Former UK prime minister Tony Blair is to take on columnist Christopher Hitchens in a televised public debate for and against religion.
Mr Blair, a Catholic convert, will argue that faith is a force for good.
Mr Hitchens, terminally ill with cancer, is expected to argue it is the world’s “main source of hatred”, as he did in his 2007 book God is not Great.
A 23-country poll paid for by the debate’s Canadian organisers suggests the world is evenly split on the issue.
Some 48% of the 18,192 people questioned by Ipsos took the view that “religion provides the common values and ethical foundations that diverse societies need to the thrive in the 21st Century”.
Fractionally more – 52% – supported the view that “religious beliefs promote intolerance, exacerbate ethnic divisions, and impede social progress in developing and developed nations alike”.
Rich countries were less likely to see religion as a force for good than poor countries – the main exception being the United States, where 65% said it had a positive impact.
Ahead of the debate, which will take place in front of a sell-out audience of 2,700 people in Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall, Tony Blair said: “The good that people of faith all over the world do every day, motivated by their religion, cannot be underestimated and should never be ignored.”
It could, and should, be a force for progress, he said.
Christopher Hitchens – who has described Christianity, Judaism and Islam as the “real axis of evil” – has continued his outspoken attacks on religion in interviews as he is treated for cancer of the oesophagus.
He is scathing about those who suggest his illness might lead him to retract his atheism.
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