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Thomas Paine · 09-21-2009, 10:32 AM

Somebody mentioned The Great Faith Debate on here the other day, so I finally got around to finding it on youtube and started watching it.

I think it's pretty good, and so far it seems like Christopher Hitchens is getting his *** handed to him, but then again I can't really stand Hitchens' personality anyway, and I think it effects his debating negatively.

Anyway, here is the link to the first video, and from there you can see the links to part 2, 3, 4, etc...

Christopher Hitchens VS Dinesh D'souza UCF 2009 pt1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp3p75gmRig

Jnmcda0 · 09-21-2009, 04:09 PM

Hitchens tends to do better when discussing moral/ethical issues or history. I think someone like Dawkins would be far better suited for discussions on science or teleological arguments.

I thought D'Souza's analogy of finding Hamlet and concluding it had a writer to seeing the universe and concluding it had a designer was a very poor analogy, but Hitchens redirected the question somewhat and didn't give a very effective answer.

The reason I find the analogy to be poor is that with a book, we can infer it had a writer because we have seen other books or papers being written and we know how to utilize language to create a book ourselves. Also, we have never seen a book created in nature. As for the universe, we have never seen a universe created and we have not yet found any evidence as to what caused the Big Bang. Even if we find the Big Bang Theory is wrong, we still do not have evidence that an omnipotent deity created the universe.

RyanJ · 09-22-2009, 02:15 AM

1) Watching this debate kind of feels like watching James Carville and Mary Matalin talk about political issues. It seems like each person is more concerned about crafting language that will frame the issue in the way they would like the audience to perceive it rather than making honest arguments that respect the intelligence of those listening and are directly related to the topic at hand.

2) Why must the one of the Hitchens / Dawkins / Harris trio show up at every one of these events (Why not Shermer?). This group seems to be good at preaching to the choir but not quite as adept at persuading the unconvinced.

Jnmcda0 · 09-22-2009, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyanJ

2) Why must the one of the Hitchens / Dawkins / Harris trio show up at every one of these events (Why not Shermer?). This group seems to be good at preaching to the choir but not quite as adept at persuading the unconvinced.

Actually, Shermer has debated D'Souza before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H8ZP...er_profilepage

RyanJ · 09-22-2009, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jnmcda0

Actually, Shermer has debated D'Souza before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H8ZP...er_profilepage

Good point. The only problem? D'Souza is still there.

Jnmcda0 · 09-23-2009, 03:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyanJ

Good point. The only problem? D'Souza is still there.

Well, if you don't like D'Souza, here's one between Shermer and Douglas Jacoby:

http://www.youtube.com/user/douglasj.../0/_jxzGA-OQOk

And here's one between Shermer and John Lennox:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcOIf1U8U8Y

blc1 · 09-23-2009, 07:04 PM

Philosophers Ravi Zacharias and William lane Craig are more persuasive apologists. Some of their debates can be found on youtube as well. It's better to hear from philosophers on the subject rather than polemicists and popularizers like Hitchens.

09-21-2009, 10:32 AM	#1 (permalink)
Thomas Paine Status: Fail Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: USA Gender: Male Age: 28 Posts: 1,698	The Great Faith Debate Videos Somebody mentioned The Great Faith Debate on here the other day, so I finally got around to finding it on youtube and started watching it. I think it's pretty good, and so far it seems like Christopher Hitchens is getting his * handed to him, but then again I can't really stand Hitchens' personality anyway, and I think it effects his debating negatively. Anyway, here is the link to the first video, and from there you can see the links to part 2, 3, 4, etc... Christopher Hitchens VS Dinesh D'souza UCF 2009 pt1** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp3p75gmRig __________________ I thought that when you said so long You wouldn't stay to hear your song

09-21-2009, 04:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jnmcda0 Status: SAS Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Florence, KY Posts: 2,103	Hitchens tends to do better when discussing moral/ethical issues or history. I think someone like Dawkins would be far better suited for discussions on science or teleological arguments. I thought D'Souza's analogy of finding Hamlet and concluding it had a writer to seeing the universe and concluding it had a designer was a very poor analogy, but Hitchens redirected the question somewhat and didn't give a very effective answer. The reason I find the analogy to be poor is that with a book, we can infer it had a writer because we have seen other books or papers being written and we know how to utilize language to create a book ourselves. Also, we have never seen a book created in nature. As for the universe, we have never seen a universe created and we have not yet found any evidence as to what caused the Big Bang. Even if we find the Big Bang Theory is wrong, we still do not have evidence that an omnipotent deity created the universe.

09-22-2009, 02:15 AM	#3 (permalink)
RyanJ Status: SAS Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Pacific NW (USA) Gender: Male Age: 24 Posts: 132	1) Watching this debate kind of feels like watching James Carville and Mary Matalin talk about political issues. It seems like each person is more concerned about crafting language that will frame the issue in the way they would like the audience to perceive it rather than making honest arguments that respect the intelligence of those listening and are directly related to the topic at hand. 2) Why must the one of the Hitchens / Dawkins / Harris trio show up at every one of these events (Why not Shermer?). This group seems to be good at preaching to the choir but not quite as adept at persuading the unconvinced.

09-23-2009, 07:04 PM	#7 (permalink)
blc1 Status: SAS Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: California Gender: Female Age: 20 Posts: 155	Philosophers Ravi Zacharias and William lane Craig are more persuasive apologists. Some of their debates can be found on youtube as well. It's better to hear from philosophers on the subject rather than polemicists and popularizers like Hitchens.