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Intelligence Squared

The Catholic Church is a Force For Good in The World

Intelligence Squared

Intelligence Squared

News, Society & Culture, Arts, News Commentary

4.21.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2013

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Can anything good really be said of an institution that has such a warped attitude to sex that it tries to stop the world from wearing a condom, is bitterly opposed to gays leading a fulfilled life and regards women as unworthy of officiating in its rituals? But who you gonna call when it comes to finding a good school for your children, when it comes to standing up for the oppressed, when it comes to giving material and spiritual succour to the wretched of the earth? In 2009 Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens locked horns with Anne Widdecombe and John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, over whether or not the Catholic Church was a force for good. Today the debate has been watched more times online than any other Intelligence Squared event. We're thrilled to make the audio available to all as part of our Advent podcast. — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.  Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.  And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared.. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:05.6

But so is this.

0:07.2

We're here together for a 10 minute empathy meditation.

0:10.5

And even this.

0:11.9

We get here in with a 20 minute hip-hop shadow boxes session.

0:16.7

Ah!

0:17.7

What more could you ask for?

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Well, with thousands of classes on our bike treading app, there's more to Peloton that you might have thought.

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This is Peloton. Internet Connection and Peloton all acts as membership required.

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C1 Peloton.

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And if the queue for the merch store means extra time, tap to pay faster than you can say,

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Come on England.

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Add a card to Google Wallet.

1:00.0

Thank you for downloading this Intelligence Square podcast.

1:03.0

For more information on our debates, talks and discussions,

1:07.0

visit Intelligents Square.com.

1:09.0

The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world.

1:12.0

This debate took place on the 19th of

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