Hitchens to debate god at VCU---need opponent
Offline so.....The United Secular Alliance of VCU has managed to ratchet up some money including support from two deans regarding a debate with Christopher Hitchens and a yet to be named opponent. Christopher Hitchens has agreed to come to VCU for the debate.
We are the ONLY secular organization at VCU and there are about 30 or so christian organizations. Interestingly, we could not find ONE not ONE christian organization that can find an opponent for Hitchens...mainly because they claim to have no money to sponsor anyone...yeah yeah I know...as if their congregations couldn't afford it........so...I come to you my fellow atheists....any ideas? I would hate for Hitchens to have to come down for just a "talk". I think a debate would be much more intersting.
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Is Caner too busy?
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He's debating God?! Shit! Looks like we're finally getting noticed!
We are looking into caner...he seems booked, however, I think he'll make room for hitchens...
That's what I thought when I saw Larry's title. 'I've been running around like a decapitated chicken trying to organize all this as well as get stuff done for the group and now we have God coming to the debate?'
Someone in a previous thread suggested Al Mohler. I think it would be interesting. He's well-versed in the so-called new atheists: http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/12768
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I wrote the title on purpose that way, it was the subject heading on the email I sent to 30 plus Presidents and Vice Presidents of VCU's christian organizations. It's catchy and it gets people to open the email.
And after all, if god encompasses all, then a debate against a christian, is in essence a debate with god, is it not ;p
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We'll look into Al Moher, thanks Natural.
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he is gonna debate dad? holy cow!!! lemme just ressurect my self for that one cause hitchens is awesome <dad is just and old crank> lol btw will mrs kelly be there cause i like her boobs <bigger than mary's> tell her mary says hi too and wants to have a little date with her sometime byi
I recommend HASSANAIN RAJABALI. He needs to be publicly humiliated (especially after seeing his sickening debate tactics, and cocky attitude on the video, "Does God Not Exist?"
. HASSAIN RAJABALI would be my first choice. -keep up the good work guys. P.S. (Or Michael Corey)
Excuse my typo in the last post. What about a CELEBRITY opponent? Like Ben Stein, or Ann Coulter? I think debating a more well known theist might be a good idea. Although, HASSANAIN RAJABALI is still my first choice.
Although celebrity opponents would draw a bigger crow, I think it is wise for us to keep this more on the academic side. Hassanain Rajabali you say? We'll look into it.
Thanks
Larry
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A Christian wont defend fiction? CALL CNN!
Come on all you VCU Jesus fans, not one amongst you wants to take on Hitchens?
"Squeak squeak where is my cheese"
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
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I would love to see Hitchens take on Coultergeist. He would clean her clock, and twice on the Sabbath.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
How about having Richard Dawkins debate him? I'm sure Dawkins would appreciate not having to intelligently defend a position for once. He could throw out whatever fantastical thought that happened to pop into his mind. A kind of "mental masturbation" if you will.
"Those who have stepped into the arena shall forever cherish a feeling the protected will never know."
I would love to see Hitchens and William Lane Craig go head to head they are both top debaters
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After seeing this: http://www.expelledthemovie.com/playground.php Ben Stein needs to be taken down!!!
Miracles don't exist. "Miracle" is a word given to a preposterous event that a theist considers dogmatically advantageous. Def. - Ecclesiastical sensationalism.
William Lane Craig has refused to debate Hitchens. Instead he gave the name to his colleage Kevin Harris whom we are deciding on whether he's a worthy enough opponent.
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Why don't you guys get an Islamic Scholar, I'm sure a college as big as VCU has access to them... hell my tiny college's Muslim society knows a few, or someone outside of the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) to debate Hitchens? Just a suggestion in case you don't find Craig worthy enough.
"My mind is my own church." - Thomas Paine
An islamic scholar is interesting, however, since the predominant religion at VCU and in the US is christianity, that is where we are starting.
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Good point... I just made the suggestion since at my college Islam and Christianity are equal in the amount of noise they make.
"My mind is my own church." - Thomas Paine
Just go to the theology department, and recruit some unsuspecting professor. Just tell them, its a small time debate with a noob columnist.
Speaking of which the PSU atheists were setting one of these up with someone, cant remember who.
EDIT: Oh yea its was James Randi that is coming to PSU.
The muslims at our college are numerous, however, they remain fairly quiet and to themselves. Although I agree that Islam needs to be held up to the same level of scrutiny as other religions, you just have to start somewhere... But your point was noted and taken.
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We don't have a "theology" dept. we do have a religious studies dept whom we have approached with not much success. James Randi is pretty cool. Good luck with that. And anyone else out there who goes to a university..START A STUDENT ORGANIZATION REPRESENTING REASON. Universities are a great place to recruit people for the cause.
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I would not bother with a debate, it just takes up you could be listening to hitchens. My recommendation would be to let him talk about what he wants and then open up for a long question session. This is one of the best ones I have seen, seems to be a good formate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe7yf9GJUfU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR_z85O0P2M
"what if your wrong?" priceless
I think a debate is a good format. If for no other reason than that the deans won't give us money otherwise. But I think public embarassment of the ideas of religion is a good way to show how silly religion is. And who better to do this than hitchens?
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Hitchens versus his brother I heard a small debate between the two and they go each other
Yeah. Ben Stein is in need of the kind of Clear Eye that only Hitchens can deliver.
We got him http://forums.randi.org/calendar.php?do=getinfo&c=4&day=2008-3-26
Father Jonathan Morris is an American Roman Catholic Priest, religious contributor on Fox News, and worked as a theological advisor for "The Passion of the Christ." I think he would be an excellent person to debate since he is a fairly decent speaker, sees himself at "the heart of the culture wars" and he is a Fox News lapdog.
http://www.fatherjonathan.com/
He also has a history debating atheists as well, like Margaret Downey:youtube
http://youtube.com/watch?v=k9f3C7NDbcU
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After reading this - it looked misleading. It said he was going to debate God! There's an idea - challenge God to a debate! If he really exists and wants people to believe in him, how hard would it be for him to make a brief appearance at a university? If he shows up, the debates pretty much over - unless he wants to debate the Bible's idea of morality (Maybe God would say "I didn't write that crazy bullshit! Fuck, my believers have been embarassing the shit out of me for almost 20 Centuries now! More if you count the Jews!" ) If he doesn't show up that would seem to imply he is pretend - after all, he can't say he was sick, or forgot or whatever....
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