Hitchens vs. Blackwell on MSNBC
Christopher Hitchens and Fred Blackwell of the Family Research Council squared off on MSNBC’s Hardball recently, tackling the question of America’s “Christian Nation” status.
The debate was in reference to the recent Newsweek article about religion in America called “The End of Christian America.” Both men were brought in to debate two points: Is America a Christian nation? and is religion suffering in today’s America.
One thing is once again clear from this video: Never go into a debate with Christopher Hitchens unless you can match his personality. You will not beat him with words, even if you are right. He’s just too good. So when you sit there and laugh and smile the whole time like you are humoring a child, you end up looking like an idiot. You hear me Mr. Blackwell?
Anyway, here is the video of the discussion.
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Now, this is a topic I’ve talked about at length before. From looking at the facts, it is crystal clear that the United States is not now, nor was it ever, a Christian nation. The foundation of this country may have been influenced by Christianity, just as it was by many other beliefs, and it was certainly influenced by religion. But influenced by religion does not by definition make it Christian.
It’s good to see this being debated on a main stage. The sooner people stop believing in fairy tales and myths about this country, the sooner we can learn from past history and make it better. Jefferson, Washington and Franklin would laugh in your face if you tried to tell them that they created a Christian nation. It’s just not true, and seeing men like Mr. Blackwell chuckle to themselves when presented with facts is pathetic. Well done, once again, Mr. Hitchens.
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Hitchens is just dead wrong and gives a bad name to the faithless, he in short is a violent neo-con though I don’t know if there is any other kind of neo-con.
As far as the topic of the U.S being a Christian nation or not… Well if anything is certain the U.S was founded on Liberty whether some of the founding fathers formed their basis for liberty from Jesus or not is mixed. Jefferson by my definition is a Christian since he formed his morality from Jesus.
I don’t believe you have to believe in magic powers to try follow in Jesus.
I like Hitchins despite neo-con leanings. His refusal to instantly adopt the “atheist” party line is refreshing in this age of conformity and uniformity. We should say that we are a primarily Christian citizenry but not a Christian government in any sense. Religion (or the religious spirit) guides without controlling. We will inevitably have clashes over the interaction of church and state.