Yet Another Debate

It’s just like waiting for the proverbial London bus – you stand around for ages and ages, and then three of them come along at once. Here’s another debate about religion… This time between Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and AC Grayling versus Rabbi Julia Neuberger, Professor Roger Scruton and Nigel Spivey. The podcasts can be downloaded here.

 

The trouble is that every speaker is like a blind man confronted with the elephant – they all define it in their own way, so they mostly talk past each other. There are some good riffs – Hitchens’ introduction is excellent, and Spivey’s in its own way is pretty good, but he did seem (to me) to confuse religion with creativity, and religion with patronage. Thankfully, Dawkins pointed out the latter confusion. I’m still listening so haven’t heard all the arguments, but it’s good stuff thus far…

 

Update: I was not impressed at all by Neuberger or Scruton. If this is the best that those who believe that religion is a good thing, then the result that the motion that "we’d all be better off without religion" was carried does not surprise me one bit. 

 

For: 1,205

Against: 778

 

The motion is carried.