1. Christopher Hitchens Debates Timothy Jackson

Comment #122838 by Cokane on February 6, 2008 at 7:50 am

I agree that Jackson is by far the most interesting debater to go up against Hitchens. As others have said, he comes across as a genuinely nice guy and I found his argumentation much more palatable because of that. His understanding of the issues at hand, and the english language for that matter, were also on a level that is significantly superior to almost all the other people I've seen Hitchen debate with.

I enjoyed this one and will doubtlessly listen to it again at some point, and perhaps comment further when I have not been falling asleep through it due to fatigue after a long day.

2. Richard Dawkins on The Big Debate

Comment #118042 by Cokane on January 30, 2008 at 9:11 am

I really enjoyed this video and I agree with many above that Dimbleby was excellent here. Im not usually impressed by his style, but in this case he was superb and asked the right questions to the right people. Bravo to him.

I'm a big fan of Richard Dawkins but in this video I realised, to an extent, why people sometimes regard him as shrill in his criticism of religion, and I was frustrated by the fact he didn't follow through on his point about apostasy. Simply enticing the Muslim headmaster to say what he did was NOT enough. In my opinion, he should have followed up and made the forceful and extremely powerful point that by indoctrinating children in faith schools into a faith where they cannot escape except on pain of death in certain countries, is a fundamental abuse of children - I cant see how anyone can argue against this given the prior admission of the use of the death penalty. This needed to be emphasised and hammered home, and I felt this was an opportunity missed.

3. Interview with Neil Shubin, author of 'Your Inner Fish'

Comment #112667 by Cokane on January 17, 2008 at 5:50 pm

Hohoho. That was a real slapping down if ever I saw one. I agree I almost felt sorry for the guy. Very sharp stuff from this Colbert guy.

4. Beyond Belief 07: Enlightenment 2.0

Comment #93645 by Cokane on December 3, 2007 at 7:41 pm

Yes, downloads please!!

ipod fodder this most certainly is!