Hitchens was the most eloquent man I have ever heard. I don't think he thought that inscrutable reasoning equalled profundity, he just enjoyed inscrutable reasoning for its own sake - something to which a Theist cannot, by default, aspire.

In the great words of Theramin Trees:

Faith stifles free inquiry by protecting lies and silencing those who threaten to expose them.

To the curious, three words: continue to enquire.

I think Brandon is being deliberately obtuse.

What has religion to do with morality? The Christian bible, for example, is amoral at best and immoral at worst. Consider:

1. Genocide is ok

Genesis 8
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all
the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings
on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his
heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans,
even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from
childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures,
as I have done.

2. Vicarious punishment is great

Exodus 34
He will by no means leave the guilty
unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and
on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

3. Murder and incest: love it.

Genesis 38

7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so
the Lord put him to death. 8 Then Judah said to Onan, ‘Sleep
with your brother’s wife and fulfil your duty to her as a
brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.’ 9 But
Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he
slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the
ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 10
What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put
him to death also.

4. Death to children: approved:

2 Kings 2

23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was
going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the
city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald
head; go up, thou bald head.

24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them
in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears
out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

And there are so many more examples. Take Lot for instance, or the Ca'naanites...

Let's be grateful that secularism in the West is the order of the day and we do not take a moral reference from religion. Look at Afghanistan under the taliban - do you really aspire to that?

My point was that Hitchens or any other atheist lacks objective basis to say why the Iraq war, or any other act, is "bad" or "good."

OK. And therefore, what?

The most he can say is he didn't like it, a personal preference at best.

Can you tell me of one commandment, that you believe God has issued, that you personally dislike?

What exactly is goodness, truth and beauty? Many atheists refuse to seriously ponder that question. It might very well lead them to God if they did. My guess is it would be a God very different from the one they rejected when they chose atheism.

I have pondered that question a lot. It has not led me back to theism.

And I did not choose atheism. I never decided to stop believing. I just reached a point where I no longer could believe. If there was any choosing, atheism chose me.

I realize this reply is quite a few months removed but I am curious how you plan to pay the debt yourself if you are judged?
My problem is that I know I have committed wrongs (aka sins) and there is no way I can adequately make it up to those people I have wronged. I can try to make reparations but I know that due to the fact that both they and I are mortal and finite I will never be able to make adequate reparations.
It is my understanding that once we human make certain kinds of mistakes we are guilty for all time and we can never completely undue or right our past mistakes because we can't change the past, we can't go back in time.
To me, the sharing of and admitting of one's guilt is a big part of Christian religion that is rarely talked about today. Believing that there is a God that forgives us is very comforting to me and allows me to be a little more hopeful. This hope may be delusional in your eyes because it is based on the belief in loving and forgiving God but to me it does seem to bring some light into this world, it does seem to be more truthful than the idea that there is no God and that I am, for all eternity, indebted to the people I have wronged.
The protestant theologian Paul Tillich talks about the Christian religion's ability to deal with this existential reality of guilt much better than I ever could. But after reading Tillich I would suggest reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church because - save the Bible - there is nothing that explains the situation of humankind better in my opinion.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-mother-teresa-her-critics-choose-to-ignore/article5058894.ece

You need to read all of John 6.

I am about to introduce my sophomores in theology class to the book of Job and I hope that if there are any students who are leaning towards atheism that they feel free to discuss and debate freely while we wind our way through this difficult, but ultimately very WISE, book. It's not perfect. It's very ancient, but it does result in a much more humble and less arrogant humanity if understood in its' proper context.
Thanks again, Fr. Barron, and hope that "strangenotions" keeps having great posts to discuss and debate in a respectful manner.
PEACE