CHRISTOPHER HITCHEN DISEMBOWELS KEN BLACKWELL - THE END OF CHRISTIANITY

here's the question welcome back to hardball incidentally are we witnessing the fall of Christianity in America according to a new Newsweek poll 62% of Americans consider the United States a Christian nation that's down from 69% during the tail end of the Bush presidency last year and a whopping 68 percent say religion is losing its influence in American life Ken Blackwell is with the Family Research Council and Christopher Hitchens is a Vanity Fair columnist and the author of the must read God is not great which is just come out in paperback Christopher let's start with you let me ask you a question what does it mean if anything when people refer to the United States of America as a Christian nation it's literally a meaningless statement I mean the Constitution quite deliberately forbids all mention of God well I should say omits all mention of God a little learn of Jesus and the the Declaration of Independence mentions of creator very specifically it doesn't say that this creator intervenes most of the people wrote the declaration would deists not theists it's true to say the majority of believers in America are Christian but that's a banal fact many of them I know from going and debating with them on my book tour when you go to their churches are full of themselves of doubt you know as people who responded saying their Christian are very full of doubt and skepticism and the figure you don't mentioned but perhaps I could introduce it is that perhaps as many as 16% of people now identify as having no faith of any kind and that's double what it was a decade ago it's the fastest-growing group in the United States okay so yes there's a real a real crisis for faith in this country now Ken Blackwell Oh lay off of what Christians were what Christopher just said is their crisis of faith in this country do you doubt at all that this is a Christian nation no I really don't doubt that the if you look at the precepts that the the foundation is built on it is a nation that does not have a nekkid public square but one that is built on a a moral foundation now I look I think it's very clear doesn't make a Christian what that it apps and flows our 232 year history but from George Washington Abraham Lincoln to our latter-day presidents there has been a fundamental understanding that it is their moral foundation based on judeo-christian precepts Christopher look I'm afraid there's just flat-out rogues based on what Thomas Jefferson called a wall of separation between politics and religion when the people are firm of John Boyd whether were Baptists of Tarsus a of Danbury Connecticut Roche I'm asking for protection they were asking for protection from whom mr. Blackwell do you remember what was it well the Congregationalists of Jamboree Connecticut didn't consider them to be real Americans Christopher could I have a word in edgewise yeah I mean there is a separate there's a separation of church and state there is not a separation of faith and politics and there has never been the presumption that we run our day-to-day lives through a faithless prism when we make our decisions we're not told that we have to leave our faith at the public squares edge so it is fed out nonsense to suggest that this country was built on anything other than an understanding of judeo-christian principles and precepts that give us the moral foundation that allows free-market enterprise and the primacy of the individual in our political system not your policy of the state you possess the brain through the First Amendment to the Constitution to find any such reference so you could why don't you try checking out Thomas Jefferson's version of the New Testament freaks out where he cuts out because subtle references the divinity of Jesus Christopher let me let me just say to you that in the Declaration of Independence you made reference to it it says we hold these truths to be self-evident so we don't have to be the area type that you are to understand a basic basic precept that our our our country is built on a set of universal truths that all of us are created equal that we are endowed by our Creator our rights are human rights don't come from government they doesn't make it so you'll be very if you're being very stubborn this does not say Christian at any point doesn't even imply it the person who put in the words self-evident on that committee was Benjamin Franklin was undoubtedly an atheist that the major author of the major author of the Declaration Thomas Jefferson was by no means a Christian George Washington wouldn't say communion it's also that that's you let me just ask you Christopher you think that the the founders that then the programs were not Christians then Chris we're talking about if we're talking about historical accuracy let's let's be let's be forthright you know it and I know it yeah but innovative the pilgrims episode offenders my Jess I'm Christopher I'm not going to let you Bogart me let me just say this that it we just going to keep talking I I believe that you have a constant constitutional right to be theological II wrong and I will defend it require your permission I didn't require I don't require financial failure that's the whole point Theo logically I will I will defend your right to be theologically wrong but actually I don't have a constitutional right so that I will not distort Bandhan a historical fact and that is that this country is built on a moral foundation that is framed by judeo-christian principles mr. black the pilgrims the pilgrims and the founders just are not the same the the Spanish arrivals also were Christian whether they were Catholic before there was a United States of America the United States of America's founding documents are secular if you if you don't know that you don't know anything what's let's update it let's update it a bit mr. Blackwell let me ask you do you think over the course of the last ten years or so the injection of so many preachers let's say ministers into politics from largely from the right hand side of the dial and on the left hand side of the dialects becoming greatly upset with the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church do you think that has damaged people of faith in this country I use the word Christian you think people have less faith in their in their religious institutions that is a result of the injection of too many public people and too many public events sorted events into the body politic Michael let's let's be clear that over our two hundred and thirty two year history the influence of faith and our day to day lies have it and float and the reality is is that in 1981 everybody was saying that the church was irrelevant Christianity was dead and we then saw 25 years of an influential church and an expansion of faith this this country about one person myself that is this gives me this this this country name of us who said that in 1981 I don't you going to have even a shot at on the question you know there there were newspaper articles Christopher and you and I can come back and I'll wave them in front of you put them under your nose but the fact of the matter is is that even the the latest articles on this issue made it has made it clear that we we've been at a low air before and and we will come back and I'll just tell you what wer choo used to say sometimes it might take so the question if it might it might take a crucified Church to bring a crucified Christ into the eyes into the view of the eyes of the world okay let me the last word customer is Drobo okay dead there all right and then Debbie just I didn't mind answer your question mister barnacle yes Jon Meacham John me trans very thoughtful article which is the one that has brought us together today I think does show that there's a decline in certainty among those who claim to be of faith and I think we can all probably agree on that the one thing he didn't mention that I think he should have done or should have stressed more is another very important salient recent change namely our worst enemy in the world the one that most seeks to destroy us is very obviously a faith-based one and when people look around the world and they see the amount of theocratic bullying and sabotage going on and murder and sadism conducted by the parties of God it's not as simple as it used to be when when the right-wingers say well are in is godless communism now our enemy is the most godly imaginable group Christopher Hitchens God is not grayed out in paperback Ken Blackwell thanks very much we appreciate it

Channel: mccainisthrough

Views: 599,078

Rating: 4.8266139 out of 5

Keywords: Christopher, Hitchens, Debate, ken, blackwell, christianity, idiocy, fantasy, lunatics, Moron, utubekookdetector, liar, psychopath, stalker, fool, creationism, Reality, Truth, mccainisthrough, Atheism, Fact

Id: hH9th9Hu15U

Length: 8min 55sec (535 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 11 2010