And here goes the argument…
CH: A moral person wouldn’t perform genital mutilation…
CH: But religion compels and demands and excuses it.
Rabbi: my son cried more at his first hair cut than when his penis was cut off.
This invokes laughter for some reason from the audience and the opportunity for possibly one of the greatest come backs of all time:
CH: I cant find the compulsory mutilation of the genitals of children a subject of humour.
There were many brilliant things about Hitch but this clip demonstrates two I really love:
– he asked and often demanded an apology from the theocracy. I haven’t heard enough apology… I just so love that. That you as a humane person can think this is humorous shows that religion can make people do despicable things.
– although being a classic intellectual Hitch would always know his audience. He could have attached the logical weakness of the theocrat – a well known atheist intellectual trap – thereby losing 90% of the audience but instead he cut to the core and nailed it in one.
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