God is a Delusion | Oxford Union Speech - Alex O'Connor 

Meeting another philosopher on a boat by chance and being invited to a debate feels very appropriate for a philosopher

“You’re about to find out as you meet your maker” actually got a chuckle out of me… you nailed the delivery on that one

if he continues on this trajectory of philosophical discourse, Alex will easily be listed among this generation's greatest orators and thinkers. phenomenal work, sir.

Since i discovered Alex I am always impressed by his candor, I have become a better conversationalist listening to him connect thoughts and ideas. But it also reminds me that I need to organize my studies and focus more on tasks. Cut out Television and activities that aren't related to my work.

Seeing the Oxford Latin slogan in the thumbnail, “The Lord is my light”. I can’t help but see the irony here.

I'm a simple guy. I see a video of Alex, I watch it.

Imagine if every human being was as logical and well spoken as this young man, one can only dream. The next Christopher Hitchens

I love how he has done his research, he has studied religion deeply. He is a wise man.

Impressive. I miss Christopher Hitchens immensely but with brilliant young orators such as Alex, someone dedicated to the truth, give me some hope that it did not die with him. 🥂

Alex so impressed with all that you're doing lately. Nice to see you getting big and mainstream well known. Keep it up!

Religion is different than any other way of thinking. If you tell somebody, "I don't do cosplay, or I don't play chess" it's not likely to upset them in the least, but if you tell somebody "I don't worship any gods", they get deeply upset, almost as though it's a physical attack. Then the irrational fears show up, and threats of Hell and eternal torture follow.

Great speech, intelligent, articulate and well spoken. When we leave fairy tales and tribalism behind, then we will know peace

What an exceptional role model and public speaker!

The accent adds 50 IQ points

Religion: What man does to earn merit or favor with God. Grace: What God does to provide salvation freely to man.

Auf Deutsch gesagt: Ich feiere diesen jungen Genius. Alex O'Connor ist erstklassig. 🏆

Delighted to see Alex making it big. Hes a great clear speaker.

Alex is the only philosophy person I keep coming back to and agreeing with every single thing he says. Always needle sharp and straight to the point. Always effective and clear. Very much appriciated 🤗

On point as usual. Thanks Alex!

The process of creating our gods is a gradual accrual of qualities, powers, status, and relationship. As the godly accolades mount, the contradictions beg for exposure. Here, human imagination faces human rational thought. Bravo!

Alex, I extend my profound gratitude. Over the course of several years, I have ardently admired your accomplishments, witnessing with awe the remarkable evolution and exemplary proficiency you have demonstrated.

I met your channel when you were speaking from your room, and now you’re on tv and big debates. So proud of you, brother. Keep up the good work 👏🏻

Great speech. I love that this guy debates without needle and stuck to the seeking the truth and asking the difficult questions.

Great presentation Alex considering the short notice to prepare. Cheers.

An erudite and concise speech, as always, from Mr O'Connor.

Alex, looking ahead for your debate with Dinesh D'Souza. Keep up the good work man. Love from 🇮🇳

I truly enjoy your content. Great work.

Bruh I remember watching your vids when you first started. You were sitting in your room with the books in the background. It’s insane how far you’ve made it and how much further you’ll go. I knew you’d blow up if you just stayed the course.

Amazing ! Thanks for all you do Alex !!

I see the Union crowds are still as turgid and listless as they were back in my day (mid-90s). Great speech, well-delivered.

Phenomenal performance, Alex!

As someone with mystic beliefs that are not based in a theistic God, I am genuinely happy with this talk due to it's simple reasoning off of dogmatic ideation instead of going after abstractions.

Alex never ceases to amaze. What an incredible mind. Incredible content Alex. Thank you.

There were moments here where I heard Hitch's voice coming through. Very well done, and you have an exciting future ahead.

Now that's is how i want to sound like when making a speech, eloquent, smooth and rational

Alex is as cool as a cucumber and his thinking and ability to express himself are very impressive.

This is like watching Hitchens resurrected. And I mean that as a big compliment. Keep it up man. Cheers.

Dude you are popping off right now, 1 million subs for sure this year

CS Lewis articulated the exact same case against religion's central truth claim, and later in life he vigorously proclaimed its philosophical inadequacy.

Great speech, Alex - sent you an email about an event this summer, btw :)

Subscribed. Mr O'Connor you have my full support! I look forward to hearing more from you sir. Thank you!

Thank you for continuing the great fight. Your humor makes your message more powerful because we all need to laugh more at the human condition. Nicely done. 😊

Yeah Jesus describes evolution "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." -John 15:1-3

Wow! Concise and precise! This boy is something!

Alex is exceptional. So happy to see all his progress.

How beautifully articulate and well-said!!

Remember when the lesser of the Hitchens brothers stormed out of a interview with this gentleman

You really have become a great orator, Alex. Absolutely impressive performance.

this is crazy.. I've been watching you since we were both kids.. man how time flies

I am an atheist. As soon as anyone can present objective,(non biblical), testable, verifiable evidence for “god” , I am in. Until that point its in the same category as the loch ness monster, ghosts and fairies.

Plain as day ... well said! Bravo! Creatively executed! Well researched! You got my attention!

No design, the universe doesn’t follow specific laws, everything functions by pure chance. Nothing created something, and you know what you don’t see evidence of, all of the above. God loves you don’t reject him.

Alex has no chill and I love it.

Alex, in my view, you're brightening a space, in your own way, that had dimmed considerably at the passing of Christopher Hitchens. I appreciate you, and look forward to hearing more!

Have just recently come across this guy. Subscribed.

How did you get to the university alex? Was that agency you used or something else?

Huge Respect for you. These topics needs to be addressed. As we can see what's happening on the world.

Im convinced Alex is going to become one of the biggest modern age philosophers

Money is a delusion also time ! Should we live without it?

Great Alex , really inspirational 😊😊

Your vocal mannerisms are starting to remind of Christopher Hitchens, Alex. Brings a tear to my eye.

Alex is a cross between richard dawkins and christopher hitchens. The new voice in opposition to religion. Bravo.

Wonderful as always, Alex.

I don't speak for other religions and not sure who said faith is belief without evidence but the biblical definition of Faith is Hebrews 11:1 KJB (Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.) Faith is with evidence. Blind faith is without.

This kid has really come into his own. I remember his videos before he left for university. Keep working young man!

Eloquently put as always, Alex.

My first time ever hearing Alex. I’m sad that I’m late to the party but I’m happy to be here ❤

How foolish. Of all, the All In All is no delusion. Lord have mercy. (God bless you.).

he's our new Hitchens. been a subscriber for a long time now and he just keeps getting better

The days of some funky draws seem so long ago. Keep up the amazing work!

One of the most famous conversions in all of history was Saul of Tarsus converting to Christianity. His flipping the switch from extreme zealot against Christianity to the for-runner of the faith itself was nothing short of miraculous. He had an encounter with the risen Jesus he could not deny. Even the famous philosopher CS Lewis had a conversion from atheism to theism, and then Christianity where his heart went first and his mind followed. Could it be God is personal? And if so, would it really be shocking that people encounter Him like one does a new friend or spouse and not like learning the quadratic equation?

today is the 2nd day of watching u....only discovered u yesterday....OMG.... better late then neva

Pretty amazing how incredible good you speak. Its not only the words but everything. Keep it up man. Please never stop.

Fabulous! Greatly enjoyed it. Still don't get why your side has lost the debate. Maybe we will be able to watch the rest of in in the future as well?

I've watched this channel for years now, and I'm glad to see that people are getting to see just how good Alex speaks and articulates his thoughts.

his eloquence is literal gold in my ears

Such a fine, well-spoken young man ❤

You make me so proud to be a human. Such eloquence and so much powerful logic line after line.. sentence after sentence. That's the affinity that gives me energy everyday go to do my job. I'm so happy to be a beliver a beliver of peer-reviewed EVIDENCE.

Well done mate - hearing you and hitch use the word 'simulacrum' makes me happy. That being said you are definitely carving your own unique path, separate but equally articulate and influential.

Have always followed you mate, but youre finding ypur voice and style and IMO will go down as one of the greats in years to come and mentioned in the same circles as hitchens, dawkins etc Much respect brother

What a refined gentleman Alex is

3:54 Sorry to nitpick, but I wouldn’t say atheism is synonymous with materialism. There are many people who identify as atheist or non-theistic who also claim to have a rich spiritual life. 9:19 I also say this because I’ve spent far too much time listening to apologists: Your opponents will almost certainly disagree with the claim that “faith is belief without evidence.” They’ll claim that the evidence is all there, and faith is just trust.

Got it! God is a delusion because this guy is not convinced. Powerful argument. Any other thing that we are supposed to run by him?

Hi Alex, thank you for doing this so well and clearly, I do now find it quite difficult to take any statements based on belief at all seriously!. Given the belief is only needed in the first place to compensate for the lack of established facts it always reduces the integrity of any attempt at rational debate! That propensity for cognitive delusion we humans are so well endowed with might well have a quite simple evolutionary origin, the ability to short cut all rational thought and instead resort to faith or belief does make a sort of sense if you properly understand just how time consuming, difficult and uncertain rational thought actually is. We do all have some capacity for rational thinking but it is very rarely really needed, we do not exist in a hostile environment where it is essential that we get the correct answer to every question. This 'alternative' strategy, to just guess, any guess, as long as it is not demonstrably false will do, get enough other people to fall in with it and it is quite easy to establish a 'working' religion to which all and any doctrines can be attached without any critical review or challenge ever having to be dealt with certainly if a bit of crucifixion of protestors is allowed. Cheers, Richard.

Most conversion stories start with a personal narrative. Fair enough, but I've heard a number of "de-conversion" stories and the knife cuts both ways. The truth is that for the most part people don't make life decisions for "rational" reasons. They make decisions for personal reasons and justify them later on.

Well done Alex!

"Suffering! Suffering! Suffering! All my atheistic eyes can see is tremendous suffering of all species. How could a God exist to allow 99% of species to be wiped out just so we humans can flourish" What an incredible leap the holder of this belief must take. I do not counter argue only to assert my belief as superior. I have no belief to assert. But I'm in the practice of avoiding assumptions made by my ego, therefore my goal is to rescue others from the ego. Of suffering and of death, we must ask ourselves, "what is it that causes us to characterize suffering as suffering, and death as death?" It is that we fear them greatly. Why? Why do we fear suffering? What is it that makes suffering so terrible? The awareness of suffering and death and of regrets, desires, wishes of a better life are the things that make death and suffering so terrible. An animal, in the moments before it dies, does not regret, does not wish that it had spoken loving words to it's kin, does not NOT want to die. An animal simply stops clinging to life and gives in to rest. One only needs two very simple observations to conclude this and maintain the humility to avoid jumping to conclusions: Animals do not think metacognitvely, they act according to nature. One must attribute the ability of reason to animals if one is to count their suffering as being the same as OUR suffering. So far as we know, we must treat animals with the same care and respect that we do nature. So do not hail the suffering of animals as equal to the suffering of metacognitive humans and do not forget how simple it is to rid the human condition of suffering which only exists out of pridefulness

Congrats Alex! Keep on being greater and greater

Absolutely fantastic speaker. I think you’re a rare gem of civility and eloquence in modern discourse.

Absolutely fantastic, Alex!

I am heavily spiritually aligned. But faith needs room for doubt and skepticism. This is where your speeches come in. I'm in awe of your eloquence every time I watch your videos.

I've only stumbled upon Alex today and I'm already a big fan - a real talent

Nicely delivered; well said.

This hits the nail on the cross

Where can we watch the full video?

I love you man one of the best philosophers in the 21st century. You explain truth like the alphabet..

I'm speaking here, as a Catholic. I'm going to summarize the arguments/claims made by Alex, which I am totally open to being not wholly correct/missing stuff. Just my own summary: Claim 1 - Many people believe in religion because of non-rational reasons. Argument 1 - Life has developed largely via survival of the fittest; and in the same vein, the death of millions of innocent animals. It seems this is how we would expect life to come about by purely amoral, natural means - but certainly not through the hands of a benevolent, all-powerful God. Quite the interesting take, in my opinion, on the classic "argument from suffering." Argument 2 - Many times throughout history, religious people have gone to war over even minor religious differences. Why is it that, if religion is supposed to be the starting point for all noble pursuits of mankind, we cannot even agree on even what God is real or what they are like? Moreover, if there is so much disagreement on religion, how can anyone claim it is self-evident. And, if religion is not self-evident, why so? That's the main stuff I got out of the video. Now I'd like to share my thoughts. To begin with, I will start with the claims I find less-challenging to my own personal views. This would be claim 1 and part of argument 2. I think the facts that people believe in religion for stupid reasons and stupidly go to war over minor differences in belief are more a reflection of the occasional stupidity of people rather than a reflection of the truth of these beliefs. Although it is true it is dumb to believe in religion solely for personal reasons, I disagree that you could infer from that that there are no good, sound reasons to believe in religion. Now that that is out of the way, I will try to defend my view from the more challenging claims and arguments from Alex. To be straightforward, I do not honestly know how to reply to these claims. It is true, at least the majority of science will attest, that life evolved from some kind of "survival of the fittest." And, it seems clear that "survival of the fittest" means death and brutal suffering to those "not fit." Now, I have heard (I think it is him at least) William Lane Craig argue that the suffering of animals is not an issue because they do not feel pain. This seems like a bad argument, though. For instance, why would, in general, all animals avoid suffering if it did not cause pain? I digress... Ultimately, I am just going to have to admit here there is no good response. I think, unfortunately, this is something I'd need to think seriously about if I am to remain Catholic. Really, there seems to be little holes in this argument. My only response would be maybe you could say that there is the possibility that the suffering of these creatures is in God's plan because it was the only way He could bring about the best possible existence for all creatures in general? Of course, that may, rightfully, seem like quite a vague and unfair copout from a serious argument. I don't know. Finally, I think that the fact that there are so many different religions only means that religion isn't as straightforward as some fundamentalists claim. I think you could argue, as a religious person, that there may be good reason that God made himself be hidden, at least right now. Perhaps, for instance, there is more happiness than there would be otherwise from people having to struggle some to find God. My last point would be to address the argument from intuition as I would call it. It may seem, so the argument goes, that intuition tells us that Godless world would lead to what we see (i.e. lots of religious differences and life coming about through death and suffering). However, I think intuition is only that, intuition - not truth. Intuition can certainly help us find truth, but it sometimes, as I'm sure you know, leads us down to error. Moreover, sometimes our true intuition is unclear - we may think we intuitively know we want to be a painter, for instance - but, really, we have that "intuition" merely because of say, environmental factors. Ok, that's all for me. Hope someone gets some use out of this rant. :)

Very very well said.

Alex O’Connor, you are an excellent public speaker. I’d love to see more of this debate

Well done! witty and smart, you know what you are talking about unlike most. You are well deserving of admiration and have gained yet another loyal follower, not in a religious way but in a "I totally agree with everything you said way".