I’m hanging out at the Lennox/Hitchens debate (”Is God Great?”) tonight at the Wright Center at Samford University. I’ll be updating this post as the night progresses… the updates are brief, since I’ve hacked them out on an iphone keyboard.
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5:45 pm- the auditorium is starting to fill up, estimated 1,400 attendees from pre-sale tickets
6:10- the house is holding while people are still finding their seats, Eric is putting mics on the panelists.
6:15- they’ve taken the stage, and are running through biographies
6:22- going over format. 15 mins for opening statements each, 10 mins for rebuttals. Audience questions from note cards for 35 mins.
6:25- Christopher Hitchens is delivering his opening. He is telling a story about southern culture stereotypes, and explaining the reasoning for an atheist point of view.
6:30- explaining differences between theism and deism.
He is refuting of the idea that anyone is in a position to know the will or mind of a deity.
6:35- it is arrogance to think that humanity is the purpose and center of the universe.
6:40- John Lennox takes the podium.
’science shows the glory of God, shows the how, not the why.’
6:47- new atheist faith in the absence of God is a religious belief itself
6:50- links atheism with the failure of communist Russia.
Christianity founded the university system that is turning out new atheists.
6:55- mention of British atheist bus ad campaign; why do atheists think God makes believers worry? (1 min warning)
we can use energy though we don’t understand it, draws parallels to faith.
6:57- Hitchens is up to deliver rebuttal.
he is rebuking the use of Einstein as an argument point for faith. Einstein wasn’t a man of faith.
7:00- we will soon be nothing, it will all be over eventually. “we have an appointment with the andromeda galaxy, and our sun will swell up and destroy us. who designed that?” (paraphrased)
7:05- the Christian explaination means we are under a tyrannical despotism; thought crime, created sick and ordered to be well. unfreedom.
to think this way puts you under real world control, subject to other men who claim to have god on their side.
7:08- Lennox’s turn for rebuttal.
einstein said ‘all scientists have faith’, did not say anything about Einstein’s religious faith.
what’s the point if the universe is a permant phenomena? it is only temporary, there are other heavens and plans.
7:11- is there such a thing as revelation? if there is, then it isn’t arrogance, it’s certainty. we can know certainty because god reveals to you when you are a believer.
7:14- watching is good, not quite big brother supervision. more like police protection.
7:16- we weren’t made sick. world was created perfect and we are given the choice to belive since we are made in his image.
Christians can do a right action; give their life for someone else, I.e. Christ. no atheist can do so.
7:20- q&a time. first q for Hitchens: “are you more at odds with the idea of original sin and would we be better of without it?”
Hitchens basically says yes, but for religion as a whole.
The panelists are now on a tangent about violence in biblical ideals. ideas about literal and metaphoric interpretations.
7:25- next question, for lennox – “why is one myth or folk tale more true than another?”
Lennox: “on the evidence. the evidence for christ’s ressurection compel me”
Hitchens: prophecies are easily fulfilled stories, and many people in the bible accused Christ of being a false prophet. bronze age superstitions
Lennox: “Jesus claimed to be God. the prophecies had been present for centuries and their fulfillment are evidence. not superstition.”
Hitchens: on the virgin birth; more likely that the laws on nature were suspended or that a hebrew woman would lie?
(more back and forth exchange about biblical literalism)
7:35- next question, to Hitchens; “are you willing to accept the man has no greater dignity or meaning?”
Hitchens: “if we didn’t have these ideas, we wouldn’t be as advanced as were are today as a living species”
Lennox: “the Christian faith gives these values, if you teach people we came from animals than they will behave like animals. so I refute it because we are seperate from animals”
7:41- Hitchens: discussion about human and animal sacrifice. the idea that we are made in the image of god is a meaningless statement, we are primates. genetically 98% compatible with chimps.
7:45- next question to Lennox; “63% of Americans do not accept evolution, what are the consequences of this distrust of science?”
Lennox: whatever the mechanism is, we can see the designer innate in it. all the evidence is not on one side.
Hitchens: Most of them don’t even know what it is, so they say they don’t believe; it isn’t a fair test of anything.
7:47- “what advice do you give to someone who left deism but is still in that system (like samford)?”
Hitchens: leave it behind and study literature and find other consolation and beauty. emancipate yourself from the idea that you are a plaything on a supernatural being.
7:50- Lennox: you should stay and share your different point of view.
7:53- closing remarks, starting with Lennox.
“if god does not exist, then I can see how religion is an opiate of the masses, and if he does exist than I can see how atheism is an opiate for those who do not want to confront the truth.”
quoting an atheist about missionaries being the solution to the passive mindset in Africa.
8:00- God is great, Christ has shown he is immeasurably great.
8:01- Hitchens takes the podium.
if everything that cannot be explained is attributable to a transcendant being, then nothing is unexplainable when that can be invoked.
replace anything in history that refers to racism with the catholic church, and it will still be true. Nazis sought Vatican approval. explaination of the inquisition and Stalin’s use of the Russian orthodox church.
“morality is innate, and it is nice when religion catches up.”
8:08- final gratitudes from host, and it’s over!
8:15- the lobby is covered over for book signings, and I’m heading out.
