What gives your life meaning? - Christopher Hitchens #shorts

Christopher explains his thoughts on being asked "if you don't believe in heaven or hell, what gives your life meaning?" This is a clip from a debate Hitchens did against Dinesh D'Souza at the University of Notre Dame in 2009. #theism #shorts #christopherhitchens #atheist #nonbeliever #bible #christian #religion #god #debate #faith

[gregdenson]

There's Pascal's wager, and then there's Homers wager that asks Pascal "But what if I choose the wrong god and the more I go to church, the madder he gets?"

[bjolly]

When I gave up on Christianity I decided I was going to be a good person just because I wanted to and it made me feel good. My life has lots of meaning.

[robert-wrxt]

This man was one of a kind.
I respect him deeply.

[glenbateman]

I'm an Atheist, and even I know better than to think treating God like a gullible idiot will trick him into letting me into heaven.
If God wants to torture me for all eternity just for being honest about why I can't believe in things because I'm told I'd better believe or else, then he's not the kind of person I would want to live with anyway. Torture in exchange for honesty?
Sounds kind of psychotic.

[jim.h]

One of my favorite memes:
"If you need the threat of hell to be a good person, then you're just a bad person on a leash."

[DanLumo]

We have millions of so called believing people who are steeped in hypocrisy, Hitchens is down to earth, honest sincere and true to himself which makes him worthy of the kingdom of heaven.

[anoniemuss]

If you live for the afterlife, then your life has no meaning for its own sake but rather only as a means to an ends.

[hailfire]

This has always confused me. If you only derive meaning from after you're dead. Then why even live.

We are meaningless in the grand scheme. Ants on an ant hill basically. Live your life, be as happy as you can be. Have family, friends, loved ones.

No one will remember or care after you're dead. I mean sure the occasional person to think about where you're buried or a memory of you. But that does what? Doesn't bring you back.

[DH-rjkv]

Pascal's wager is (at best) a logical reduction or (likely) an intellectually dishonest argument.

It relies fully on the the premise that there is exactly _one_ good that will reward believers only and that the reason and display of belief is irrelevant. That completely ignores several other options.

1. There is a god that rewards believers, but the instructions of belief have been misunderstood and reward is therefore void
2. There is a god that rewards believers, but only believers that do not expect rewards
3. There is a god that rewards everyone, regardless of belief
4. There is a god that rewards only non-believers (why not? mysterious ways)
5. There is a god that does not reward anyone, regardless of belief
6. There are multiple gods and every god rewards its specific believers only
7. There are multiple gods and only believers in _all of them_ are rewarded
8. There are multiple gods, but none reward any believers
9. There are multiple gods, but only one (or some) rewards its believers or all non-believers and _punishes_ believers in _other_ gods (better to not believe than to belief wrong)
10. There are multiple gods, but only non-believers are rewarded (by one or all of them) because they did not choose any preference


The list can be supplemented with lots of other propositions. And it is clear that, depending on the actual nature of the deity/deities involved, choosing a belief in one specific god cannot only have _no_ effect, but it could as well have _negative_ effects, see e.g. examples 2, 4, 9, 10 above. If there is a judging god (or gods), the very decision to belief (and expect a reward) could be what actually results in eternal damnation, rendering Pascal´s conclusion about the odds entirely void.

[ThroughtheLookingGlass-ygfj]

Without lies religion dies. Protect children from religious groomers.

[XMeK]

There simply can be no such a thing as an honest theist.

[esteemedyams]

There's a person that I considered my closest friend a few years ago. She believes in the afterlife and reincarnation and spirits and angels whatnot.
One day she asked me about my beliefs, and I explained to her that I don't have any religious beliefs or faith and I don't think that there is an afterlife. I told her that I believe in humanity and that even if you're not rich and powerful or particularly gifted, it's important to treat others as well as you would expect them to treat you, it's important to strive to be as decent of a human being as possible, because we're all the same species and the only way we can move forward is if we learn to accept each other and work together.
She then laughed at me and told me that I must be secretly religious and that she thinks that I'm just too scared to admit it, because the only reason why I would think like that is if I believed in a higher power and the afterlife.
It was the most insulting, most disgustingly condescending thing anyone's ever said to me, and I haven't been able to look at this person the same way ever since.

[jamesdelcol]

I'm insulted by that too. My life doesn't have meaning. What?!!! You never had fun like I have fun. My college years were so great, the memories alone have me laughing on a daily basis. You don't know what meaning is until you've done what I've done. I play instruments and sing songs. I study history and literature. What meaning am I missing? Romance, I have had a life packed with that too. My work is meaningful. I am a safety manager and I keep people aware of hazards on construction jobs. I train whole construction jobs by translating into whatever language the worker is native. My life has had so much meaning it doesn't make sense how one person could do so much. I've built 30 major buildings projects in my lifetime as a Construction Superintendent. This is not meaningful?

[davidfitnesstech]

And believers have shown time and time again that they cannot even comprehend this way of thought.
You can see it and hear examples of this in countless videos.

It just demonstrates how powerful indoctrination can be. It's actually mind-altering.

[Ember_Prime]

The meaning in my life is that I am a musician and training to be a Music Therapist so I can use my passion to help others. I have meaning in my life because I will make a difference to others for the sake of doing so, not because I want to get goody points with a narcissistic, abusive shitbag they call “God.”

[Sonic_Egg]

Never before and never again, but only one Christopher Hitchens for all time ❤

[brinstl]

“It’s the reasoning of a huckster.” Precisely.

[sylviaharing]

Hello Christopher, i agree, i personally wanted to have at a young age spiritually in me, although i felt spiritual but not by any name or in the way i heard many people went with a believe . That i really wasn't me, but later in life i had some experiences which brought me my own God, Jesus and the human being . So they are in me and for me stand apart .So indeed i agree with your so needed spoken topics .thank you, Sylvia

[emptyhand]

Just fake belief, there is no way an omniscient god will know you're faking.

[mpjstuff]

I can't believe in some higher being that would spend eternity torturing some other being because it didn't fully adopt "truths" that were not clearly spelled out, nor I for any reason. And the concept of Heaven would require heavy sedation because I don't think we are designed to have no challenges.