Hitchens not amused at circumcision
Here’s a discussion where a group of theologians (with Hitchens there to provide the atheist perspective) are trying to answer the question: why do bad things happen to good people? Hitchens has a very simple explanation: “religion compels people to do wicked and unforgivable things”.
The best part of the video is the argument between him and Rabbi Harold Kushner about circumcision. Hitchens tries to use it as an example of people doing terrible things out of dogmatic faith, and it’s interesting to watch the quiet outrage of his Jewish adversary who wants to convince him the practice of cutting off the foreskin of an infant without the use of anesthesia is somehow a wonderful and beneficial practice. There are lots of misguided people who think the aesthetic of the penis is somehow augmented by it, but in truth it is a highly irresponsible and dangerous mutilation that puts the lives of babies at risk, and causes a tremendous amount of suffering on their part.
There’s this ridiculous notion the babies in question don’t feel any pain, but that’s usually because they are actually in shock, and are unable to cry. Now, before some of you get your panties in a twist and try to tell me it’s also a health issue (and the evidence is pretty weak on that front), consider the fact the cutting off of the tip of the penis is not a decision left up to the person being mutilated.