WATERLOO — Although prominent intellectual Christopher Hitchens wasn’t at the University of Waterloo in person for a scheduled debate this weekend, he was larger than life, bringing the audience to their feet in a standing ovation.
In his characteristic way, Hitchens, a prolific speaker and author, had the crowd in his grip as he spoke about culture and religion, attacking the latter suggesting it would become irrelevant as the world grappled with more important questions of science and its effects on mankind.
“Religion is man-made,’’ he said. “God did not make men. Our species, mankind, instead made and continues to make hundreds of Gods … in the hope of establishing a secular tyranny of rule of men over men.’’
“The gods we have made are exactly the gods you would expect to be made from a species about a half a chromosome away from being chimpanzee,’’ he said as the crowd at the Humanities Theatre burst into laughter Saturday night.
