I saw one of these on the main page and had to see if you posted it before i watched it, the bible defense thing sent up red flags lol.
You kick ass!

Does God Exist?, "Does God Not Exist?" 1 & 2 added

The Christian God, The Jewish God, or No God May 27, 2008

Dialogue with Dinesh D'Souza, Christopher Hitchens, and Dennis Prager added.

Almost all of the defenders of theism seem like salespeople, using humor and wit and emotion to promote their views. The athiests are much more pragmatic and sensible.

I am constantly asking myself what the hell could be going on in a theists head when they hear the atheist arguments. Besides, even if a theist was decidedly correct, which so far they aren't, after you prove their is a god how can you then prove you have the RIGHT god?!

Great thread.

A debate between William Lane Craig and Frank R. Zindler added

Is Christianity True? Christopher Hitchens vs Dinesh D'Souza 2008

Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?

Bart Ehrman vs. William Lane Craig added

wow thanks a lot

great thread,maybe all the debates could be moved here.

Ugh, every time I hear a theist say" Well, let me answer your question with a question..." I cringe. Why is it that creationists always have to resort to smoke and mirrors.

Watching Hitchens spank those dudes is priceless. Not only is he iron clad, but he focuses on the question at hand and does not re-direct. Even if he did not inject and philosophy into his debate his logistics would be devastating enough.

Religion is in its last generation... but this is also the first generation that fanatics have access to world-destroying weaponry. Religion LOVES to talk about the end of the world and would not object to this occurring... so add this all up and what do you get?

Stop religion before it stops you!

I fear that religion is an evolved trait just like everything else we do, and as science progresses religion will just modernize.
-see $cientology

Well, I clearly did not evolve into being religious, so we can tell that not everyone is afflicted with this same pre-disposition. I do agree that there is a genetic byproduct somewhere that makes people susceptible to "faith" but the same thing is true with wanting to believe snake oil dealers and magicians.

There is, in my humble opinion, a thing in the human mind that allows us to disbelieve and believe something at the same time, yet we are more impressed with the believing it part, and do not pay so much attention to the dis-belief part. It is only when we take a more critical look that we value the truth of a thing, but our superficial glance is always an optimistic and and favorable one, on average.

Everyone goes, "Yay! The nazi party is really shaping things up!". They then go on to learn that underneath the glamor is an ugly reality. People would have probably NEVER looked at that underbelly unless things went wrong. Had they continued going great, scarcely anyone would have comments on the contrary. That is EXACTLY the process democracy is going through now. We see the bad side.. and start asking the hard questions.

I was genetically pre-disposed to entertaining the idea of religions when I was young. It was an advantage I thought, the same as any other and I favored the advantage. This was fine until I had to confront the reality of the situation... since everyone is my church seemed to be a judgmental douchebag. Only when I took this critical look did I take things in another light.

So yeah, I think we have a genetic pre-disposition, but it is not one that confines us to a life of religious servitude. It is one that allows us an optimistic glance at a concept as our initial reaction, and when prompted we take a deeper look. That was the advantage that got us this far and hopefully it will serve us well into the future.

Great thread. Thanks so much. I watched all of them and they were very informative and fun to watch!

Just added ernestombayo's debate link.

Would We Be Better Off Without Religion? added.

Thanks, mark8, for posting all these debates-seen some already, will watch others as time permits. And as for this comment by ultraforge,

I am constantly asking myself what the hell could be going on in a theists head when they hear the atheist arguments. Besides, even if a theist was decidedly correct, which so far they aren't, after you prove their is a god how can you then prove you have the RIGHT god?!,

I couldn't agree more. It reminded me of something I wanted to post and although one might say it would be more appropriate to post it in Comedy, the fact that it is such a precise (7:42 min) and analytical parable, makes me think it should be in the docu section. What am I talking about? Why, I'm talking about

Kissing Hank's Ass

And as for the RIGHT god? I love this text piece for turning the "loving god" argument on it's head:

The God of Eth

Hope everyone finds these as enjoyable as I did and do.

Whoa! Nice posts gripglutz. That Youtube vid rocked.

I often think about the massive amounts of humor, in the form of comics and movies etc, that atheism has as opposed to theism. In fact, is there a theist comic poking fun at atheists at all?! I wonder what that would consist of?

Thanks for keeping this thread well-kept Mark8.

Glad you're liking the thread peeps, here's another one: William Lane Craig vs Peter Atkins: WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE FOR/AGAINST THE EXISTENCE OF GOD?

Christopher Hitchens vs. Frank Turek 2008

Does God Exist?

Is religion good for the world? (October 29, 2008) Christopher Hitchens vs. Rabbi David Wolpe. Added.

More Debates


Sharpton / Hitchens Debate - Can Morality Exist Without God?

Link


Playlist: DOES GOD EXIST? William Lane Craig vs Antony Flew

Link


Playlist: Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs Austin Dacey

Link


Playlist: Does God Exist? William lane Craig vs Theodore Drange

Link


Playlist: Morality Debate: Torbjörn Tännsjö vs William Lane Craig

Link


Playlist: William Lane Craig vs Peter Slezak

Link


Playlist: William Lane Craig vs John Shook

Link


Playlist: Debate: Richard Dawkins versus John Lennox

Link


Richard Dawkins & Alister McGrath Debate

Link


The Great Debate: Lennox vs Shermer

Link


Dinesh D'Souza Debates Peter Singer

Link


The Great Debate: Dinesh D'Souza v. Michael Shermer

Link


D'Souza, Hitchens, and Prager

Link



Feel free to add them to your list

Enjoy

Does science make belief in God obsolete? Hitchens v Albacete added.

Cheers for the links SYLver, I've only just noticed.

I didn't quite know where to put the following link. It's a short clip about a 13 year old Jewish boy at his coming of age ceremony (Bar Mitzvah) and what he courageously does:

Agnostic Bar Mitzvah Speech

Cheers Tigger2, here's a youtube link as I couldn't get your one to load.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96ShJyInb5g

Christopher Hitchens - Douglas Wilson Oct. 2008 debate added.

Wow. Douglas Wilson got owned.

His defense of why his religion's miracles happened as opposed to any other is becuase "they actually happened".

OH! Of course! Haha. Man, that guy got served. Hitchens was being nice on this guy, and not his usual cut-throat self. Wilson got off easy. Thanks for the add Mark.

Thank you for maintaining this Debate thread, Mark8. I just saw the latest debate link for Christopher Hitchens - Douglas Wilson.

Never watched Hitchens in action before. Didn't even know about him or his ideas. Hitchens reminds me of my favorite philosopher, Bertrand Russell. His tenacity to tour the mid and southern areas of the United States (the Bible Belt) where he is less likely to sell his books rather than the major metropolitan Ivy League collegiate areas of the East and West Coastal areas of the United States is admirable.

While I am from Hawaii, I currently live in Memphis, Tennessee which is smack dab in the buckle area of the Bible Belt. This is the same area where a father demanded a refund from the Memphis City Zoo because the robotic dinosaur exhibit 10 years ago did not include REAL dinosaurs. The same area where I almost got deported back to Hawaii when I went to apply for a new Social Security ID card because my old one was lost. Apparently, the clerk did not know that Hawaii was the 50th state in the United States and had been a state for nearly 50 years. Thus, I applaud Mr. Hitchens for wanting to tour the Bible Belt region of the United States as it is not the most enlightened area of the world.

One of Bertrand Russell's advice to future academicians was to first write a book to appeal to fellow academicians to prove one's merit in the university community. Once an academician got past that esoteric thesis, he should learn to convey his knowledge in lay person terms to lift the veil of darkness from the rest of humanity.

Thank you Tigger2, I'm glad people are enjoying the thread. Care for a cuppa? I'm making a brew in Russells teapot.

yes, thanks Mark for maintaining what is one of the most enjoyable threads on this forum.

What's so great about God? Jan 2009

Hitchens/D'souza added.

Cheers for all these great looking links Mark. I'm gonna hunker down and watch 'em once our internet comes off dialup speed (already chewed through our usage cap ) Keep up the good work brudda!

Christian Book Expo 2009 with Christopher Hitchens (March 2009) added.

Tigger2's avatar makes me wanna surf. Cant wait for the summer.

All I see is shark bait....

Excellent clip Mark, thanks.

Christopher Hitchens never wavers in his directness of point. He is a very intelligent man who has an understanding of the religion on the chopping block and deosn't let people get away with anything. He was also right at the end (I won't ruin it for others).

Can We Be Good Without God? January 29, 2009 added

God is Great/God is not Great April 2009 added.

Hitchens in this last debate does his familiar southern States routine that you may have heard before. This one however is very clear and tight. Dinesh D'Souza fails to impress.

Thanks for the add Mark.

Does God Exist? April 4, 2009 Christopher Hitchens vs. William Lane Craig at Biola University added.

Michael Shermer vs. Dinesh D'Souza added.

How does Dinesh keep getting invited out to these things? He is using arguments like the "things that appear to be designed must have a designer", the "747 can not just appear out of a scrapyard", "Pascals Wager", etc. These arguments were debunked hundreds of years ago! We need something new.

The null hypothesis point made by Shermer was very interesting. It is surprising that this is not brought up more often.

"In statistical hypothesis testing, the null hypothesis (H0) formally describes some aspect of the statistical behaviour of a set of data; this description is treated as valid unless the actual behaviour of the data contradicts this assumption. Thus, the null hypothesis is contrasted against another hypothesis. Statistical hypothesis testing is used to make a decision about whether the data contradicts the null hypothesis: this is called significance testing. A null hypothesis is never proven by such methods, as the absence of evidence against the null hypothesis does not establish it. In other words, one may either reject, or not reject the null hypothesis; one cannot accept it. Failing to reject it gives no strong reason to change decisions predicated on its truth, but it also allows for the possibility of obtaining further data and then re-examining the same hypothesis. (from the wiki)"

PZ Myers vs. Dennis Alexander on UK Christian Radio Show 'Unbelievable?' added.

Islamic description of GOD by Imam Ali
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16860646/Islamic...GOD-by-Imam-Ali

Hasnain, this is a debate thread. This is where Mark posts debates, and I suppose we can all join in and post debates that we find online as well.

The problem is: your link is not a debate, and it is not even a documentary or movie. I am sure you can find some good Muslim vs. whatever debates tho, and you can post them right there. Until then, lets please try to keep things on topic. Thanks.

Christopher Hitchens vs. John Lennox: Can Atheism Save Europe added.

this thread is gold...much appreciated

unfortunately, mark8, the video of Hitch debating John Lennox has been removed...

Hasnain Rajabali - a leading shia lecturer/mulana faces Dan Barker who is one of the worlds leading atheist - debate on "does god exist"

part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlaEPERULhc

part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c5-vVwJ2eQ

part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONAcBRPbPLE