An inquisitive logical mind has left us. The world needs more minds like that. You will be missed.

Hitchens is right. We have had enough of religious bullying and apocalyptic nonsense.

Tell you what, why don't we just leave it there. I wish you a long happy life, and good health for you and your family.

Got it in one...' It's Time To Push Back ' ....

something that moves or has activity is the standard definition of it being alive. all living things require energy... energy can be converted from trees, water , and wind and harnessed into usable energy. human beings are alive but also have a conscience and a soul which makes us differnt from plants and animals. things that do not have energy do not move and are not alive.

Moreover, Christians always argue that the world is satan's domain, which is why bad things happen. But then they want to claim credit for god when good stuff happens. Either god is powerful enough to intervene all the time, or satan is more powerful - you can't have it both ways. Maybe it is just god's "time of the month" sometimes? ;-)

in this particular argument. i would say the best place to start would be to determine if in fact it was God at all, then finding out which god could come later. in "newtons law of motion" this tells us things that move or have motion have an equal and opposite reaction. 1.the universe is not eternal. 2. the universe has motion. 3. only living things create motion. conclusion:: for something to be set in motion an outside source that is alive has to set it in motion.(according to our own laws).

wtf? Christopher Hitchens, author, atheist...wtf?! give the man is due respect!

likewise..

Actually, happiness has nothing to do with wealth.

go were the evidence leads , it leads to God .

@Mxlsptlk God is not punishing the 3 year old or the Africans. Its actually a blessing i think or livin this life poor or in a war zone like Palistine.

BelieveD - past tense. The more science knows, the less need there is for god. In the past everythng was mysterious, now very little is, so rational minds look at all the things that were claimed for god that are now scientifically explicable, and conclude if there was a god, wouldn't he have anticipated that we would one day understand the way things worked and explained better in the bible? Of course wealth does not determine validity, but it affects your ability to search for the truth.

you would then have to explain why many wealthy and happy people in our country accept it without stress or crisis.. in fact our currency is evident of that.

Just because you (or anyone) doesn't understand why something exists, does not mean that a rational person inserts an arbitrary magical answer. I could just make up any agent I like and insert it. The time robot, extra dimensional aliens, anything. Yes the body is amazing. But its faaaar from perfectly designed. And we can demonstrates the mechanisms by which the various parts may have evolved. So when you have a reasonable NATURAL answer, why make up something else?

Hitchens says he doesn't think he should be remembered in the same breath as Dawkins et. al? Have to disagree with him there, and I don't disagree with him all that often.

the argument could go further to blood and energy being the bi products of life. but your statement is well considered.. i believe God is the sustainer of life. because i dont see a reason for life at all or for our existence unless it was intentional and directed...If you ever study anatomy or cytology you will find just how incredible and articulate ppl are designed.

@spunkygoldfish Why would cancer affect his disbelief?

alive.. ::: Full of activity or animation,Having life; living.

I wonder what the sadistic Christian letter writer thinks about "Touchdown Jesus" being struck by lightning.

So your definition of life is anything that moves or has activity? So water runnning down a river is alive? Lava coming out of a volcano? Sand crumbling down a dune?

That's what I thought you meant, and it's nonsense. The dictionary does have a deinition of alive that is simply to do with animation, but that's clearly not the context you are using. Life - in the sense that you are using it, only applies to organic things. So tracking back to your earlier questions, in which you ask "how were the cosmological and geological processes of the universe given animation ", I don't know. But to assume a god is not the most plausible answer.

Where does it say that! I know that there were a few notable examples, such as Elijah and Nebuchadnezzar, but scientifically, their lifespan and height was indisputably shorter. Dice rolls - evolution not the big bang. Peope say "oh what a ridiculous chance that life started" but if the initial start was a 1 in a trillion chance, but there were a trillion trillion trillion opportunities for that chance to occur, then it was ainevitable.

Define "alive".

please elaborate how newton was proven wrong. i have all that i need for evidence required to believe in God... as for number 3. how is gravity possible and what caused it to beign? what is the force behind the movement of wind? how do stars have atomic reactions? dead things are inanimate. things that are alive move.. the earth that you live on is alive, its not a dead planet. please give further explanation to the origins of things before you call my argument flawed.

So because it says in one PREDICTIVE verse that men will live 120 years, and in spite of the numerous other unfulfilled prophesies ad cotraditictions, and in spite of all historical evidence that suggests that man lived to between 30 and 40 years back then, you're gonna just quote that as evidence? What you BELIEVE is irrelevant. It's not about your OPINION it's about facts. You have a belief based upon what? Certainly not your vast scientific knowledge or great logic.

80% of the world believes in a higher power... and i dont think all of them are poor,stupid or stressed...so basically what your saying is... if people were smarter then they would know better?

Actually, genetically, we are far stronger than humans of the biblical era. We live 4 times longer, we're taller, smarter, & more resistant to illness. But the human body is just not that well designed. Our eyes could see more, our child-rearing is too slow, and there's a risk of death during childbirth. Our bodies are fragile, & our only defensive weapon is our intelligence. Life IS amazing, but it's nothing more than chance played out on with a MASSIVE number of dice rolls. No miracle.

well if nobody knows, then the answer is left open... wouldnt you agree? science is a tool created by religious ppl if you follow its roots... i use science because it helps me understand the world around me... there are only two theories in science that i disagree with which are the big bang and macro evolution. aside from those two, science as a whole can be used by anyone, so no... it dosent inconvenience me....true.. i dont know for sure.. but i do know it was done by a higher mind.

blinky, blinky!!!!

you cant refute my argument with evidence or logic, so you make sweeping statments and personal attacks then run away? k cool.

the modern day human is far from perfect yes. if feel this is because our genetics have downgraded and lost quality.. kinda like a DVD that is copied over and over again.. actually the mechanics and process by which life operates is far from natural because this is the only planet in the galaxy we know of where it is happening and even with all of the right environments, for life to operate on its own and perform functions involuntary from our consciousness , life is nothing short of a miracle.

Look, the lady is a very good interviewer - she brings out what he has to say very clearly. Good facilitator. You should be paying attention to him, not her. I wouldn't be surprised if she maybe has a very, very mild form of Tourettes syndrome, which can cause repetitive movements such as blinking. It certainly doesn't affect her intelligence or perspicacity. Or else, she could have something in her eye.

actually the biblical account of man says they were bigger and lived longer than the average 80 yrs olds from today. disease and child birth have always been a problem.. the use of technology has alleviated this however. but a simple look at our generation vs. our parents generation shows exactly were mankind is headed. your skin and skeleton serve as defense mechanisms too, and btw. how do u figure you get a massive number of dice rolls? cuz as i understand it. the universe only had one!

And that's the other thing - your sole position in this discussion has been oppositional. If I say the sky used to be blue in jesus tiime, you say no it didn't - it was green. You can't even accept scentifically and historically KNOWN facts. You have taken questioning to such a stupid extreme that we can't even agree upoon the most basic of terms. Which of course, is PRECISELY the tactic that christians usually adopt when they are on quicksand foundations in a debate.

I think she's more ill than him! Look at the constant blinking, she might want to get herself checked.

no thats just my position... atheist and theists are completely opposites.. expecially if your into naturalism for example. many creationsts vs evos foundations are like this: the universe was created/ the universe created itself. earth started as a ball of water/ earth was a ball of fire. life digresses with time/ life progresses with time. man is made in the image of God/ man is an animal. the human body is an incredible design/ the human body is a poor design.

Yes - absolutely. There's a reason why tha massive majority of highly educated scientists are atheists. There are many wealthy intelligent religious people too, just are there are many well educated, rapists from well-to-do homes. Don't underrate the power of indoctrination - especially in places where it carries stigma or actual threat of violence to be a non believer.

Imagine what ppl would do to each other without the restrictions/ rules of religion and law.

Newton has already been proven wrong in a number of beliefs. Don't waste your time quoting him. In fact, don't bother quoting any scientist. They don't know everything. But their theories are at least based upon evidence. Which is more than your belief in god is. And as for your number 3 - "only living things create motion". What, are you insane!? Is gravity alive? Is the wind? Is the atomic reaction in a star, or photons? Your reasoning is so flawed as to be meaningless.

That's not your argument, it's william lane craig's and it's nonsense because it's based on numerous flawed premises. Nobody KNOWS that the universe has not always existed. Nobody KNOWS that all events must have a cause. It's funny how you deer to science only insofar as it helps to back up your argument, then you drop it when it starts to be inconvenient. And even if there was a supernatural cause for the universe, you have no way of KNOWING that it's YOUR god.

Your arguments completely invalid. I don't need to understand the quantum state of matter to prove why a ball rolls down a hill when I push it, and I don't need to prove anything about the origins of the universe to theorise about the formation of life on this planet unless they are directly related. As for your something can't come from nothing argument, you presuppose that that IS an unchanging law, AND that the universe had a beginning. Neither are certain.

Your comment only goes to show your glaring lack of understanding of human nature. Most people who come to christianity do so at a moment of crisis or stress when they are clutching at straws and looking for something to cling onto beyond the cold impartiality of the universe. The fact that the poorest, most stressed people, with the least to live for on this planet, is a glaring proof of that fact, not evidence that that belief is credible.