Locking horns at Roy Thompson Hall Friday night were two intellectual rock stars, former British prime minister Tony Blair and atheist-in-chief Christopher Hitchens, easily the most controversial to participate in the Munk Debates, now in its sixth edition.
Blair, a Roman Catholic convert, argued that religion was a force for good in the world, while Hitchens articulated his well-known view that religion poisons everything.
While the organizers of the debates like to bill the event as substantive and influential, it was more a display of academic pageantry, a chance for the city’s intellectual class to shell out big bucks and watch well-known international speakers put on a show of words.
In terms of drama, religion, the subject of the debate, was second to the Iraq war, which both men supported.
Emotions were high before the speakers took the stage as 50 or so anti-war activists picketed outside the hall, condemning Blair’s decision to invade Iraq during his tenure as PM. Protests have dogged Blair on recent tours to promote his memoir, and members of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War greeted ticket-holders with chants of “Bliar Bliar Pants on Fire!”
“It’s still important to tell him what we think of him,” said protestor Dan Rheault. “It’s like a random war criminal coming to town. Being responsible for one million deaths is no small matter.”
While on the issue of religion the Blair and Hitchens couldn’t be further apart, Hitchens was once a member of the British Labour Party that Blair led for ten years, and both famously backed the Iraq war. That decision made them pariahs for many leftists, who branded both men traitors.
Hitchens said he had no regrets about supporting the war against Saddam Hussein. “It’s those who would have kept a cannibal, a Caligula, a professional sadist in power that have the explaining to do,” he said.
When an audience member asked Blair what role his religion played in the Iraq decision, the devout Catholic was adamant. “It was not about religious faith,” he said. “[Faith] doesn’t do the policy decisions. You don’t go into a church to pray and ask about the minimum wage.”
Despite the protests outside, inside the hall the mood was one of polite respect from the people who had forked over as much as $500 to watch the debate. But adding drama to the proceedings was the fact that Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer earlier this year, and from the start looked very frail and at times in pain.
Treatment for the disease has left him thin and completely bald, and as he took the stage with a microphone pinned inches below his throat, every cough and sniffle audible to the thousands in the audience and watching on the internet, it was hard not to view his participation as anything short of courageous.
Throughout the 90-minute debate Blair did little more than reiterate his point that while bad things are often done in the name of religion, it also motivates people to do good. It was Hitchens, who seemed the quickest on his feet, hammering Blair on organized religion’s suppression of women’s rights and critical thinking.
Blair, by contrast, despite looking casual in an unbuttoned shirt and blazer, always appeared slightly on the defensive. Hitchens even nailed him once, after the former prime minister spoke of how he attended peace meetings in Northern Ireland and saw how people of different faiths could overcome religious divides. “Well, where does the religious divide come from?” asked Hitchens sarcastically as the crowd roared with applause and Blair grimaced.
An hour into the debate, Hitchens was showing signs of fatigue. At one point he was interrupted by a small fit of coughing and said “Sorry, this happens sometimes.” But he barely missed a beat. By the end of his speech he had made one of his most emphatic points of the night and the audience applauded loudly.
When it came time for his five minute closing statement, Hitchens stalled and asked for another question from the audience, telling the moderator “I’m not ready.” He eventually carried on but it was clear he wanted to get off stage. Somewhat cruelly, moderator Rudyard Griffiths kept both men on stage until he made his own closing remarks, while Hitchens stood and leaned heavily on the back of his chair.
Post-debate voting showed that Blair and Hitchens had swayed an equal percentage of the audience, but as they walked off stage to a standing ovation it was clear most were rooting for the ailing atheist.
You can watch the debate for $2.99 at MunkDebates.com.
