The Sharpton/Hitchens smackdown.

The Sharpton/Hitchens smackdown.

The Sharpton/Hitchens smackdown.

Slate in motion.
May 14 2007 5:11 PM

The Sharpton/ Hitchens Smackdown

Here's the video everyone's talking about.

You know you're in for a raucous dialogue when the guy who wrote a book called God Is Not Greatis the less controversial of the two speakers. A week ago, Slate contributor and God Is Not Great author Christopher Hitchens and the Rev. Al Sharpton faced off in a debate about religion at the New York Public Library. Slate Editor Jacob Weisberg moderated the event.

The evening made headlines because of Sharpton's biting comment about Mitt Romney, the one Mormon candidate in the presidential race (Sharpton said "… those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway.") But there's a lot more as well.

Here's a video of the entire NYPL event, provided to Slate by the video site Fora.tv. (Notes: The video takes a few moments to load after hitting the play button. And you'll find Sharpton's comment at 00:27:38.)

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Andy Bowers, the creator and executive producer of Slate podcasts, is the co-founder and chief content officer of Panoply.