“Is religion good for the world?”
More than 1,500 people went to Temple Emanu-El, one of the largest synagogues in the world, on Wednesday evening for a wide-ranging debate on that
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“Is religion good for the world?”
More than 1,500 people went to Temple Emanu-El, one of the largest synagogues in the world, on Wednesday evening for a wide-ranging debate on that age-old question. On one side: Christopher Hitchens, the writer, wit and author of the polemic “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” published last year by Twelve/Warner Books. On the other side: Rabbi David J. Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, whom Newsweek has called the No. 1 rabbi in America and the author of “Why Faith Matters,” published last month by HarperOne.
Mr. Hitchens took part in a similar debate — titled “Is God Great?” — with the Rev. Al Sharpton in May 2007 at the New York Public Library. The debate with Rabbi Wolpe, while courteous, was at times more heated and more pointed than the earlier encounter, with the writer and the rabbi at times interrupting, and expressing irritation at, each other.
Gary Rosenblatt, publisher and editor of The Jewish Week, a central source of news and commentary for New York’s Jewish community, organized the event at Temple Emanu-El and served as the moderator. He marveled at the size of the audience, saying it was the largest for any public forum the newspaper had ever sponsored.
