Christopher Hitchens - [2008] - 'The Existence of god and the Role of Religion' vs David Wolpe

November 12, 2008.
Christopher Hitchens, leading atheist advocate and author of the best-selling book, "God Is Not Great" and Rabbi David Wolpe, spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, author of numerous books including his just published, "Why Faith Matters" and Newsweek Magazine's #1 pulpit Rabbi debate the existence of God and the role of religion and faith in society in this American Jewish University event.
Moderated by Rob Eshman, editor-in-chief of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
[00:00] David Wolpe
[06:17] Christopher Hitchens
[14:05] David Wolpe
[18:22] Christopher Hitchens
[23:42] David Wolpe
[26:40] Christopher Hitchens
[28:37] Discussion + Questions
Credit to Jewish TV Network: www.jewishtvnetwork.com/?bcpid...

[@keenanschouten2582]

Still watching Hitchens in 2022

[@dagordon1041]

And still watching in 2023.

[@ATOK_]

2024

[@jamesboydriver]

Still. In 2024 😊

[@peterw3160]

2025

[@JohnRenfro]

Wow!! Christopher Hitchens never backs down in the face of religious intimidation. What a great debate, he is sorely missed.

[@jasonnesmith6518]

David almost looks like he's trying to convince himself...I hope he's had more luck with himself than convincing us.

[@AFMMarcelD]

I miss Christopher Hitchens, this gorgeous bastard embodied everything that was direct, witty, charming and knowledgeable, not to mention an English thesaurus for vocabulary. I truly wish Science could have invented something to clone Hitchens, we are a poor lot without him, but we must carry on the fight against prejudice, bigotry and religious stupidity. His legacy ensures his immortality, tis tumbler of JWB 🥃 is in Hitch’s memory, I love and miss this incredible talented humanist.

[@forger42]

During his opening, Wolpe really just sound desperate in his need to believe in things which there are no evidence for.

[@adonais81]

U need faith thats why

[@forger42]

Faith is just the excuse people give when they believe something for no good reason.

[@adonais81]

@@forger42 but u need God or else u go to hell.

[@adonais81]

@@forger42 there is a God cus my mom told me.

[@adonais81]

@@forger42 yah thats right God always wins and doesnt need money. God is love i hope u find that its the truth cus u alone cant figure it out

[@celpabedn]

The question that always seems to get evaded is that why do these gods that run the universe have no more power to give us proof and assistance? They provided so much to the people of the bronze age,yet now when so much termoil and wars are to give us great difficulty, to live one by another, they can only appear in our minds and prayers? How can we trust people if they have only their subjective minds to provide for the extraordinary claims that would never pass in the courtroom, unless they are religious...

[@maca0691]

I love Christopher Hitchens he makes people and me think.

[@matimus100]

David is in love everyone 💕 ❤ congratulations David 👏

[@tannerkoenig291]

The question to Christopher about whether he had ever prayed is probably the single greatest quick thought answer ive ever heard.

[@judycowley9816]

Of all the debates from Christopher Hitchens I have listened to< I find this one to be the most logical and compelling one I have yet put my ear to. I'm grateful to live where I do and have the choices of beliefs to deicide on my own. I despise those who follow like sheep and question nothing!

[@AFMMarcelD]

My mother was a sheep, she indoctrinated me to be one. It was in my early 20’s I finally broke the shackles and delusions of religion and started to think for myself. Carl Sagan , Richard Dawkins and the fantastic Christopher Hitchens were instrumental in my journey of discovery, forever grateful. Hitch lives on, his words and wisdom lives on, it’s like he never left.

[@phillipstroll7385]

All that is well and good but remember you live where you have that choice because of your inalienable rights given to you granted by God. Whether we truly believe or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the government believe you do believe. Because the very second the majority flips, you bet your ass the government will rip apart your constitutional rights given to you and protected by Americans belief in God. The military does not protect from. The constitution does and our inalienable rights are granted by God.

[@messiahapostle8239]

You are in BIG TROUBLE, and you will join this fool of Satan in HELL! --WICKED PEOPLE [Haters Of GOD-Jesus, Lovers of their sins that hate to see HolyBIBLE-God control them] Are About To See The TERRORS Of Old Testament Now!!! KING JESUS of Psalms 2 and 72 and Isaiah 2 is NOW Standing UP, and about 3 to 4 billion garbage people are about to be FLUSHED out of This WORLD!!! >>>The Sin of The so-called Christians all over The World and for donkey years simply tied God's HANDS to act on behalf of the so-called Christians who have all their feet in Satan and their lip-service in God. (Matthew 7:21). BUT by GRACE Alone, see HIS BLESSING Upon Me! This is WHAT's About To Happen! Millions of so-called Pastors or Ministers will be among the Dead. ENOUGH Is ENOUGH!!! ===================== >>>Worldwide Reign of Christianity is Here! Psalm72 KING JESUS is here. It will happen through HIS Incarnate. HE will implement The HEART Of GOD in Isaiah 2, 11, 49, 59, 65; Jeremiah 1:10; Zephaniah 2:11; Ezekiel 36-37 for Me; Psalms 2 and 72, Haggai to Zechariah 6; etc. At the early months of this period, MILLIONS of wicked people shall die and all systems (political establishments, religions of force and murder, etc) that hinder people from fleeing to JESUS shall be removed. Almost All Muslims shall flee to JESUS during this time. Meditate on the cited scriptures, especially Isaiah 2. >>This 794-year period of Psalm72 KING JESUS is a Gift to Me from DADDYGOD. Almost all Israelis now shall flee to JESUS (Become serious Christians); GREAT JESUS TEMPLE [Apostolic Christian Church Building] shall be erected at The original position of The Solomon's Temple. There will be Jesus-measure peace around The World. [Unfortunately after this time, the 🌎World shall become very decadent again, leading to The Revealing of AntiChrist and The Rest of The Book Of Revelation]. ---BUT FOR NOW: The ONE-TRUE GOD is NOW STANDING Up!!! The SHOW is On!!! It's Mount-Carmel ShowDOWN (1Kings 18) at Millions of MT-Carmels in This MY 🌎WORLD! It's Mount-JESUS ⛪ CHURCH EXTRAVAGANZA! It's JesuCRACY Imperative!!! Hallelujah!

[@samboss2091]

​@@AFMMarcelDI'm exactly at the same spot

[@vanhouten64]

There's just nobody who can debate like Hitchens; I've never seen anyone get the best of him. Rabbi Wolpe does as well as anyone I've seen, including that great zinger about "Comrades", but Hitchens ultimately prevails, as always. Imagine somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene going up against Hitchens 😄

[@twelthman]

It would be a complete no contest, compared to Hitch Greene is uneducated, unlettered and uninformed

[@thecynic9232]

A battle of wits with an unarmed woman.

[@KnowThyself619]

Yep. Rabbi Wolpe is actually very pleasant to listen to compared to the other shrieking theists.

[@robertshipley6990]

The area I live in now is predominantly Christian. Pretty nice homes. good families. Children. Homeschool. College graduates. Police officers. Firefighters. Some in the trades. Engineers. Growing up outside of Los Angeles in a non-Christian Community -drugs, illiteracy, violence, theft, fornication, vd, abortions, jail, homicides. I'll take a christian community over an atheist community.

[@CassandraGemmini13]

I would love for anyone religious or 'spiritual' to watch this debate and skip all of the parts where Hitchens speaks. Ignore Hitchens, you don't even have to entertain that side of the argument...yet. Listen to Wolpe. Is this actually mean't to be taken seriously? I cannot believe this kind of babble is enough to convince any thinking person of his claims - at best it is purely emotional and at worst, descends into a kind of simpering demagogy. How can anyone respond to the plaintive, infantile call - bound up in big words and obfuscating delivery - to believe in something because it makes you feel better and it's nicer than what appearances might suggest, with anything other than a resounding, 'no'?

[@stationaryplane9149]

Absolutley spot on. His speech would have went down well a couple of thousand years ago. Lol Great comment. Peace.

[@defacis1990]

Tristan Hickmat6g

[@secretchordstudio]

This could be written by Hitchens himself:) well put and keep up the resistance against these clerical pious end of times

[@dazwebster]

The concept of god is a religious adult's "comfort blanket".

[@beastemeauxde7029]

Great debate. Great hitchslap at the end.

[@nightscape94]

Never saw this before, thanks! Love getting new Hitchens material!

[@WaterLily220]

much love and gratitude for Mr. Hitchens...he was on fire! thank you for posting this video :D

[@njvan1]

RIP hitch, what a great linguist.

[@scottnunnemaker5209]

The one thing about society that has struck me as I aged was how childish everyone still is as adults. Someone forgot to tell them God isn’t real after they told them Santa wasn’t real. It’s the same concept. He’s always watching, knows when you are good or bad, rewards you for doing good, punishes you for doing bad, he even listens to prayers(well you need to mail the letters, but letters to Santa are really no different than prayers to god). Just grow up.

[@philcasey5931]

From my own life experiences, I know He exists.

[@mmerri9780]

@@philcasey5931you dont. You can believe in god. But you dont know he exists. It is a lie. It would be the same if I as an atheist claimed I know he doesnt exist. Everyone is agnostic to the existence of god. Aka noone actually knows

[@jonathanrussell1140]

​@@mmerri9780I have weighed the arguments in all of the Hitch debates and come to the conclusion that there is no god.

[@jamesmattingly925]

​@@mmerri9780Does a god exist? Well, before anyone can answer that, since there are so many human gods, and so many different interpretations of what god is, one must define what is meant by “god”. I propose the following definition: “An intelligence responsible for creation, and that created with intent and purpose.” General enough to cover all the gods ‘known’ to humanity I think. So, does such a god exist? Well, simply, no one knows. Because there is no evidence for, and, as ridiculous as the “you can’t prove he doesn’t exist” argument, as an argument for his existence is, there is no definitive proof against either. Therefore no one actually knows. Protest you do as much as you like, you don’t. You either believe, or you don’t believe. It’s as simple as that. And, without credible evidence it is no different from a belief in the Tooth Fairy. Now, one might think this position is agnosticism, and maybe it is. But since it covers every single one of us, and therefore everyone is agnostic, the term agnostic becomes completely redundant. I still however consider myself an atheist, and here’s why. Because, what I can say, with an absolute 100% degree of certainty, with absolutely no doubt whatsoever, is that if this intelligence does exist, it’s not RA, it’s not Zeus, it’s not Odin, It’s not Zalmoxis, Mithras, Thor, Allah or Vishnu, and it’s most certainly not the biblical god, YHWH. It is not any of the gods mankind has ever invented. And, how do I know with 100% certainty that if an intelligence exists, it is not one of the man-made gods? Well, all gods have one thing in common. They all share human characteristics. This is not because man was made in god’s image, but gods were made in man’s image. The Abrahamic god has, among others, the human attributes of narcissism, jealousy, neediness, childish vindictiveness but above all pettiness. That an intelligence capable of creating everything in existence could be so god-damned petty is completely inconceivable. The entire concept of the Abrahamic god is just plain ridiculous. If this intelligence does exist, we know absolutely nothing, whatsoever, about it. Therefore, speculation about its nature or intent utterly pointless. Further, and since we know nothing about it, or if it even exists or not, and the belief in something that has zero evidence to support it, is just plain insanity, the only rational, reasonable or realistic position to adopt is that it doesn’t exist until such time as credible evidence is presented to suggest it does. And, to this point in time, none ever has.

[@mmerri9780]

@@jamesmattingly925i agree with everything you said. I think the term agnosticism is redundant. Noone knows so we all fall under the same category. I am an atheist also. I am not convinced a god exists. What annoys me are people that use the term agnostic as essentially "atheism light" because they are too afraid of the stigma of adopting the word atheist. Noone "knows" so everyone is agnostic. Whether you are personally convinced determines if you choose the label atheist or not.

[@kevinlogue5652]

i thoroughly enjoyed this conversation - thank you for uploading!

[@magnusviklund5877]

Hitch, i miss you...

[@krispybacon9285]

those who do not, either never heard him speak or feared his intellect.

[@gusjackson3658]

Faith without question is just fear. And I do not wish upon you a life of fear.

[@MrAirigoniel]

In response to Wolpe's reference to Sweden (in which I was born and raised and live): yes, many do call themselves christians, but only in the sense that they belong to a culture with some christian traditions still alive; a cultural framework inherited from christianity. However, if you ask those "christians" whether or not they believe in god, you almost invariably get one of the answers "no", "not per se, but I think it's a comforting idea", "no, but I wish it were true" or "I am agnostic", the latter of which is the way the very conflict averse swedes put "I don't wanna take a stance at all because that might stir conflict". Most of those "christians" are only so in the sense that they are baptised, marry in a church, are buried in a church and around that pagan holiday of christmas find themselves humming some psalms. It is not a christian society.

[@tvine1]

MrAirigoniel - I think a large part of the Hitchens ethos lies in the idea that one may NOT pick and choose only those elements of holy writ which appeal directly to their own sense of right and wrong, of truth and fiction. In other words, either the bible is ALL true, or all of it can be called into question equally justifiably. Those Christians who pick and choose which parts of their holy book to believe and which to discard are not Christian at all. I agree with him in this position.

[@allahspreadshate6486]

I agree. I'm from the UK, I'm happy to say it's a "Christian" country when though I know very few practising Christians, myself included.

[@avedic]

:o a hitch video i hadn't seen. i've literally seen all his debates. yet i never tire of watching him. it's odd...there was a certain cynical curmudgeonly streak in him...and i usually don't like those sort of personalities. but, with hitch, it's different. he's balanced by so much wit and charm and intelligence that i can't help but love him.

[@cristi2206]

"-Christopher, did you ever prayed? -Once, for a hard on..." He is a genius :)))))

[@LucyFre]

😂

[@carryall69]

great, i didn't know this one, thank you for that upload.

[@guilduk1]

I love the hitch,but David is passionate about his belief and i respect that.

[@ghettofreeze]

You should not so freely disperse your respect. The September 11 terrorists were so passionate about their belief that they murdered thousands of innocent people. Forgive me for mentioning Hitler, but he was also passionate about his beliefs. Hell, like many people, I once passionately loved a person whom I believed was good, but whom I later learned was a horrible individual. Ill-conceived passions such as religion deserve no respect. Perhaps a better way to react to passion than than "respect" is "understand, and perhaps feel sympathy for."

[@yomilalgro]

As do i

[@matimus100]

Love?

[@yomilalgro]

Thanks for the upload ❤

[@davidharrison441]

The hitch was a great great man , we miss him so much . Rip sir .

[@enterbalak]

That was a great introduction Wople.

[@AGuitaringRancor]

Its awesome that in the last couple of months there seems to have been a wave of new Hitchens related content on KZbin. I had run out of Hitchens content to watch. Thank you LeCaNANDian/TheHitchensArchive for being probably the largest uploader of this content on KZbin

[@yomilalgro]

I too thank you

[@jacobskovsbllknudsen5908]

I've watched quite a lot of Hitchens now, and I have to give credit to Wolpe. Even though I don't agree with his standpoint, he presents it a lot better than his peers. He's not not defaulting "this is beyond what we can comprehend, therefore god must exist" He understands (most of the time) what Hitchens is arguing and tries to answer as civil, direct and precise as he can. He just get's outdone ofcourse, lol.

[@philcawser]

David Wolpe is the only one I have seen that has come fully prepared with a rounded argument in defense of religion, such that he doesn't make a fool of himself in opposition to an expert rationalist.

[@loganleatherman7647]

I do like him as a speaker, but he seems to base much of his argumentation on appeals to emotion + wishful thinking, and it really seems as though he is truly upset by what the ramifications would be without the promise of eternal life or cosmic justice

[@lesshaw3555]

It amazes me how very intelligent people can believe in a mythical being without a scrap of evidence !

[@wallacepearse3915]

Thank God i am an athiest.

[@dagordon1041]

Well put 🙂

[@mastergunzz]

"Moses freed the slaves..." Then went on to write laws on how to keep your own slave. 🤣🤣

[@MothraBlues]

Very enjoyable & thought-provoking debate - thank you so much for posting! :-)

[@krispybacon9285]

I give David Wolpe credit, i believe none of what he says about god or faith. but has the courage to face a man like Hitchens and did so many times in Hitchens life. bravery is to be admired regardless of the form it takes. without people like him willing to post their beliefs for our consideration Hitchens arguments would have far less impact..

[@ghettofreeze]

Yes, brave acts deserve admiration on a certain level, but context matters. The September 11 terrorists were brave to fly jets into buildings. Some who fought for the Confederate States of America to defend the institution of slavery were certainly courageous. But the wickedness of their causes counterbalances such admiration. Wolpe's obviously not in the same category with terrorists and slaveholding soldiers, but his bravery serves to defend religion, which necessitates that he defend, as Hitch points out many times, immorality.

[@krispybacon9285]

@@ghettofreeze they werent brave. they did it because they believed they'd get to live forever with 72 virgins. if they knew they were going to die and blink out of existence they wouldnt have done it..

[@RikerLovesWorf]

42:45 it's telling how no one claps, even though Hitchens stops talking. People are waiting to hear what else he has to say, as if they want him to continue.

[@CassandraGemmini13]

The problem with North Korea, Stalinist Russia and Maoist China is/was not that religion was taken out of society. The problem was totalitarianism. Atheism and secularism do not demand that we remove religion by force, thus they cannot be blamed. Totalitarianism and a Stalinist reading of Marx does demand this, and so those ideologies are wrong as they require people to behave horribly.

[@apedley]

For anyone who didn't know, that study of links between circumcision and reduced rates of HIV is not used today. It was grossly flawed. Countless studies have dismissed it since. Low sample size, women asked if their husbands were cut or not, and many simply didn't know, or guessed. Those are just 2 issues - there were many more.

[@moggoon]

I have not read it yet but there is also a book called 'The Self Illusion: Why There is No 'You' Inside Your Head' by Bruce Hood, which obviously deals with similar subject matter.

[@dagordon1041]

Interesting. I'll have to look up that book.

[@fleabaglane]

The reason I love youtube for all the great stuff that's not rubbish

[@pgsmith22]

Hitch comes right out, citing one of the worst horrors a reasonable person can dare imagine. It is no doubt breezed past, by an audience, no doubt with a sense of 'that was not us'. And yet, we have all toiled beneath religion for too god damned long.

[@dagordon1041]

Amen.

[@luanrafael6846]

55:00, the rabbi puts forth an atheist argument refuting the theist cliché that, "if it´s all gonna end in the end, why live, what´s the point?" Thanks rabbi, glad you´re on our side.

[@arpussupra]

Considering his deperate tone I have to assume that David Wolpe is full of self-doubt but unable to shake his ideology off due to his socialisation.

[@coreygraham860]

If I were a waiter, I'd feel much more flattered if Hitchens left me a big tip than if this Rabbi did. Hitchens would be tipping me because he genuinely appreciates my service. The Rabbi would only be tipping me because his "Father" wants him to do it.

[@josephrohland5604]

My Mother died from lung cancer on September 12, 2001, one day after WTC buildings #1, #2 and #7 were brought down by controlled demolition. Miss you, Mom!

[@theocean1973]

Even while railing against christianity Hitler never claimed to be an atheist. He invoked the supernatural/divine providence as frequently as religious apologists invoke the demonizing false equation of "atheism=nazism"

[@mix6809]

ah the old story about "fine tuning". its like saying that coke is fine tuned to the bottle...

[@kreyvegas1]

David wasn't a bad debater for Hitchens. Not so much because his arguments were very solid, but because of his mood.

[@ghettofreeze]

Yeah, he seems like a nice person, but he's still wrong.

[@yomilalgro]

Of all Hitchens debater, Rabbi Wolpe is awesome

[@tc7486]

Agree. He doesn’t almost bust a gut with popping veins to make his points.

[@oldmanfromscenetwentyfour8164]

The Law Giver? Moses: God, I broke the Tables of Stone. God: WTF dude! Do you have any idea what it took to write them? How did it happen? Moses: You didn't see? God: No, I didn't I was taking nap. Writing with thunderbolts is hard work, I needed to lie down for a while. Moses:Well, I went down to the Israelites and they were having a party, the bastards couldn't have waited until I got back! I mean how would you feel? I kind of got mad and lost my temper. I threw the Tables at them. The Tablets exploded when they hit the ground. Killed two Temple Prostitutes and a goat. God: MY Temple Prostitutes?? Dude, do you have any idea how hard it is to find virgins locally? Get Joshua on it right away, have him attack the Midianites by Wednesday. Be sure he brings back virgins, got it? Moses: I'll tell him as soon as I get back. What about the Tablets? God: Oh yea, back to that. Alright write them down yourself this time. I'm tired of doing EVERYTHING around here. Moses: I didn't bring any papyrus or quill. God: You can write them in stone. Moses: I didn't bring a chisel and hammer. God: You're fucking useless, you know that? I should have appeared to the Chinese or the Aborigines over in Australia. Moses: Chinese? Australia? God:Never mind, forget I said it. OK, go into that cave and look in the clay jars. The Sumerians left them here for safe keeping. I'm sure there is something there that will cover it. Moses: OK, got some good stuff here. I'm not sure about the boiling a goat in its mothers milk thing but the rest looks OK. God: Good. Alright, get the fuck out of here. I got shit to do. copyright July 26, 2017

[@dagordon1041]

Loved it! Thank you for sharing ... brought a smile to my day.

[@FlyJohnny100]

"An accident of ancient chemistry". We know that so many wonderful and meaningful things in life come to us through varying degrees of accident. The idea that accidents are unambiguous evidence of bad things, anarchy, or lack profound meaning is a failure of imagination and vision. We seek patterns, but when we find them, we're not content to marvel at the tangible beauty and learn from the meaning in front of our eyes. Instead, we ask irrelevant questions, and insist on reducing the mystery and knowledge to something so narrow and limited that scientists and thinking people must struggle for years to break the bonds of dogmatic ignorance.

[@pauldumbrell4039]

Articulated with refulgent eloquence: very beautifully put. The human brain is a very imperfect organ for navigating the world, for the most part: however, as you say, some of the more rational of our imperfect primate species take poetic leaps of understanding that emancipate some of us from the myth, casuistry and self-interested dogmas that permeate the world.

[@FlyJohnny100]

I admire your vocabulary....thanks for the discussion.

[@RSCL_BEATZ]

Paul Dumbrell Articulated with refulgent eloquence: too bad you couldn't put those 50 cents words to good use.

[@jamestiburon443]

That was a great statement about belief in God. WELL DONE

[@hugoschkiglitz]

If you pay close enough attention to the debate you will notice the passive-aggressiveness of the David as he grows increasingly frustrated of getting smacked and desperate to find a win. But he masks it with subtle insults that sound friendly and funny 😂 Christopher Hitchens was arguing for a logical approach and remained calm and stoic, David was arguing to keep is congregation and was emotional and animated in sorts.

[@LocomotiveComp]

Can someone tell me what book Hitch is referencing at 1:05:30? Why did the heavens not darken?

[@ghettofreeze]

Google is your friend.

[@LocomotiveComp]

@@ghettofreezethanks, asshole!

[@davidharrison441]

A great debate

[@scottnunnemaker5209]

North Korea worships 3 different members of the Kim family, both alive and dead. But just because they worship a “god-king” doesn’t mean it’s not religious.

[@scottnunnemaker5209]

Instead of praying, they should have fought, like the passengers in the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania are supposed to have done. Fight for your life or at the very least to prevent additional loss of life. To cower and pray is to give up.

[@chrislarard9736]

Wolpe is great &a pleasure to listen to & then he came up against Hitchens!

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

How Rabbi Wolpe thinks following orders from a Big Boss constitutes "morality" beats me. Like totally, hunh? Servility, not morality, is the word he's looking for.

[@itnotwm]

I think Wolpe was always one of Hitchens' more worthy opponents. A far cry from the raving lunatics he ran through on a daily basis, anyway.

[@vinny142]

The fun thing about Wolpe is that he insists that god exists and we must follow gods rule, but also that we can make up our own minds and go against god by simply interpreting god's words slightly differently. At 34:00 This becomes very clear when he insists that Moses wrote the second set of commandments; thee is a partnership between man and god. It sounds so lovely but what it means is that the clergy put themselves on the same level as god and the line between what god commands and what MORTAL MEN command is gone. He's now literally saying that you have to follow what priests say because their word is as god's word is. Religion *IS* man made, and Wolpe just demonstrated it once again. Men putting themselves at the same level as a god and insisting they are equals just shows that it's man-made, by men who want power.

[@sortdane]

I was born in Denmark and the rabbi has a point on just that. From an atheist-

[@Subsandsoda]

Ever heard rabbi Boteach? now HE's loud

[@coreygraham860]

Oh, man. I'm only 5 minutes into this, and I know this Rabbi's in for a major hitchslapping. I almost feel sorry for the guy.

[@sarahblaquiere3121]

Religious believers seem incredibly disingenuous when they say that it was religion that inspired every good thing humans have ever done and that all evils have come from purely human proclivities - how do they tell the difference? Power has always claimed divine right - it would surely be better to disclaim any such authority and embrace the genuine humility (as opposed to the abjection and self-abnegation demanded by religious dogma) of being "mere animals", which we actually are.

[@lauriethomasmd3760]

Wolpe is the best opponent of Hitchens. His intellectual, gracious, and humorous equal.

[@rabsputin]

did anybody notice how wolpe likes to shout?

[@greyeyed123]

Actually, Wolpe is wrong in my case in terms of a new kid coming to the school. I remember several instances where not only I, but many fellow children welcomed an outsider. Sometimes the more "outside" the outsider was, the MORE they were welcomed, as the culture of our school understood what it was like to be an outsider--and yet, we also all knew what it meant to be a kid.

[@pascallacourneuve9673]

The Rabbi doesn't seem to know his history. The christian religion didn't' take off because it convince the Romans in a "romantic" way but because, for strategic and political reasons, the Emperor Constantin decided to convert himself -and therefore his whole empire- to christianity. If he didn't Christianity would have probably be forgotten...

[@longwarn]

"why should i leave that tip for the maid if all I am is a bunch of chromosomes?" These overly religious people are saying that without faith in God which cannot be proven, they'd have no incentive to be polite and serviceable to their fellow human beings. I leave tips, and I'm not bound by God. I'm bound by knowing that any maid or waitress needs those tips to live and it makes me feel good as a person to be polite and caring. There's nothing divine about that.

[@scottnunnemaker5209]

The argument about fine tuning of the universe is ridiculous. If they universe had been a point different anywhere, the universe would still exist, we just wouldn’t be here. Some other form of intelligent life might pop up in that universe though and they would look at the numbers for that universe and think “wow aren’t we happy the universe is fine tuned to us” 99% of the universe is deadly to humans. How is that a universe fine tuned for human life?

[@diogenesdescendant]

The dear rabbi do not seem to know what he is talking about when it comes to Scandinavian countries. Of the hundreds if not thousands of people I know here, only a handful believe in a god, and less still ever goes to church or other houses of worship. Atheism is the norm and the default assumption of any one you meet here.

[@secretchordstudio]

diogenesdescendant he knows nothing, im norwegian and as children we ajourn to solidarity and common sense; the religious are in the shadows most very weak people and secluded cultish communities, norwegian common «religion» is Nature, not a pagan just merely Nature, hiking, drinking from mountain rivers, etc no supernatural rulership,,,

[@weavethehawk]

This Rabbi probably thinks he can convince us by the sheer volume of his voice. Although very articulate, also very unconvincing.

[@Subsandsoda]

I kinda feel for what you're saying, but whenever he would've died would've been too soon. And yeah, I don't think he'd want you to say that, no matter how well intended it is :) Let him live on in your thoughts and through his writings.

[@sarahblaquiere3121]

If religion is dictated by a god or gods, how do humans discern what is "good" or "terrible" religion? What authority do mere humans have to contradict the supposed dictates of any deity?

[@cburns3256]

Religion is comfort.

[@victoke]

watched

[@benhartart9487]

Reality comes from there being nothing, if there wasn’t nothing, we could not exist. Life is on, Death is off. It’s not hard to see this.

[@rabsputin]

yeah i'm sure i saw a debate he was in a while back. maybe these guys feel that they have to shout the loudest in order to be believed, something which says a lot about what convinces the religious that something is true.

[@JeffWells-cw2sw]

At 50 minutes, Hitch said red dwarf when he really meant red giant.

[@RikerLovesWorf]

25:55 Thank god he challenged them on this. South Korea's largest demographic by FAR is atheists and agnostics. I lived there three years, I speak the language and I still use it to talk to people online to this day - anyone who says SK is a Christian democracy is ignorant or a liar.

[@beastemeauxde7029]

If this whole thing is so highly improbable, it BEGS the question: (this is a statistic) a small fraction times X to the nth, out of how many opportunities for it to happen? ...infinity. A tiny fraction out of infinity is almost definite.

[@mariadelpilar1590]

The Holy Roman Empire became the Holy Roman Catholic Church under Emperor Constantine who saw a cross in the sky and heard the voice of "God" say, "Under this sign you shall conquer."

[@eaglepriest]

It must be very intimidating to argue with hitchens, but the rabbi does a nice job, at least rhetorically. One of the best hitchens vs anybody debates. Too bad the debate did not delve into judaism in more depth because it seems that the arguments were least generic in that direction.

[@zuiderzee9141]

01:09:30 Oh, David.......... you've never actually been to Sweden or Denmark have you?

[@MrTomte09]

As a Swede it fucking enfuriates me that he is able to utter such falsehoods

[@kwj171068]

He is religious.He has bought the lie so, lying isn't a big deal to him anything to promote the fairy tale.

[@oldmanfromscenetwentyfour8164]

Like most religious folk, they pull their truths or facts out of their asses. Look at the "facts" Pat Robertson comes up with and spews them on national television every week. It does show the straw grabbing, the desperation religious leaders are going through to hold onto their power (and finances). They'll do and say anything at this point.

[@Ashoerchen]

If you look at how "caring" the most religious society in the western world - that is, the U.S. - is, and how well its "social fabric" works, you immediately understand that the last thing you want to have is a society whose values are based on religion.

[@LucyFre]

Great intellect...We miss you😢.

[@SarcasticSnake64]

Dude I think I might be able to make your day.

[@lightningplasma]

thumbs up if christopher helped you to emancipate yourself from these fairy tales!

[@qbarnes1893]

The imagination of any religion is based upon our own beliefs. NO ONE can prove. Any God, no one can disprove it either. WHO gives the right to force ANYONE to believe in any faith? Who has the right to tell ANYONE how to think? Being objective and attempting to understand our humble beginnings isn’t and has not anything to do with ANY religion.

[@carryall69]

what i never understood about this free will vs. determinism argument, isn't god supposed to be omniscient? isn't that synonymous with a determinist setting?

[@busyjaymz]

Sounds like you understood it to me.

[@carryall69]

well, well..

[@carolynboyce1831]

carryall69 God can choose to give whatever He wants free will. Some join the dark side for cookies. Some try to be wholesome. One sounds more fun.

[@carryall69]

Carolyn Boyce the cookies part sounds compelling..

[@openminded5243]

Just listening only to David Wolpe's opening comments (without even getting to Hitchens). I believe my understanding holds true and the more I read and listen to commentaries and debates, I'm further convinced of my position.I can't prove that a god or prime mover doesn't exist, and there just may be a god, but I'm more and more convinced that it's not the god of a stone-age medieval people from the middle-east.

[@bellow_musicalpoetry]

replace 'child of god' with 'living being' and you have the answer to why we should respect one another. the rabbi fails.

[@scottnunnemaker5209]

You can’t blame religion for violence? But I thought god created everything? And he interviews in human lives all the time in the Bible, so he could stop violence at any point if he wanted, but chooses not to. So either he’s cruel or doesn’t exist, you choose.

[@oscarmudd6579]

Whether you know about the value of cephid variables or not, the Andromeda galaxy is two and a half light years away and if it was traveling at the speed of light, which it is not, it would take two and a half million years to get here, so why be afraid?

[@tommym321]

Straw manning the atheist argument. Always the number one technique of the religious. Because of course.

[@longwarn]

I haven't done any research on it, but my suspicion is, despite Denmark having an abundance of Christians, the government there is secular, which is why they are doing so well. Again, just guessing. If I'm wrong about this, I apologize.

[@tyleranyways]

31:56 38:10 39:30 47:00 49:55 57:45

[@Resenbrink]

Wolpe talks about he wants to be true, not the truth.

[@tommym321]

35:15 “I didn’t make this up.” No, someone else before you made it up, obviously.

[@gregorygarcia6542]

If any Christian or Jew or Muslim is moderate it is in spite of their holy books not because of them.