Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world?

A stimulating Intelligence Squared debate from the beginning of this month, addressing the above question.

The first video features the introduction of the speakers and Archbishop John Onaiyekan, who ineffectively argues for the motion before Christopher Hitchens is introduced and begins his argument against.



In the next video, Hitchens continues arguing forcefully against the motion, and includes a trenchant response to the archbishop:

"I think it will one day be admitted with shame that it might have been in error to say that AIDS is bad as a disease, very bad, but not quite as bad as condoms...I say it in the presence of His Grace and I say it to his face: the preachings of his church are responsible for the death and suffering and misery of millions of his brother and sister Africans and he should apologize for it; he should show some shame."



Next up: Ann Widdecombe, conservative MP, who at least brings a little game to her arguments in favor of the church (her speech overlaps videos 2 & 3). Now it's getting interesting! Will this secular British audience be moved by Widdecombe's sharply acerbic debate skills?



Last comes the gentle Stephen Fry, who talks of the punishments meted out by the Church to progressives and scientists throughout the ages, and the hypocrisy of canonizing Sir Thomas More, who tortured the English for owning Bibles written in their own language. When he mentions that only nine years ago More was named the patron saint of politicians, both the Archbishop and the MP nod enthusiastically -- as if his legacy is something of which to be proud. Fry also delves into the current pope's lies about condoms, his holiness' claim that homosexuals are morally evil and disordered, and contrasts the Church with the object of its affections:

"Do you know who would be the last person ever to be accepted as a prince of the church? The Galilean carpenter; that Jew. They would kick him out before he tried to cross the threshold. He would be so ill at ease in the church. What would he think? What would he think of St. Peter's? What would he think of the wealth, and the power, and the self-justification and the wheedling apologies?"



The questions of the audience and the debaters' closing statements in the final video are definitely worth watching:



In the end, as at the beginning, the audience was polled to see whether they were for or against the motion and we get to see how many viewers were persuaded by the panel. Prior to the debate, 346 were undecided; afterwards, that number dropped to 34. 410 fewer people believed that the motion was true, and 774 more people believed it to be false. In other words, the argument that the Catholic church is NOT a force for good in the world was much more persuasive than its counterargument -- quod erat demonstrandum.