In case you hadn't heard, Christopher Hitchens has recently just released a new book, provocatively entitled 'God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything'. It looks to be a fantastically cracking good read, because love him or hate (and a lot of people do fall into both camps), he is a brilliant polemicist. His dry, sarcastic delivery is razor sharp, and he cracks me up - he once argued against sainthood for Mother Teresa, complaining that 'the old bitch got it anyway'. Gotta love it.
Of course, he's pretty controversial, having gone from a former Trotsyist to an unapologetic champion of the Iraq War. He continues to stress the danger from fundmentalism with the rather ridiculous and vacuous Daily Mail terminology of 'Islamofascism', whatever that means. And yet, whilst I disagree with him on a lot of issues, I admire his intellectual rigor and shear balls in the way he openly confronts those he disagrees with - his smack down on Sean Hannity for his complete intellectual ignorance about arguments for atheism, and his brutal eulogizing for Jerry Farwell ('a disgusting little toad' were his words I think) are a joy to watch :)
Anyway, heres a really interesting debate between him at Al Sharpton, which I highly recommend you check out. I'm also, incidentally, really rather impressed with the hosting site, Fora.tv - nice flash stand alone player, nice streaming, very professionally done - I'll be checking it out again for sure - I can see interviews with Henry Kissinger, debates on Buddha and 'New trends in Global Jihadi Terrors'. Heck, you can even download the programmes in Ipod format! woo hoo!
Anyway, as ever, let me know your thoughts!
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