Consciencebound

I love debates. I hate debates. Long live debates!

I love debates because I love the intelligent discussion of ideas. I love finely crafted arguments and skillful rhetoric. I love to watch someone with a quick wit and a storehouse of knowledge in their head articulate their position well in the face of equally talented opposition.

I hate debates because more often then not it seem that you have two different people from two very different disciplines of study who find it hard to engage one another on the most relevant subjects of the debate. Or if you do have two equally trained people they can often talk right past each other in a formal debate setting. This is especially true in the so called presidential “debates”. The rigid format that you see in many debates seem to me to restrict the discussion of differences and allows people to weasel out of tough questions.

This debate on the topic Is God Necessary for Morality was not frustrating for me. In fact it was delightful. Each person had a 20 minute opening statement and then they sat down on two comfortable chairs with a moderator sitting off to the side and they discussed back and forth the ideas presented in the opening statements. Each was allowed plenty of time to cross examine and I really think it allowed the discussion to move along well.

The debaters are William Lane Craig representing the Theist/Christian position and Skelly Kagan representing the a-theistic/naturalistic point of view. Both are trained philosophers and both are extremely intelligent, capable and articulate men and both are very polite and cordial making it a real treat to watch.

You can watch the string of youtube videos here…

Or you can watch the whole thing or listen to the mp3 here

Enjoy

Similar Posts:

• Conversation with Hitler on Morality
• Questioning God’s Moral Character
• The Balony Detection Kit
• Introduction to the Old Testament
• Divinely Directed Dozer of Destruction
• Who Am I Trying To Kid?
• Faith… What’s the Point?