Bill Maher interviews Christoper Hitchens

before we get to Laettner show let's go to our satellite he's a contributing editor to Vanity Fair whose latest book is God is not great a religion poisons everything Christopher Hitchens Christopher Hitchens this is Michelle so just let me repeat the name of your book because I know you'll like that and of course gives me a thrill up my spine God is not great how religion poisons everything I've been saying that on television for 15 years I have a documentary movie coming out about it at the end of the year but in this country when you say things like that in a lot of places people just gasp why is America so far behind Europe for example on this issue oh and I do think it's true I think people just lie to the opinion polls try it stand in the center of any American town or city north or south on Sunday morning see if the place is 80% empty it's not there isn't enough room in the churches anyway but people are mowing the lawn and having a martini and if they're lucky sexual congress with the spouse or if it's a really good sunday for free they don't they tell the pollsters they believe in Satan more than they believe in Darwin's theory of evolution but they don't know anything about either and when they go to the hospital they ad as if they think Darwin is probably more likely to be right so I think it's hugely exaggerated everywhere I go I find that everyone who comes to the meeting thinks they're the only other atheists and they're amazed to find that everyone else is one too yeah I find the same thing I whereas if I was in Europe my country of birth in England the Queen is the head of the church as well as head of the state you have to pay for both when she dies her slobbering weak chin no fan of a son will be the head of the Church of England and he wants to convert to Islam in the mean time and this is what you get when you found a church on the family values of Henry the eighth and in Germany you have to pay a tithe to a church whether you want to or not we are very lucky in this country we have a better tradition we have Jefferson we have Thomas Paine we have the First Amendment we have the Jr statute on religious freedom with the only country in the world that says the state can't bat religion we should appreciate it more okay consider myself duly chastised I now you are debating religion around the country yet with various people and you had a little dust-up this week in New York with the Reverend Al Sharpton miss an Al got a little trouble because he said in response to something I guess you said to him you're talking about Mitt Romney who is the Mormon candidate for president and Al said as for the one Mormon running those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway now for a guy who's tried to bring so many other people down for inappropriate statements what do you make of that well did you always love it to see how the Christians love one another what are you boys really Christians this week finally we get a signature on a piece of paper that says in Northern Ireland they're going to officially stop killing each other for being the wrong kind of Christian right here up here up most of the misery inflicted by the parties of God is inflicted on other Muslims rival Muslims no no secularists would blow up a mosque but a Sunni fanatic will blow up a Shia mosque and vice versa without compunction al Sharpton I refused to go in Reverend anyway I don't think Reverend is a title of honor he's a Pentecostal a circle I've never heard him speak in tongues that I have heard in babble a lot and he wants to pick on a member of another crackpot sect which until 1965 which was my point until 1965 which is quite recent the Mormon Church was officially a racist organization it said that black people were of a different and inferior species it changed its tune it had a revelation to changes to you just in time for the passage of the Civil Rights Act I personally think it's perfectly okay to ask mr. Romney how do you feel being a senior member of a racket like that and I understand that an interview recently you revealed to us that Karl Rove George Bush's consigliere of all the people in the world is an atheist and that he says I'm not fortunate enough to be a person of faith it's not a revelation for me it's something that dr. rova said quite often and I don't think he's an atheist he simply doesn't say that he is well actually you quote him there as far as I know correctly but I mean Bush seems to fill every job in his cabinet with some incompetent jesus-freak and then it seems to me Jimmy tremendously hypocritical to fill the one job that he really cares about the guy who gets him elected with an AP well as I say I can't like certainly can't speak any further about what a doctor does or doesn't believe you I know I know that he did once make that remark because I think that he actually quite a few other Republicans are quite careful not to appear to be too pious I mean the president may say that he got help from Jesus to get off the booze in other words that he exchanged a Methodism for Johnny Walker or is it the other way around at any rate I can't imagine doing it either way put it like that all right I hope your book I actually think that he didn't do that I mean you didn't get Jesus to get him off the booze I think his wife said it's Jack Daniels or me scumbag which and if it goes on like this I'm taking the kids and that's been heard in Texas before if you want to say that you got help from the Almighty alright whatever Rock sealed burgle turns your crank all right Chris you're always entertaining I hope your book is in every hotel room in the country

Channel: DailyHitchens

Views: 1,123,027

Rating: 4.8295698 out of 5

Keywords: Bill Maher, Christoper Hitchens, 2007, god is not great

Id: EoRxnZ8wgpw

Length: 6min 30sec (390 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 05 2010

Reddit Comments

[u/OkTopic7028]

RIP

[u/BruceLeerooooy]

Hitchens was a legend. Fuck that other dude talking shit on this post