[BITList] great debate

[CT's]


    great debate last night on telly here..........................maybe you have already seen it, it was new to me.

              hitchins was brilliant – what on orator...............
              blair was all arm waving and no orator.

              ct

      Christopher Hitchens 1-0 Tony Blair
      Staunch atheist wins over audience in debate with Catholic convert over whether religion is a force for good in the world

          a.. Former British prime minister Tony Blair (left) and author Christopher Hitchens before their debate on religion. Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters 
      In theory it was not an event that should have created a stir: a philosophical debate on the moral merits of religion. In an age of reality TV drama and Hollywood blockbusters loaded with special effects it would seem hard to get the masses to flock to witness such an old-fashioned, high-brow spectacle.

      But when the two debaters are the world's most famous recent Roman Catholic convert in the shape of Tony Blair and the charismatic yet cancer-stricken sceptic Christopher Hitchens suddenly it becomes easier to sell tickets.

      Two thousand seven hundred tickets to be precise. For that was the size of the crowd that packed the space age-looking Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto late last night to watch the two ideological foes – when it comes to religion – spar and trade verbal blows.

      The occasion was part of the Munk Debate series, organised by the Aurea Foundation group, and the motion was simply: "Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world".
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