It is kind of so many to ask His Grace to comment on the outcome of the Munk Debate: 'Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world'.
It is reported that devout atheist Christopher Hitchens trashed the devout Roman Catholic Tony Blair:
PRE-DEBATE
PRO: 22% CON:57%
UNDECIDED:21%
POST-DEBATE
PRO: 32% CON: 68%
Professor Richard Dawkins is positively orgasmic over this startling new evidence for the non-existence of God that he has commissioned himself to write another book and generously promised to donate all royalties to the ultra-enlightened Richard Dawkins Foundation.
The full debate is available HERE.
But His Grace would urge you not to waste your time.
This event was nothing to do with reasoned debate: it was about selling tickets to raise the profile of Munk's objective 'to debate major issues facing the world and Canada'.
'...the world and Canada'?
Is Canada not a part of the world?
Or is Munk so Canadacentric and in denial that the only way they think they can be heard is to invite a controversial politician to debate with a political controversialist?
The debate sold out and played to an audience of 2,600. Before it commenced, touts were selling tickets for up to five hundred Canadian dollars, which challenges Kylie's O2 mark-up for extortion.
But His Grace would just like to point out one very obvious thing which the media have hitherto ignored, perhaps out of sensitivity:
The pro-religion argument was put by a highly divisive politician accused of deceiving Parliament to support an illegal war and of complicity in war crimes. During the debate, demonstrators unveiled placards that read 'Arrest Blair' and 'War criminals not welcome here'. He is a recent convert to Roman Catholicism, now with his own Faith Foundation, having spent his entire political career undermining the cause of religion and the conscience concerns of his co-religionists.
The anti-religion argument was put by a man presently undergoing chemotherapy for oesophageal cancer, who has indicated that he may not have long to live.
No-one protested against his presence.
The man dying of cancer won.
As they say (somewhere), 'Go figure'.
