I do not have "reverence" for life. Do not even understand the concept....life is the most rapacious single-minded drive, among plants as well as animals, that you will ever see. Watch some fast-forward film of plants struggling to crush each other & grab all the available space they can.

@AnneWimsey "Reverence for Life says that the only thing we are really sure of is that we live and want to go on living. This is something that we share with everything else that lives, from elephants to blades of grass—and, of course, every human being. So we are brothers and sisters to all living things, and owe to all of them the same care and respect, that we wish for ourselves."
— James Brabazon
I don't necessarily think we disagree on what life is, but perhaps in our perception of the worth found in revering it.

@Amzungu as i age & the joints hurt & the lungs/heart go bad, there are plenty of days "life" is burdensome.

@EarnestEccentric This probably isn’t the place to proselytize Buddhist beliefs.

See my "heartless" reply, above, about 1st ex. TA!

@AnneWimsey I can relate, but for me it was my father. The day he died was a very good day and I went to the funeral to make sure the bastard was dead. I was 16.

@Cyklone I Completely understand

No. I haven't watched the Hitchens clip yet, I will later but I don't need to, to respond to this.

No one trivialized Falwell's death and no one said he didn't deserve to be regarded as human. I did not dislike him because his worldview was different than mine, I opposed him because his output was detrimental to humankind and without factual support. That is much different than the way he encouraged the disenfranchisement of people on the basis of innate characteristics.

Progressives like myself support the societal inclusion of everyone, including those who don't share our worldview so I indeed think he deserved to be regarded as human. I didn't trivialize his death, I celebrate it as one less toxic individual on the planet. As for proclaiming it, I did not go around throwing confetti when it happened because I would not want to make the loss more painful for some, but in this forum for discussion purposes I consider myself both free and obligated to tell the truth to the same degree as anyone else and I don't give a rat's ass if anyone agrees with me.

I agree with you in general, but in this case, I do have to agree with @LovinLarge ... it’s much more than simply disagreeing with this man’s viewpoints. He spread hate and discord among millions of people. He made the world uglier and life more painful for the people HE disagreed with.

And, yes, if there’s one place people should feel safe airing these views, it’s here.

Hitchens and Falwell were really playing the same game. "You're a poopyhead." "Oh no YOU'RE the poopyhead." My feelings about the tactics those two used are very nearly identical. Hitchens, to his credit, at least admitted he was a charlatan.

@LovinLarge

@skado Thank you, that is surprising although "charlaran" might be a bit of a stretch. I wish he had explained himself. He was always so dishevelled, I often wondered if he was half cut.

Here's the only thing I can think of. One thing I absolutely hate is someone trying to talk me into anything. I also hate being put in the position of having to try to convince others of anything. Maybe that or something like that was his issue, I don't know. I would for sure eradicate religion if given the opportunity but maybe not every atheist would. If there is one who wouldn't, there must be more. We're under no duty to convert anyone and there is a part of me that doesn't want to anyway because I don't want to exercise undue influence over anyone and it is probably better if they arrive at this type of decision on their own. Maybe that's how Hitchens felt.

Do you know who that man with him in the video is please?

@LovinLarge
[en.wikipedia.org]

@skado Thank you.

I guess you never watched the Video then?

@dermot235 Nope, answered first, then watched.