Frank Turek comments on the Hitchens-Turek Debate

On Tuesday night, I debated atheist Christopher Hitchens, author of God is not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything, at Virginia Commonwealth University. The topic was, “Does God Exist?” 

Thanks be to God (and to you for your prayers) because I don’t think the debate could have gone much better. There were several atheists who approached me afterwards to say that I had won. 

One young lady actually apologized for being an atheist!  Her position was not well represented, and she said that the arguments for God were. 

Hitchens was his usual charming and witty self (I really like him and said as much), but he did not answer any of the eight arguments that I presented for the existence of God.  And as many in the audience acknowledged, he dodged nearly all of my questions.  

Here is the introduction of a long e-mail sent to me two hours after the debate by a VCU Philosophy professor who attended (this professor told me that he is completely “non-religious”):

Dear Dr. Turek, I wanted to say once again that I greatly enjoyed your talk and that, in my judgment, you clearly and unequivocally prevailed against Hitchens. Your two mind-body arguments were, I thought, very good, as were your modernizations of the cosmological argument and the teleological argument. I was also moved by your argument that, given how vanishingly close to zero are the chances of there being any sort of life, let alone intelligent life, it is more reasonable to infer that there is a God than it is to infer that there isn’t — the first an inference, but not the latter, being an ‘inference to the best explanation’, as philosophers of science would say.

Read the rest here.

A Hitch in Hitchens: Observations From the Turek-Hitchens Debate

Here are some observations from a Hitchens fan who was at the debate. Sounds like Turek won the debate, but Hitchens was not in great form (unwell perhaps?). Enjoy.

http://rudyhenkel.livejournal.com/2726.html

Anyone know where the MP3s are?

Debate between Frank Turek and Christopher Hitchens at VCU

This should be really exciting for those who like a lively debate!

Frank is from this site: http://www.crossexamined.org/

Check it out. Frank is “in ya face!” and so is Christopher Hitchens — so this should be a fun debate. See a short video of Frank on his website above.

Another debate — Frank Turek versus Christopher Hitchens

http://crossexamined.org/calendar_event.asp?d_ID=121

Debate with Christopher Hitchens: Does God Exist?

Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Virginia Commonwealth University
VCU: Commonwealth Ballroom in the Student Commons
Richmond, VA

ARN - Real Science-4-Kids

What is Kogs-4-Kids?

Kogs-4-Kids is a workbook set that has just been released that supports the Real Science-4-Kids curriculum. This workbook set helps students make cognitive connections between the scientific discipline they are studying (chemistry, biology, physics, and earth and space) and other disciplines such as critical thinking, language, technology, the arts, philosophy, and history. Kogs-4-Kids plus Real Science-4-Kids work together to create not only a foundation for scientific knowledge but also a framework for scientific literacy.

Order the complete Chemistry 1A Bundle today or the individual workbooks of interest (recommended for grades 3-5).  You can also download sample chapters for each topic.  Find out why kids are going krazy for kogs.

William Lane Craig debates John Shook in Canada, 2008

Full videos of the debate are located here.

Thanks to our friends at Apologetics 315.

A Massive compilation of materials

www.apollos.ws

Bill Craig - Bill Cooke Debate

It happened in Auckland…

http://mandmandmandm.blogspot.com/2008/06/battle-of-bills-review-of-craig-cooke.html

My small idea of getting Dr William Lane Craig to have a debate at Auckland University ended up being an event that far exceeded my expectations. Despite the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists (NZARH) booking a larger lecture theatre at the last minute we still had to open up three additional lecture theatres with live video feeds and we still had people sitting on the floor! Question time had to be extended because of the interest. The range of people in attendance was excellent; hardened skeptics, evangelical Christians and everyone in between, young and old, high school students through to tertiary faculty.

And is about to happen in Palmy…

http://christiannews.co.nz/2008/debate-bill-craig-and-bill-cooke/

William Lane Craig Comprehensive Debate List

Stolen from here. Read more

Cool stuff, stolen from here…

Cool stuff, stolen from here: http://apologetics315.blogspot.com/

Does God Exist? Greg Bahnsen vs. Gordon Stein

There are a lot of great theism/atheism debates out there. But this one is surely a classic.

For those not familiar with the transcendental argument for the existence of God or Greg Bahnsen, this should be a good introduction.

Here is the transcript of the debate.

Here is the debate on MP3: part 1, part 2, part 3.

Anthony Flew Says There is a God

World-famous atheist Anthony Flew’s recent book "There is a God" has caused quite a stir in the atheist community.

Hear more about his conversion to belief in God in a short MP3 by Probe Ministries.

This article/MP3 is by Michael Gleghorn. Definitely worth a listen. So much for the "weakness" of the design argument…

Christopher Hitchens vs. Mark D. Roberts Debate MP3

If you haven’t heard this debate, I encourage you to listen. Both sides are very cordial, but the exchange is quite lively.

Christopher Hitchens is author of God is Not Great.

Mark D. Roberts’ most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? — which, I might add, is an excellent book.

This debate took place on the Hugh Hewitt show and full transcripts are available.

The audio is compiled into one MP3 here.

Christianity vs. Scientific Naturalism Debate MP3

A debate between Dr. William Lane Craig and Dr. Garrett Hardin.

This was an interesting debate. Hardin’s answer to the question asking for the evidence for scientific naturalism was very telling.

I will leave this one open to your comments. Enjoy the MP3.

William Lane Craig coming to New Zealand

Christian News has news that W.L.C. is coming to NZ in June. Check it out here.

This is huge news for those interested in apologetics as Craig is one of the best.

Apparently Richard Dawkins was asked if he would debate W.L.C. and replied: "It would look good on his C.V., but not on mine."

Probably what Dawkins really means is that: "Um, I know I will not be able to play fast and loose with this guy like I can with most others, so, um, what derogatory comment can I use to diffuse the question?"

It’s a shame that he turned it down. Craig debated Peter Atkins (MP3)from Oxford University a few years ago, and has done numerous other debates and written and co-written several books.

Check www.reasonablefaith.org for more details!

Oxford Scholar John Lennox on Atheism and Richard Dawkins

Well - has science buried God? Of course not. John Lennox answers his own question decisively. No one who understands what science really is and is not could suppose that such interment was ever on the cards. No one who understands what religion really is, beneath its sometimes ugly face, could suppose that it would be good to bury it.

From article:

“He is taken seriously in this not because his arguments are sound but because he is an outstanding rhetorician. It is the art of bamboozlement.”

Source: http://books.guardian.co.uk…

Dinesh D’Souza Debates Daniel Dennett

Thanks to Richard Dawkins dot net for this material!

Description:

Dinesh D’Souza, Christian and best-selling author, faced off against Tufts professor, author, and atheist Daniel Dennett in a debate on the existence of god. The resolution for the debate was as follows: “God is a manmade invention.” Daniel Dennett argued the affirmative, and Dinesh D’Souza the negative.

Full debate - VIDEO QuickTime format (185 MB, 2:15:12)

Full debate - AUDIO only mp3 (60.9 MB, 2:15:12)

Part 1

Read more

Letter to a Maladjusted Misotheist (Sam Harris)

Published by permission (http://www.tektonics.org/gk/harrisletter.html)

November 2, 2006

Dear Mr. Harris,

Greetings to you. I am writing to you because I am in possession of your latest work, Letter to a Christian Nation, and I have been asked to deliver a detailed response to it, which I intend to do over the next few days. Before I begin writing you letters in earnest, however, I thought I ought to let you know when the first time was I ever heard of you: I saw your appearance in Brian Flemming’s film, The God Who Wasn’t There.

Now if you know this, you will understand why, quite frankly, I consider you a non-starter as an ideological opponent, rather than any sort of informed, worthwhile threat. For you see, it is my policy as a defender of the Christian faith to ignore those who show little or no interest in presenting a fair, accurate, and above all informed critique of Christianity.

Read more

William Lane Craig/Frank Zindler Debate

Ok, so this is a bit old now, but quite embarrassing for the atheist side. Check it out on the www.apollos.ws website.

Craig is like a machine gun, and Zindler was supposedly the best the atheists could find!

Watch the Debate: What Has Atheism Done for Us?

Christopher Hitchens versus Dinesh D’Souza

[Watch the debate by clicking here]

Download the .wmv file using Flashget at this address:
mms://216.75.61.152/xstream/neproductions/tkc/debate.wmv?MSWMExt=.asf

http://www.townhall.com/…what_has_atheism_done_for_us

My new book What’s So Great About Christianity, just out, is already an amazon.com bestseller, a Wall Street Journal bestseller and No. 16 on the New York Times bestseller list. On Saturday C-Span broadcast my debate with God Is Not Great author Christopher Hitchens. Many people have commented that this is the best debate on the topic of Christianity v. Atheism that has yet been held. If you haven’t seen it, you can find the debate on my website dineshdsouza.com. Following the debate, AOL posted the video on its main page, and asked people to make up their minds and vote on who won. Modesty prevents me from disclosing the answer.

Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, watched the debate and reported with some agitation that the audience seemed to be applauding more for me than for Hitchens. Dawkins commented on his website that the New York crowd must have been a “dopey” lot. But if you listen to the debate, you will see that both atheists and believers were well represented. The audience applause was initially stronger for Hitchens, and only as the debate went on did it trend markedly toward me. So is Dawkins suggesting that the audience was very intelligent to start with but became more “dopey” as the debate went on? More likely we are seeing evidence of the “Dawkins delusion,” an unwillingness to use good sense and face facts when Dawkins’ own belief system is called into question.

Lee Strobel — a really interesting read

Where have I been?

by Lee Strobel, 10.18.2007

San Francisco, New York City, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Chicago, Houston - whew! I’ve been bouncing around the country the last couple of weeks to talk about the faith-impacting issues in my new book, The Case for the Real Jesus. But I wanted to pause, catch my breath, and introduce you to the new format for my newsletter.

I’ve decided to adopt a more personal and conversational approach to keeping in contact with you. Consider it a letter from a friend! I’ll keep you abreast of new developments, share some stories, offer a few observations, and alert you to exciting opportunities on the horizon.

New Developments?

Well, I’ve been blown away by the enthusiastic reception to The Case for the Real Jesus, in which I interview experts about the current objections to Christianity that are circulating in popular culture. I think Christians are especially thirsty for answers to the tough challenges that are being promoted by skeptics in best-selling books, in college classrooms, on news programs, and on the Internet. As one physician wrote to encourage me: “This book has answered the exact questions that my skeptical friends have been asking me.” What’s especially exciting is that 206 seekers prayed to receive Christ as their forgiver and leader when I spoke on the topic of the book recently at Saddleback Church in California. (By the way, thanks to Rick Warren for saying to the congregation: “This is Lee’s best book ever!”)

Read more

Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Well, the debate has happened — and it really was pretty good! More information here.

Richard Dawkin’s website has the audio files here:

Part 1 (47:28, 13.6 MB)
Part 2 (44:01, 12.62 MB)
Part 3 (27:28, 7.87 MB)

Comments on the debate can be made here.

I think Dawkins came out of this debate severely bruised. Lennox showed that The God Delusion is heavy on rhetoric but void of good meaty arguments. Well done both debaters — and especially the winner!

CDs and DVDs of this event are available for purchase, and will be complete and ready to ship by last week of November.

More comments here.

What would it take for a Darwinist to change his mind?

A free-for-all contest on the central issues of the Intelligent Design controversy.

October 4

Intelligent Design theorist Dr. Paul Nelson takes on a preeminent Darwinist philosopher, Dr. Michael Ruse in a wild, head-to-head debate on the most controversial aspects of the scientific and philosophical issues.  This could be the most entertaining and informative evening you experience this year!

Where: Sutherland Auditorium, Biola University

When: 7:30-9:30 pm

Cost: $20

Seating very limited for this rare debate, tickets will sell out quickly.

Source: http://www.biola.edu/academics/professional-studies/apologetics/events/

Richards Dawkins and Alister McGrath

“This interview was filmed for the TV documentary “Root of All Evil?” but was left out of the final version. Time restrictions dictated that not all interviews filmed could be used. This was especially regrettable in the case of the McGrath interview, which is therefore offered here now, unedited.”

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=64742787603…

The Return of God

William Lane Craig has been doing a lecture and debate series around the UK.

Here is a Telegraph write-up on one of the debates.

And yes, life is ultimately absurd if God does not exist. Get Craig’s lecture on this from www.bethinking.org.

Alister McGrath and Richard Dawkins

Alister McGrath delivers a talk on The God Delusion in MP3 format: click here.