If there were any doubts about writer and general provocateur Christopher Hitchens ability to pull a crowd, they were entirely dispelled by the sold-out opening night of the first ever Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Presented by the Sydney Opera House and the St James Ethics Centre, the Festival brought together some of the more controversial thinkers from Australia and around the world. Hitchens’s keynote address, followed by a discussion with our own Tony Jones, was an expansion on his bestselling, “God is Not Great: Religion Poisons Everything”. Hitchens was at his polemical best, delivering a beautifully constructed speech supporting his argument that religion is not only completely implausible, but often actively destructive. Christopher Hitchens’s other books include “Letters to a Young Contrarian”, “Why Orwell Matters” and “The Missionary Position: Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice.” He also writes a regular column in “Vanity Fair”.
On March 10, 2010, In Uncategorized, by admin
If there were any doubts about writer and general provocateur Christopher Hitchens ability to pull a crowd, they were entirely dispelled by the sold-out opening night of the first ever Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Presented by the Sydney Opera House and the St James Ethics Centre, the Festival brought together some of the more controversial [...]
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There is very little that I think should be compulsory, this comes close. Hitchens 1:11
‘In view? of the persistent failure of depts of Islamic Studies to objectively study the origins of Islam, a group of scholars working has founded a private association called INÂRAH (Arabic, enlightenment) ‘
reasonproject . org/secular_islam/
Great video, enjoyed it a lot. Thanks
please, let him know you found it…
So $312.24 just to get in the door. Why should we fall for the tactics of such greedy bastards. We are already skeptics, and most likely Atheists as well so what can they tell us at TAM that we don’t already know. Randi is a magician who can spot a SUCKER from alllllllll the way across the ocean and make the fool empty his wallet into his bank account.
While being suckered in to watch Rebecca getting married may have been worth it for some attendees, it was not so for ME!
Don’t give me that bullshit. It’s not Randi or the JREF who do those things with the outrageous money they scam from us atheist SUCKERS at TAM! The FFRF are the ones who sue or threaten to sue over the separation of church and State, and they aren’t the LEECHES that the JREF are!
The 2009 TAM in London cost £175 to attend plus £25 for the Saturday night event, for a total of £200 Google just said that 200 British pounds = 312.24 U.S. dollars. A Dog & pony show. A Big Top for SUCKERS!
Atheists don’t outright DENY the existence of “God”. If just ONE miricle or other proof of “God” were demonstrated, most atheists would become believers right then and there. Atheism is an ABSENCE of belief pending proof. It’s a very simple and open-mided concept.
I’ve read Hitchens’ religion book, understand his anti-theism position, and have passing knowledge of Classical Greek. The etymology of the word doesn’t point one way or the other. “Atheism”, like any word in any language, is defined by anyone and everyone who uses it. If some of those speakers possess a religious bias and wish to define it as something logically untenable (e.g. the assertion that there is definitely no god), that’s unfortunate, but it still shades the word’s meaning.
@rtarbinar – I would say the positive comments show that no Christians have made it to the last video (this one). It is very hard for people with such fragile beliefs to wonder into a place with such truthful and hard-hitting facts. The fundamentalists of the U.S. are getting desperate and they convince themselves that they are the moral majority. But I know far more “Christians” who don’t believe the bible but do try and live a good “Christian” life than “Christians” who push creationism.
@unserviam – Atheists generally use money from atheist events to fund attorneys to remove the church from government in the U.S. Right now we are actively pursuing the removal of “In God we t+Trust” from money, “one nation under God” from the pledge of allegiance, and religios symbolism from government property. We atheists believe that our founding fathers were very specific and very correct in their insistence that we keep religion out of government.
@FrankSlade1983 – Hitchens was most likely referring to George Bush with the ‘eyes too close together’ remark…
@sehnsucht333 – Hitchens is a self-proclaimed “anti-theist”. He describes this as not only a non-belief in “God” but belief that if “God” did exist, it would be a horrible thing. I tend to agree.
Atheism cannot be defined by institutions which posess religious bias. If you want to know the definition of “atheism” try wikipedia or ask an atheist. You will find that the definition is an ABSENCE of belief in any deity. The term atheism originated from the Greek atheos, meaning “without gods”.
@William00048 – the burden of proof lies on those who assert there IS a god. The way you prove something does NOT exist is by lack of any evidence that it does. So until proof of existence is demonstrated, “God” does NOT exist.
Although it could. And so could fairies and unicorns. But it is very very unlikely that “God” or fairies or unicorns do exist outside the realm of human imagination.
I am not sure we will ever prove that there is no god.
However, more and more we are able to prove things stated in the holy books are demonstrably false.
Correction…I would agree that my “atheism” is more of a lack of belief in God than an “active” disbelief, but this is technically agnosticism. Dawkins’ The God Delusion has a very interesting section about this called “the poverty of agnosticism,” which convinced me to start calling myself an atheist even if I’m technically a very strong agnostic.
Merriam-Webster’s defines atheism as “a disbelief in the existence of deity” and “disbelief” as “mental rejection of something as untrue.”
I’m aware of the many specialized, philosophical distinctions between “strong” and “weak” atheism, and that most sophisticated atheists would agree more with your definition (I do, but I think it’s synonymous with agnosticism) but both Hitchens and the host are using the word as it’s understood by the vast majority of the population.
his definition of atheism is incorrect. Atheist is not belief that there is no god, it is the lack of belief that there is a god. Hitchens should have corrected him because that is a classic strawman argument.
temple pond
the monkeys reflection
stares at me
@FrankSlade1983 I think he was trying an american accent
@FrankSlade1983 Ray comfort is from new zealand. He was referring to inbred american religious hicks.
lol yeah his attempt at the Australian accent was funny….but who was he referring to with the ‘eyes too close together’ remark and the accent? Ray Comfort? (the banana man)…or maybe Ken Ham? Both are Australian evangelical nut jobs…or maybe someone else? Any idea?
what is believing in “anything” based on? I’ll tell you….it’s based upon what you have deemed in your mind as truth. well then what is truth?truth is what is. that’s it. truth is merely and wholly just that, it just IS. look at a lie-what is it? it isnt what is! the word IS states that the thing exist verses does’nt exist! so make sure what you BELIEVE in actually IS or suffer the consequences of your own ignorance!
It costs in the hundreds range to get in, and many people have to travel, and rent rooms in the area so it can be expensive. I know of several people who flew from New Zealand to the USA to attend one and then flew back. They like many skeptics seem to have more money than brains. Randi is a cool guy, but the people who attend TAM are already skeptics so who exactly among them is he saving?? Randi is playing the TAM going suckers for the cash! He’s the smart one, & TAM goers are Dupes & Dopes!
wow, does it really cost that much to go to TAM??? i don’t even know that much about it.
i do admit, the price would have to be pretty low for me to want to go, especially considering that excruciating “million dollar challenge” i saw with the dowser…thank goodness for youtube and fast-forward!
but still, though i don’t know much about him, i think randi’s a cool guy! it seems like he’s trying to prevent people from getting conned by psychics and various charlatans…
It is apparent that people like to cohere around principles, and to that extent there is not much difference between the two groups. I would have thought however that Atheists, Freethinkers, and Rationalists would be more likely to understand the primal urge, and resist paying out hundreds or even thousands of dollars just to attend a gathering of the tribe at the con-job known as TAM. Randi is a Magician who makes money disappear from the wallets of ostensibly intelligent morons!