debates

Strange debate experience

Yesterday I was at REASONFEST 2012 at Lawrence, Kansas, where the organizers had set me up to debate whether Islam and science can coexist. It was a strange experience. My opponent, a Muslim social scientist called Leila Chahine, turned out to be more of an illustration of my thesis than anything else. From creationism to Strange debate experience

Worst Atheist Debaters

Like my list of “Best Atheist Debaters,” I don’t know of any way to be fully objective about this sort of thing. Also, like the other list, I fully recognize that others may disagree. Nevertheless, for what it’s worth, here is my list of worst atheist debaters, organized by topic.Topic: God’s Existence Topic: Morality Without Worst Atheist Debaters

Best Atheist Debate Performances (revised 3-Apr-14)

The Secular Outpost seems to consistently get a lot of traffic from people who are doing Internet searches for “best atheist debaters.” This post is for them. This post was originally titled “Best Atheist Debaters.” Just as I changed the old post “Worst Atheist Debaters” to “Worst Atheist Debate Performances,” I’ve changed this post from Best Atheist Debate Performances (revised 3-Apr-14)

Peter Atkins’ Opening and Closing Statements for the Craig-Atkins Debate (2011)

(Posted with the permission of Peter Atkins.) Opening Statement My immediate task is to set out my stall, not to respond to Dr Craig’s arguments at this stage: that will come later. It is, in fact, my task to bring you forward from the eleventh century, where you have been immersed with considerable erudition for Peter Atkins’ Opening and Closing Statements for the Craig-Atkins Debate (2011)

LINK: Audio of Russell-Copleston Debate on God’s Existence (Part 1 of 2)

This is an excerpt from the famous BBC Radio debate between Father Frederick C. Copleston and Bertrand Russell. In this section, they discuss Leibniz’s Argument from Contingency, which is a form of the Cosmological Argument. It differs from other Cosmological arguments (e.g. Kalam) in that it is consistent with an eternal universe, as it doesn’t LINK: Audio of Russell-Copleston Debate on God’s Existence (Part 1 of 2)