Whenever there is a debate between theists and atheists, we expect theists to cower in defeat and atheists to emerge victorious (it may be different if you’re a religious person). But often times, the theists produce more persuasive arguments and it is atheists who cling to their “you can’t convince me” mantra in spite of all rational argumentation.
My view is that a true debater should be able to debate any point of view, either pro or con. When the debaters are well informed, debates on religion can be very interesting and informative. Unfortunately, many religious “debaters” are poorly prepared and even while their atheist opponents are too arrogant to make a persuasive argument, still fail to persuade their audience. This appears to NOT have been the case in the Turek vs Hitchens debate.
I’ve recently discovered the debate pictured while watching the “establishment reaction” to Life of Brian, presented by BBC as a debate (2013, full, pew, 1, 2, 3, 4) between John Cleese & Michael Palin on the Monty side and Malcolm Muggeridge & Mervyn Stockwood, Bishop of Southwark on the reactionary side. The religious guys had an uphill battle and they do a terrible job at defending their side. It’s almost as if they know they are on a suicidal mission and don’t even bother taking live ammo.
According to the vimeo blurb, the subject of the debate (which, as I am writing this, I have yet to watch) is “Does God exist?”; it can also be found on YouTube under CrossExamined (also blog, ce-ht) and also done with Dawkins, by Dawkins, and by Hitchens with William Lane Craig, with 4 Christians, etc.
My personal view is that the existence of God cannot be proved or disproved. Theists or atheists hoping to do so are inevitably wrong.
I will update this article with my views once I manage to find the time to go through all this material.
*(*This article is unfinished – it was scheduled to appear in the hope that it will be finished before, but since this message is here and until it is removed, the article is to be considered work in progress*)*.
Sources / More info: 33H8NNm-TurekFaithBook, apo315, ce-ht, rhlj-review, pantheon-hitchtur, mp3, comments-debunking
