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TechnoratiPeople in the past, he said, prayed when someone fell sick because they were ignorant and didn’t know better. But later healthcare improved when scientists and doctors learned about germs and disease.
It is the same for astronomy, the atheist scholar argued. Christians assumed too early what the true map of the universe looked like, he said.
Hitchens also said during the debate he is glad there is no Christian god because if there was, humans would be supervised by god from the moment they are born until they die and even beyond and can be “convicted” of “thought crimes.”
“It is the working definition of unfreedom,” Hitchens complained. “And so it is a great relief to me to think that I don’t have a big brother who is determined to dominate my life from dawn to dusk.”
Wilson quipped he is willing to be “brother-less,” but not “fatherless” explaining to him God is a heavenly father not merely a brother.
Another criticism of Hitchens concerned the foundational teaching of Christianity – salvation through Jesus Christ. The fervent atheist claims the teaching “robs” humans of responsibility for their sin by teaching them that they can throw their wrongdoings on someone else, a scapegoat, and be forgiven. Hitchens argues that is an immoral theology.
Wilson did not have time to respond to Hitchens’ accusation that salvation as taught in Christianity is immoral. The two scholars were participating in a debate hosted by CBN focused on the question “Is Christianity Good for the World?” Hitchens and Wilson co-authored a book together – released in this past September —that carries the same title and will be featured in a film to be released in March 2009.
Hitchens was not raised in a religious home, but his father was raised in a “strict” Baptist Calvinist home. His mother is a non-practicing Jew.
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