientologist. Hitch replies with his usual spiel and also informs us that "religion is very new." Dennis also makes a good point about there being more stupidity going on at secular institutions such as university than down at your local church. And intriguingly, Hitch concedes this, but then he makes a case for students of evolutionary biology and physics being "by far the most enlightened and intelligent" people as well as "the people most free of overt religious belief."
Was the movement to abolish slavery overwhelmingly religious Christians or was the movement mostly not believers? And what of the value of the human fetus? You'll be gratified to hear that embryology and Hitch's own inner feelings confirm that "the concept of the unborn child is a real one." But at the same time, for Hitch, arguments such as the fetus is no more than a tumor or an appendix do not reflect badly on secularism because there happen to be some religious extremists (possibly including the Pope) who equate the insertion of an IUD into the cervix with mass murder.
Here Dennis puts forward the argument that without religion the Western world is doomed to extinction. And he cites Europe as an example. This leads Christopher to defend the old place, while twisting the question to claim that the problem is worse in the Catholic nations. Then they start arguing about the Cold War and Hitch refuses to admit that Czechoslovakia was in the Eastern Bloc before going onto waffle about Ronald Reagan, Billy Brandt, etc., a sure sign that he doesn't have a decent rebuttal to Dennis's extinction thesis.
Back to the original question, and then, via Jefferson and Franklin, onto Hitch admitting he's a mammal. Then he makes the ridiculous statement that being much more likely to call on God and wishing the Universe was organized for his own benefit is "a mammalian failing". He obviously hasn't discussed this with any dogs, cats, horses, cows or kangaroos. He then says that he finds this "wish thinking" contemptible, which makes him sound rather like a Buddhist monk with a peptic ulcer. Hitch also claims to "know" that the Universe was not designed with him in mind, and — surprise, surprise — he does not wish for world peace, preferring war and victory over the theologians. One wonders if he has David Ray Griffin in mind. Finally, does the golden rule need to be taught to kids? Naargh, it's innate, intones Christopher.
“The enemies of intolerance cannot be tolerant." • "If it is an offense to justice to hold people who may have been victims of mistaken identity or of vendettas by other factions, then it is also an offense to justice to release psychopathic killers who believe that they have divine permission to throw acid in the faces of girls who want to attend school." • "Don't be such a lesbian!
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