Whatever you think of essayist
Christopher Hitchens, you have to admire his willingness to have a debate about
God with just about anybody. Since he wrote God
is Not Great: Religion Poisons Everything,
he's taken on theologians,
rabbis and Fox News pundits. Last month in Toronto, in the midst of his current
treatment for cancer, Hitchens debated
Tony Blair
. Hitchens has even publicly debated
his own brother
, an Anglican priest believer.

The documentary Collision
follows Hitchens on the road as he holds a series of debates with evangelical theologian
Douglas Wilson. Hitchens comes off as a genial fellow (so does Wilson) carrying
on the great British tradition of debate: you fiercely try to demolish your opponent
and then go out for drinks together afterwards.

Nothing, however, seems
to dislodge from Hitchens's mind the notion that God is a despot in the sky and
that religion offers empty or dangerous fairy-tale explanations. Debaters'
efforts to expand Hitchens's view of who God might be or what religion does
gain no traction.