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Al Sharpton/Christopher Hitchens Debate

Can Morality Exist Without God?

  • Drue
  • posted by Drue
  • Date 7/22/2008 9:12:31 PM
  • Views: 2392
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15 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

generic_imitation : LVL 33: VP 4.2: said:

generic_imitation

30 votes NegativePositive

136 days 22 hours ago...

Al Sharpton is an idiot for 1. Why does his small mind get to debate on this subject? He looks at himself as being super important, but what has he done? nothing.

exploder : LVL 48: VP 5: said:

exploder

18 votes NegativePositive

136 days 22 hours ago...

Sharpton is a scary guy. The only basis of moriality he seems to be able to imagine is authority. Especially if it`s him? Fuck that. Intelligence does much better, thanks. If you can`t figure out with your own mind exactly why you shouldn`t be a dickhead - why you must be compassionate, then you`re either spending too much time in a bad Church, or watching too much TV (esp. Fox), or following the facists (of whatever era). The rest of us, all kinds, get it figured out just fine thanks.

Sharpton "So you do not believe in your long and thorhough research of history that ateists ever did anything evil, only religious people ..."

Yeah, fer sure, of course no atheist has ever done anything evil ever never ever, duh. If Hitchens hadn`t pulled a punch here, Sharpton would have got two balck eyes... oh wait...

mantis11987 : LVL 35: VP 4.3: said:

mantis11987

Hidden (Show Comment) -26 votes

136 days 22 hours ago...

so Al Sharpton completely missed Hitchens points.... stupid nig... fuck al sharpton

exploder : LVL 48: VP 5: said:

exploder

21 votes NegativePositive

136 days 21 hours ago...

^ loser racist. You think there`s no retarded pig fucking buck toofed honkeys around?

I agree that almost everything Hitchen`s said seemed 10 leagues over Sharpton`s head, and it`s pathetic (fuck, Hitchens got paid so whatever, it`s a circus). But if your best comeback is "nigger", then you`re below the person you`re failing to insult.

Thorno : LVL 38: VP 4.6: said:

Thorno

17 votes NegativePositive

136 days 21 hours ago...

Sharpton lost the debate before it even started -
Hitchens is LIGHT YEARS ahead of him!

Crompee : LVL 22: VP 3.1: said:

Crompee

11 votes NegativePositive

136 days 21 hours ago...

Al Sharpton`s argument that without a `supreme authority` (i.e. God) we as a society have nothing to base our morality on and morality would not exist is inherently flawed as in even recent years our own personal morality goes against religious morality and is winning.
A few examples:
1. Womens rights, the worst opponent to women rights were from the religious side and yet our own morality overruled it.
2. Homosexuals, again our own morality says that its alright and has won again.

Rhaaaaa : LVL 38: VP 4.6: said:

Rhaaaaa

-5 votes NegativePositive

136 days 20 hours ago...

Well i was waiting at 1:48 for the "I dont listen to hip-hop" answer...would be way way faster

stbasdf : LVL 37: VP 4.5: said:

stbasdf

11 votes NegativePositive

136 days 20 hours ago...

to me sharpton came off as rude when he told hitchens to look at him after his initial statement. maybe he was offended by the lack of eye contact, but who said he had to look at him. i woudln`t want to stare at his face for 9 minutes.

i think he`s also personally offended since he`s a minister, and hitchens promotes an anti-religious view. i don`t see why he should be offended if someone tries to spread a different perspective, especially if his own job was to preach to the masses. but then again, clergy probably hate clergy from other religions, and probably hate people who try to convince others to go without religion altogether

totalGORE : LVL 2: VP 1.1: said:

totalGORE

7 votes NegativePositive

136 days 18 hours ago...

i hate when religious people want respect and constant attention to their points of view yet when they listen to the other side of it, they don`t want to hear it. it`s like they`re doing it just to get their side of the story out there. even if i did believe in some kind of god i surely would steer very far away from any type of religion.

zaiyar : LVL 35: VP 4.3: said:

zaiyar

4 votes NegativePositive

136 days 16 hours ago...

Right = What works
Wrong = What doesn`t work

Does doing whatever you want work at any time? No, as social beings we have learned to rely on one another for our living and general survival, so it would not work to act in a manner that is against others because we would be basically creating our own downfall. And seriously, why be a dick?

Dave Says : LVL 37: VP 4.5: said:

Dave Says

4 votes NegativePositive

136 days 10 hours ago...

i have the full debate posted here its an hour and a half long

http://spikedhumor.com/articles/135471/Al-Sharpton-and-Christopher-

Hitchens.html

beef n broccoli : LVL 30: VP 3.9: said:

beef n broccoli

1 votes NegativePositive

135 days 19 hours ago...

I think there are two points to Al Sharptons argument here which he gets wrong on both counts, miserabley.

First, he implies that not what is moral, but the very system as to which morality is judged needs to governed via a greater being. He says if there was no figure then "everything would be moral", implying that without this figure life would be essentially be a game with no ref. This is wrong, i think that the natural order of things makes for a fine self-judgemental system. The very feeling of "guilt" is an example; i do something I KNOW is wrong, and my mind is consumed with guilt. These feelings expire with time but find a place in my memory to serve as a reminder not to re-offend. At least my self-judgement doesn`t conclude that I am condemned to eternal hellfire which would serve no purpose in self realisation and improvement.

Secondley, he implies that what IS moral comes from God, undeniabley implemented in religion. This is disposed easily. How is it that we adhere to thout shall not steal, yet we bin the permission to hold slaves? you can beat them, but be sure not to kill them as that would be going too far.


I don`t think anyone can agrue the existance or none existance of God without dispute, but what is a tautology or fact is that the arguing in the cae for religion creating morality is suicidial.

P.S watched the whole video, Al Sharpton is cringe worthy in his lack of defence for christianity; he comes out of this debate sounding more like a peagan than a reverend

Omeko : LVL 39: VP 4.7: said:

Omeko

-7 votes NegativePositive

134 days 16 hours ago...

THERE IS NO GOD YOU DUMB SEPPO COCKSUCKERS!

BuddyWhatsHisName : LVL 11: VP 2: said:

BuddyWhatsHisName

3 votes NegativePositive

134 days 15 hours ago...

I`ve studied the bible, and the rules in there were supposed to instill order to social groups, but not necessarily to create morals. Inherently, social groups will take what is pleasing amongst most individuals of the group and say "this is what is accepted as a whole". Social groups (tribes, etc.) will usually work together to enforce this so everyone stays happy (hence killing someone being frowned upon for the most part [sorry to disappoint some of you ;)]).

Example: Same sex couples were frowned upon by a huge percent of the population (the general public) until recent years. As the tolerance grew, so did the number of same sex couples. There is enough of them now to upset the order of things socially to the extent that laws become changed, and for some, morals get shifted. Other tolerances include the bikini evolution over the years, and so on.

LesClaypool4:20 : LVL 6: VP 1.5: said:

LesClaypool4:20

2 votes NegativePositive

134 days 15 hours ago...

@beef n broccoli

I don`t disagree with the message you`re trying to convey, but i just wanted to point out that your feeling of guilt, believe it or not, doesn`t necessarily come from some unexplained feeling inside of you, but from a series of ideas and morals passed on to you from the people who came before you. These were taught to you by your your parents and society around you.

If, for example, we all lived in world where slavery was never abolished, and we still treated people the way we did before we realized that what we were doing was wrong, than would you know it was wrong? Eventually, perhaps, but the fact remains that we learn from our mistakes, and to place the idea that God taught us to believe certain things are right and some are wrong is a complete denial of our history as an intelligent species.

BTW, Sharpton got the proverbial bitchslap.

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