“I don’t want to die without killing one of the Jihadists. I’d be ashamed to die without taking at least two… I really sincerely want to have a war that leads to the absolute destruction and humiliation of these people. I think about it day and night…” -Christopher Hitchens
Hitchens: Does your church pay taxes?
Bethel: Does my church pay taxes?
Hitchens: Yeah.
Bethel: No, we’re tax exempt.
Hitchens: Right.
Bethel: Just like many of your corporations do not pay taxes.
Hitchens: Well..
Bethel: No, no if you want to take it all the way let’s take it all the way. Many of your corporations do not pay taxes and many folk who are extremely rich do not pay taxes.
Hitchens: Does your church get any funding from the faith-based initiative?
Bethel: No we do not receive any funds from the faith-based initiative.
Hitchens: It’s at least something. But you don’t have to pay taxes for saying what you’ve just been saying?
Bethel: No I don’t have to pay taxes for saying what I’ve just been saying as a church. The church doesn’t have to pay taxes, but any funds that I receive I pay full taxes on.
Zukor: If you think religion’s a profession of faith then what do you think of something like humanistic Judaism that doesn’t require a belief in God?
Hitchens: Why call it Judaism?
Zukor: Because they’re in touch with their cultural heritage as people raised as Jews.
Hitchens: Then call it nationalism, ethnicism or something. I’m sympathetic to that, why not? But then you’re still not a, in a soft manner, I keep saying I really respect people who are religious I really don’t respect people who are quasi. Who won’t lose a single square inch of their own skin.
Krattenmaker: Yeah, that’s one problem with liberal faith. Too often it..
Hitchens: Will you die for it or will you kill?
Krattenmaker: Too often it equates with lukewarm faith, it doesn’t have to be that and my hope is that the face of liberal faith changes and it becomes known for taking a firm stance, for being absolutely as passionate as Fundamentalist faith. That is a real challenge if, you know, faith is going to be rescued from Fundamentalism long term. Whether that will happen, I don’t know. Sometimes in my darker hours about faith I think that human beings are incapable of doing it right. That’s an unresolved question.
Hitchens: Trotsky used to say that the definition of a revolutionary was not his willingness to kill, his willingness to die.
Sewell: What would you die for?
Hitchens: I was about to say for me, I know what I’d kill for.
Sewell: What would you die for?
Hitchens: I don’t want to die without killing one of the Jihadists. I’d be ashamed to die without taking at least two. So even if they kill me, they’re one behind. I really sincerely want to have a war that leads to the absolute destruction and humiliation of these people. I think about it day and night and implying that I have yes, of course, given public lectures in Beirut against them where they threaten me and Baghdad, other places too. Of course they won’t kill me, that would be a very poor triumph.
Published: March 2010
I would like to listen to the conversation but I can’t seem to make the player work – any advice? thanks.
WOW this would have been better if the microphone recorder was not under the chin of some food vacuum squeaking away. How can you be shoveling so much food in your face when this conversation is going on, come on take it easy, pace yourself.
So if you hate the sound of people eating this may get you at times.
I really don’t get the picking and choosing out of the bible what to believe and not. Either it’s the word of god, or inspired word of god, or it’s not. Really what’s the point if you don’t believe it all. There is better, higher moral, things to live by and believe then the pieces of the bible. Just say it your not a christian, leave that behind.
matteo, can’t get it to play. Seems at least Hayesky did. anyone?
I couldn’t get this to play with Internet Explorer, but it ran fine with Firefox. It might be something to do with a plugin but i’d have a look at using a different web browser and see if that helps.
We just uploaded a new audio player, should work in Internet Explorer now, sorry for the lag time.