{"id":5298,"date":"2010-11-27T06:30:45","date_gmt":"2010-11-27T06:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/11\/blair-v-hitchens-who-won.html"},"modified":"2010-11-27T06:30:45","modified_gmt":"2010-11-27T06:30:45","slug":"blair-v-hitchens-who-won","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/11\/blair-v-hitchens-who-won.html","title":{"rendered":"Blair v. Hitchens: who won?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"_50177736_img_8294.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>
\nThe answer to that may depend on whom you ask — though an informal poll afterward evidently found Hitchens to be more persuasive.  <\/p>\n

The BBC was there and offers some highlights: <\/a><\/p>\n

\nIt felt like the event of the season.<\/p>\n

Organisers said tickets were selling for inflated prices, and the 2,700 seat Roy Thomson Hall in downtown Toronto was packed.<\/p>\n

The subject could not have been more weighty. “Be it resolved”, read the motion, “that religion is a force for good in the world.”<\/p>\n

In the blue corner (actually green, on the organiser’s website), the former prime minister and famous Catholic convert, whose foundation promotes “faith as a powerful force for good in the modern world.”<\/p>\n

In the red corner (yes, red), one of the intellectual world’s best known and frequently controversial atheists. This is the man who once called Mother Theresa a “bitch”. He’s also criticised Blair’s “sickly piety.”<\/p>\n

But anyone expecting verbal pugilism, or a blood-soaked gladitorial contest, with Tony Blair as the Christian thrown to the hungry atheist lion, might have walked out into Toronto’s chilly night a little disappointed.<\/p>\n

It’s not that the two men didn’t debate with conviction, but the format, with statements, rebuttals and carefully moderated questions, engendered politeness (this is Canada, after all) and somewhat stifled argument.<\/p>\n

And perhaps the lion is wounded. Christopher Hitchens is starting to look frail, in the throes of a cancer that he acknowledges will probably kill him.<\/p>\n

Tony Blair, by contrast, looks a picture of well-dressed health.<\/p>\n

But Mr Hitchens made his views on religion plain, with his familiar blend of learning and mordant wit.<\/p>\n

“Once you assume a creator and a plan, it makes us objects in a cruel experiment whereby we are created sick and commanded to be well,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And over us to supervise this is installed a celestial dictatorship. A kind of divine North Korea.”<\/p>\n

But he never rounded on Tony Blair, adopting a respectful tone even as he displayed his disdain for much of what he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Blair took it all in good humour, even if he looked and sounded a little exasperated at times.<\/p>\n

“Bigotry is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of religion,” he complained, striking a defensive note on several occasions.<\/p>\n

“I do not deny for a moment that religion can be a force for evil,” he said. “But I claim that where it is it is based essentially on a perversion of faith.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check out the rest. <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The answer to that may depend on whom you ask — though an informal poll afterward evidently found Hitchens to be more persuasive.  The BBC was there and offers some highlights: It felt like the event of the season. Organisers said tickets were selling for inflated prices, and the 2,700 seat Roy Thomson Hall in…<\/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-5298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-politicians","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nBlair v. Hitchens: who won? - The Deacon'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\/11\/blair-v-hitchens-who-won.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blair v. Hitchens: who won? - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The answer to that may depend on whom you ask — though an informal poll afterward evidently found Hitchens to be more persuasive.  The BBC was there and offers some highlights: It felt like the event of the season. 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