Christopher Hitchens debates William Dembski on 11/18

Questioninggeller

Illuminator
Q
Joined
May 11, 2002
Messages
3,048
According to the Dallas Morning News, Christopher Hitchens debates William Dembski on 11/18 at a church hosted by a Christian school. The event will be streamed live here.


Famed atheist Christopher Hitchens to debate at Christian school in Plano
By SAM HODGES
The Dallas Morning News
November 17, 2010


If you're a Christian school bent on bringing in an atheist to test students' faith, why not shoot for the stars?

That was the thinking at Prestonwood Christian Academy, which landed Christopher Hitchens, a celebrity skeptic and author of the bestseller God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

Hitchens will debate William Dembski, a research professor in philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, on Thursday morning at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.

Though the public is invited, the main audience will be high school and middle school students from Prestonwood Christian Academy and other Christian schools, with one school coming from Arkansas.
...
Panetti said the Plano school put out "a pretty good chunk of change" – he wouldn't be more specific – to get an atheist of Hitchens' caliber.

"It's worth the investment," he said. "He's witty. He's very articulate. We wanted to make sure we didn't put somebody up there who our students would say is just a straw figure."
...
Prestonwood Christian had a similar event last year, pitting Christian apologist Dinesh D'Souza against Dan Barker, a pastor turned atheist.
...
Click to expand...
Full: The Dallas Morning News


From the Prestonwood's website:
Thursday, Nov. 18 – BWi Debate: Dembski vs. Hitchens
Arrangements for the appearance of Christopher Hitchens made through Greater Talent Network, Inc, New York, NY


Preparing at Home for Debate Conversation

We’ve talked about it enough that you should already know that on Thursday, Nov. 18 from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. to intellectual heavy weights will square off in the Prestonwood Worship Center debating the concept “Does a Good God Exist?” Well-known author and columnist Christopher Hitchens is the self-proclaimed “antitheist” – not only does he know there is no god (capitalized or lower case), he also makes a very compelling argument that religion is harmful to society and mankind! Defending the position that evidence suggests that not only does a Creator exist, but He is also a benevolent and Supreme Being that has the best intentions for mankind in mind is Dr. Bill Dembski, Research Professor at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas.
...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
You gotta give props to Prestonwood for their willingness to spend top dollar to expose their students to an alternate viewpoint.
 
Thanks. I hope somebody records it in case the church doesn't put it up for download. I'll try if I get up in time, but I've never recorded a live stream before.
 
A live webcast, no less. I wonder if they're prepared for the likely size of the internet audience.
 
Cleon said:
You gotta give props to Prestonwood for their willingness to spend top dollar to expose their students to an alternate viewpoint.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is precisely what I thought. Many other places wouldn't even take the chance that Hitchens' words might make some sense to the kids - they'd just keep them inside the bubble.

On another point: I wonder if Hitchens will bring up Dembski's recent run-in with his seminary where he was almost "expelled" for not interpreting the Bible on Noah's Flood in the preferred manner?
 
I think Dembski will do what he usually does at debates: Speak over the heads of the audience by using jargon in an effort to make his religious beliefs sound scientific. Nevermind that Dembski is not a scientist, he will use the discredited work of Michael Behe and Stephen Meyer to conflate the supernatural with the natural world. Dembski will not be providing arguments from theologians, but rhetoric from creationists.
 
Questioninggeller said:
I think Dembski will do what he usually does at debates: Speak over the heads of the audience by using jargon in an effort to make his religious beliefs sound scientific. Nevermind that Dembski is not a scientist, he will use the discredited work of Michael Behe and Stephen Meyer to conflate the supernatural with the natural world. Dembski will not be providing arguments from theologians, but rhetoric from creationists.
Click to expand...

And Hitchens will be too smart to take the bait. My guess is Hitchens will just ask a lot of really hard questions which Dembski won't address... but the kids will hear the questions, and it will get some of them thinking :D
 
MattusMaximus said:
On another point: I wonder if Hitchens will bring up Dembski's recent run-in with his seminary where he was almost "expelled" for not interpreting the Bible on Noah's Flood in the preferred manner?
Click to expand...

That's a good point. Specifically, I hope this gets asked:

HOW OLD? Age of Earth debated among SBC scholars
Florida Baptist Witness
October 20, 2010
By DAVID ROACH, Witness Correspondent


He also argued that Noah’s flood likely was limited to the Middle East rather than being global in scope. However, he later retracted that claim in a statement released by Southwestern.
...
Patterson said that when Dembski’s questionable statements came to light, he convened a meeting with Dembski and several high-ranking administrators at the seminary. At that meeting, Dembski was quick to admit that he was wrong about the flood, Patterson said.
...
Click to expand...

It'd be nice for Dembski to state if Flood geology is a religious belief or a scientific fact, and clear up any confusion that he had in his writings.
 
Last edited:
I wonder if some interested skeptical organizations could offer to mirror the webcast, help shoulder the inevitable bandwidth issues?
 
MattusMaximus said:
On another point: I wonder if Hitchens will bring up Dembski's recent run-in with his seminary where he was almost "expelled" for not interpreting the Bible on Noah's Flood in the preferred manner?
Click to expand...
How could it not come up?
Central to the standard argument against evolution is the supposed dogma of evolutionary theory. That detractors of the theory are ostracized and kicked out. That academics are close minded and if they only let inquiry lead where it does, they would soon realize how wrong they were about evolution..


This occurrence simply exposes what everyone in science already knew; Dembski, Behe, Stein, .... are projecting. They aren't defining the way science is, they are describing their own institutions. They know deep down the flaws of such a system, and wish to believe their enemy has the same flaw. In their mind, it excuses the limitations with their philosophy.

It is the same reason why the "atheism is a religion" argument will still come up from time to time.
 
AvalonXQ said:
I wonder if some interested skeptical organizations could offer to mirror the webcast, help shoulder the inevitable bandwidth issues?
Click to expand...

Prestonwood Baptist Church (which runs the school) is one of the largest megachurches in the country. Their resources are vastly superior to those of JREF, Skeptics Society, or even the CFI.
 
The Prestonwood Baptist Church:
2504_prestonwood_b_church_8x10-300_for_project_sheet.jpg

Revel in its awe-inspiring, aircraft-hangar-like architecture!

p.s. this is right up the road from where I work. I won't be able to attend, sadly :(
 
Last edited:
Nursefoxfire said:
The Prestonwood Baptist Church:
[qimg]http://www.manhattanconstructiongroup.com/wp-content/gallery/20090204020256/2504_prestonwood_b_church_8x10-300_for_project_sheet.jpg[/qimg]
Revel in its awe-inspiring, aircraft-hangar-like architecture!

p.s. this is right up the road from where I work. I won't be able to attend, sadly :(
Click to expand...

Man, they just don't do churches like they used to. :gasp:

Since the topic of the debate is "whether a Good God exists" rather than just whether a God exists, I suppose that the subject will center on theodicy.

I think Hitch could do this in his sleep.
 
Nursefoxfire said:
The Prestonwood Baptist Church:
[qimg]http://www.manhattanconstructiongroup.com/wp-content/gallery/20090204020256/2504_prestonwood_b_church_8x10-300_for_project_sheet.jpg[/qimg]
Revel in its awe-inspiring, aircraft-hangar-like architecture!

p.s. this is right up the road from where I work. I won't be able to attend, sadly :(
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the Tower of Babel :)
 
MattusMaximus said:
Reminds me of the Tower of Babel :)
Click to expand...

Actually what it reminds me of is one of Napoleon's aphorisms - always leave a door open for your enemies to escape through.

Unfortunately, googling didn't find the exact quote. It did find this however

Protesting his final exile to St. Helena, Napoleon declared: "I appeal to history." Last week a guide in Napoleon's birthplace in Ajaccio, taking some liberties with that history, described a movable plank in the floor as "the trap door through which Napoleon had to escape from his admirers when he returned from Egypt." One visitor pointed out that on an earlier visit he had been told Napoleon had used the trap door to escape his enemies, who burned down the house. The guide agreed. "Yes, that's what we used to say, but they've changed our text."
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom