Sharpton / Hitchens Debate - Can Morality Exist Without God?

derek24hudson Says:

Nov 15, 2009 - @Ralphy. I don't know what you mean by saying Hitchens is 'above' religion. Above? Religion? Am I 'above' fairies because I don't believe in their existence? Whether Hitchens is making more or less than a TV evangelist has no bearing on the veracity of his case. By your logic, a highly paid TV vicar espousing basic christian doctrine must be wrong. Please resond to his arguments. That would be more interesting and productive.

gragona Says:

Nov 17, 2009 - I was thinking the exact same thing, but you said it before me so... *high five!* :D

gragona Says:

Nov 17, 2009 - All Sharpton heard was, "Blah Blee Blah Boooo, I hate you because you're black, *Good Times theme song*."

mrcarlos15 Says:

Nov 18, 2009 - Al Sharpton sounded like a complete buffoon.

rjpimprov Says:

Nov 18, 2009 - will hitchens ever get someone smart enough to debate him based on knowledge of history, literature, politics, etc. geez.

JadeChaos Says:

Nov 18, 2009 - I laughed so hard at your comment. Nice.

lSy1x Says:

Nov 18, 2009 - lmao who is this black moron?

oxymomo Says:

Nov 18, 2009 - Ha ha. Hitchens quotes Dostoyevsky and Sharpton tilts his head, like, "Wha...? Who?"

robi2000 Says:

Nov 19, 2009 - The whole time watching this i just saw Al sitting on some backwoods porch in the country in his rocking chair comfortable in his simple beliefs

sonicwingnut Says:

Nov 19, 2009 - The belief that religion dictates morality is simply getting the cart before the horse. It's obvious from all the evidence that morality and ethics are dictated by sociological philosophical and political factors. Religious morality is merely a way to either simplify the reasons for such ethical developments to ensure obedience or to more insidiously replace said social norms with the agenda of those who are in power. Morally speaking, religion is at best an unnecessarily corruptible middle man.

Devofone Says:

Nov 19, 2009 - This guys a tit I could out debate him using the same tired old rhetoric that you can get from any funamentalist christian site and easily refuted by a 2 minute search on ironchariots.wiki. Hitchens looks bored out of his skull and cant blame the guy this is nothing on the level of a real debate watch the intellegence squared for a proper converse.

billy2bob Says:

Nov 20, 2009 - My how Hitchen just rambles on, talking about everything so remotely tangential to the question asked.

sicksun Says:

Nov 20, 2009 - Al Sharpton is GREAT as a political figure, it Is difficult to argue morality based on God because it's a foolish notion. In some communities the church has helped get dis-empowered people to power... so he has the church. Still, watch his 2004 speech at the Democratic convention. In the context of all the other speakers... he was incredible! But yeah, I mean... some of the most moral, caring, selfless people in the world are atheists...and intelligent.

inspiredartist2391 Says:

Nov 21, 2009 - Alister McGrath seemed to give him a run for his money after the debate got going. Check it out and see what you think if you haven't already.

pokerstaaars Says:

Nov 21, 2009 - lol hitchens isn't even looking at him at the start, picking his ear.. class act

Gautamiyer2 Says:

Nov 22, 2009 - I don't think there's a more well-spoken individual than Hitchens.

mrplow8 Says:

Nov 22, 2009 - Sharpton completely missed Hitchens' point. He didn't say that there were no evil atheists. What he said was that good people do good things, and bad people do bad things, but religion makes good people do bad things.

53dumey Says:

Nov 23, 2009 - WAIT .................? WTF ? Hitchens talks Morality and then makes a statement Like THAT ? About STALIN ? I always thought Hitchens had a loose screw, but I never thought he'd throw in with the likes of Stalin ! Hitchens IS Phsycotic, Douche-Bag !

limeinthekwokwonut Says:

Nov 23, 2009 - explain? i think you just heard what you wanted to hear because he didn't say anything like that

busaj Says:

Nov 23, 2009 - You know what I think the basic difference is between a person who believes that morality can exist without God and those who don't believe this premise? I believe that it is either fear of others actions without consequence, or their own deep seated desires for which they deny themselves and are they themselves yet again fearful of.

babsaloops Says:

Nov 24, 2009 - im sorry but even as an athiest i cant help but be disgusted by how smug hitchens looks ...arrogant twat

53dumey Says:

Nov 24, 2009 - Listen from 7:40 - 8:40 ! Theres NO coming back from That !

Ballslaw Says:

Nov 25, 2009 - He said "if you WERE Stalin", meaning if you were identical to stalin, his desires, his motives, his morals, his situation, THEN you would choose to use the indoctrinated people to your advantage. He isn't saying "if i had the same opportunity as Stalin". Stop jumping to conclusions.

intermender Says:

Nov 26, 2009 - Thats not an atheist viewpoint, its just an personal opinion of aesthetics. What you like looking at is nothing to do with atheism, so why mention it?

intermender Says:

Nov 26, 2009 - His example was that both theists and atheists can be immoral and that if one succeeds another, he will take advantage of any immoral infrastructure: the self-proclaimed theist (Czar) used religious totalitarianism in his empire, and the succeeding atheist (Stalin) found it convenient to model his dictatorship on the same totalitarianism. But the underlying point is religion provides the totallitarian model in both cases that is most condusive to immorality, regardless of theistic stance,