The God Debate: Craig vs Hitchens
On April 4 2009, a public debate was held at BIOLA University between William Lane Craig and Christopher Hitchens. The topic: Does God Exist? Over 3,000 people showed up (and paid) to attend the event, while thousands more watched live around the world via satellite.
Craig is one of today’s foremost Christian philosophers. He has earned doctorates from the University of Birmingham and the University of Munich. His books include Reasonable Faith, The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge & Human Freedom, and The Son Rises. (All of which are, in my opinion, excellent.) Hitchens is a literary critic and writer, and is the author of several books including the recent bestseller God is Not Great.
One atheist blogger commented on the debate by saying “Craig was flawless and unstoppable. Hitchens was rambling and incoherent, with the occasional rhetorical jab. … This always seemed like a pointless matchup to me. One is a loudmouthed journalist and the other is a major analytic philosopher.” Of course, this blogger does not agree with Craig’s conclusions, but nonetheless concedes that Craig won the debate.
Unfortunately the debate video/audio is not available for free online. A DVD version will be released soon, so if you are interested I recommend that you pre-order from the official debate website. I personally look forward to seeing it.
Do you think debates like this are worthwhile pursuits? What purpose do you think they serve? And if you were engaged in a conversation and your conversation partner asked you why you believe God exists, how would you respond?
Further reading:
- Reasonable Faith book – An excellent, scholarly introduction to defense of the Christian faith (recently updated & re-released in a second edition)
- Reasonable Faith website – Dr Craig’s personal website
- The Veritas Forum – A source of scholarly lectures & debates with video/audio held on campuses all over the world, including many by Dr Craig
Tags: apologetics, chrisopher hitchens, darren hewer, debate, does god exist, Experience, faith, God, Men, philosophy, religion, william lange craig, Women
