Is the Catholic Church a Force for Good?

When we think about the time the Romans would unleash hungry and fierce lions on devout Christians, we tend to squirm, become morally outraged, and express our righteous indignation against the cruelty that one group of human beings would arbitrarily inflict on another group. Forgetting for a second the pain those poor people had to endure, though, you gotta admit that must have been a great show to watch! :)

Well, without any of the blood, today we have the intellectual version of that massacre in all its delicious unfairness, as Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry pounce with great wit and eloquence on the unsuspecting, oblivious and ill-prepared Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, and Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, as the latter two desperately try to argue (against the backdrop of its long and sustained history of moral corruption, bigotry, antisemitism, homophobia and misogyny) that the Catholic Church is a force for good. I can't remember the last time I watched a debate this awesome :)

Man, was the Archbishop trying to help the opposition? At least half his answers undermined his own position...

And Stephen Fry is gay??? I had no clue... I guess no gaydar for me :)
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