A Force for Good?

I recently watched a 2 hour clip of a debate with the topic as  “The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world”. On the one hand ( pro ) we have Archbishop Onaiyekan (of Abuja, Nigeria) and Ann Widdecombe, a former British Conservative Party politician. Those who oppose the motion are Christopher Hitchens ( RIP ), journalist known for his atheist views and Stephen Fry, English actor, known as 1/2 of Laurie and Fry. The video is posted below:

The debate happened in 2009, if I am not mistaken. I stumbled into this video from a shared link in facebook ( of all places ). And I was struck by the arguments of both sides. Like a lot of Filipinos, I am a Catholic, still am, officially. Apparently, I need to be excommunicated in order not to be one, despite whatever views I may have. Like a good video, it doesn't fail to make you think, while listening to the arguments of both sides. At the end, the audience was swayed to the arguments of the contrary position.

Now what does this mean to me? Personally, I think this kind of talk is important to us as Filipinos, coming from a country where the Catholic Church holds so much sway in culture, politics, and life in the Philippines in general. I haven't seen anyone who has the same views come out here and talk about it in the open, at least, not in the media that I was accustomed to. I guess, that alone says something about the sort of influence that religion has in this country.

Mr. Hitchens has since passed away, dying of cancer, being a heavy smoker. But most of his arguments can still be found all over the net. It may be worth our while to have a look and see, to hear more of that sort of thinking, and decide for ourselves.