We Don't Do God? | Christopher Hitchens & John Haldane at Oxford

The Veritas Forum at Oxford University is introduced by Sherif Girgis, highlighting its purpose to engage students and faculty in discussions about life's most challenging questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ. The forum aims to broaden perspectives beyond academic specializations and to foster a free exchange of ideas between different worldviews. It is sponsored by the Graduate Christian Union and supported by various religious and secular groups, focusing on how secularists and people of faith can order public life together.

The script delves into the debate over the role of religious or secular hypotheses in public life, referencing past statements by political figures like Tony Blair and the Marquis de Laplace. It questions whether a vibrant society can rely solely on the structure of a liberal democracy or if it also needs moral resources to achieve common goals, protect human rights, and pass on civic principles to future generations. The forum seeks to explore whether Christianity or a secularist culture provides a more compelling account for these ideals.

Christopher Hitchens discusses the American experience with secularism, highlighting the historical break from the Church of England and the establishment of religious freedom as a constitutional principle. He emphasizes the importance of secularism in ensuring religious pluralism and argues against the establishment of a national church or the intertwining of religious and state powers. Hitchens also touches on current issues, such as the influence of religion on politics and the importance of maintaining a secular public sphere.

The script shifts focus to global perspectives, examining the role of religion in various societies, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. It discusses the dangers of theocratic regimes and the importance of maintaining a secular system to ensure democracy, prosperity, and tolerance. The argument is made that secularism is the only guarantee of religious freedom and that progress is hindered in societies where religion and state are not separated.

John Haldane, a philosophy professor, discusses the need for a philosophical and religious heritage to provide a foundation for ethical and moral values in society. He explores the idea that the decline of such a heritage leads to disagreements on substantive ethical issues. Haldane emphasizes the importance of identifying and sustaining a tolerant humanism that recognizes and respects diversity, suggesting that the conditions for this possibility may lie in a religious worldview.

The script addresses the challenge of ethical disagreement in society, noting the common form of structuring ethical debates around notions of welfare and respect, but the substantive disagreement on what these concepts entail. It suggests that the identified ethical challenges are increasing while the shared ethical resources for resolving them are declining, creating a gap that needs to be bridged.

The discussion continues with an exploration of the procedural and substantive values needed to organize society and the不可避免的 challenge of identifying a shared conception of the good. The script highlights the difficulty of finding a secular foundation for notions of human dignity, the inviolability of the innocent, and the duty of concern for those in need, suggesting that a religious foundation may provide a more compelling account.

The script presents a debate between Christopher Hitchens and John Haldane, focusing on the theological foundations for morality. Hitchens argues for a naturalistic and evolved basis for human solidarity and moral principles, such as the Golden Rule, while Haldane suggests that a religious foundation provides a deeper and more compelling explanation for the existence of inviolable value centers in human beings.

The conversation delves into the tension between secular and religious worldviews, with Hitchens criticizing the idea of a supernatural dictatorship for morality and advocating for reason and human solidarity. Haldane, on the other hand, explores the religious understanding of human nature, the struggle for truth and goodness, and the potential role of grace in shaping moral values.

The script raises questions about the nature of moral intuition and divine inspiration, with a focus on whether moral values can be grounded in personal intuition as an evolved being or if they require a supernatural or divine source for their validity. The discussion touches on the implications of these perspectives for public debate and the common good.

The final paragraph summarizes the debate, highlighting the contrasting views on the impact of religion on society and the individual. It emphasizes the importance of the discussion for understanding the foundations of moral and political philosophy and the search for a conception of the human that can ground mutual respect and a sense of human worth.