{"id":5048,"date":"2010-10-12T16:03:05","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T16:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/10\/hitchens-and-blaire-to-debate.html"},"modified":"2010-10-12T16:03:05","modified_gmt":"2010-10-12T16:03:05","slug":"hitchens-and-blaire-to-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/10\/hitchens-and-blaire-to-debate.html","title":{"rendered":"Hitchens and Blair to debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/national\/hitchens-blair-to-debate-role-of-faith\/article1752752\/\">This should be interesting,<\/a> to say the least: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n<span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/hitchens-blair-m_937541cl-3-thumb-220x123-18411.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Thumbnail image for hitchens-blair-m_937541cl-3.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/212\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/hitchens-blair-m_937541cl-3-thumb-220x123-18411-thumb-220x123-18412.jpg\" width=\"220\" height=\"123\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0\" \/><\/a><\/span>One is a prominent atheist, the other a devout Roman Catholic. Both share mutual admiration for each other, but for a few hours next month, they will be adversaries, facing off over the contentious topic of religion.<\/p>\n<p>Renowned author and journalist Christopher Hitchens and former British prime minister Tony Blair will share a stage for the sixth semi-annual Munk Debates this November.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This debate is not about the existence of God,&#8221; says Rudyard Griffiths, co-director and moderator of the Munk Debates.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have asked Mr. Blair and Mr. Hitchens to wrestle with the more immediate question facing developed and developing nations: Is religion a force for peace or conflict in the modern world?&#8221; he explained.<\/p>\n<p>The official resolution, &#8220;Be it resolved, religion is a force of good for the world,&#8221; is close to the hearts of both debaters.<\/p>\n<p>Arguing for the resolution, Mr. Blair said: &#8220;Understanding religion and people of faith is an essential part of understanding our increasingly globalized world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The good that people of faith all over the world do every day, motivated by their religion, cannot be underestimated and should never be ignored. But there are a lot of misconceptions out there about religion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Challenging the myths that are born out of the actions and words of a controversial few is incredibly important,&#8221; added Mr. Blair, who has served as the Quartet&#8217;s special envoy to the Middle East, and recently released his bestselling memoir, &#8220;A Journey: My Political Life.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/national\/hitchens-blair-to-debate-role-of-faith\/article1752752\/\">Read on. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This should be interesting, to say the least: One is a prominent atheist, the other a devout Roman Catholic. Both share mutual admiration for each other, but for a few hours next month, they will be adversaries, facing off over the contentious topic of religion. Renowned author and journalist Christopher Hitchens and former British prime&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-politicians","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hitchens and Blair to debate - The Deacon&#039;s Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/10\/hitchens-and-blaire-to-debate.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hitchens and Blair to debate - The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This should be interesting, to say the least: One is a prominent atheist, the other a devout Roman Catholic. Both share mutual admiration for each other, but for a few hours next month, they will be adversaries, facing off over the contentious topic of religion. Renowned author and journalist Christopher Hitchens and former British prime&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/10\/hitchens-and-blaire-to-debate.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-12T16:03:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/10\/hitchens-blair-m_937541cl-3-thumb-220x123-18411-thumb-220x123-18412.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jmcgee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hitchens and Blair to debate - The Deacon&#039;s Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/10\/hitchens-and-blaire-to-debate.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hitchens and Blair to debate - The Deacon&#039;s Bench","og_description":"This should be interesting, to say the least: One is a prominent atheist, the other a devout Roman Catholic. 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