Part 2 of the atheist debate is now online

May 10th, 2007 • atheism, christianity, debate, tv

Just dug up the link http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3160648 from abcnews.com — although it was buried in the site.

Although the overall debate was poor, this second part is on the whole a bit better. Both sides skirt the issues proposed to them but tried to still make some point that people may link to whatever they were asked. Here’s some interesting things I found that the Christians ignored:

What laws did the people before the Bible follow?

(Ray wants to state there were no people before the Bible)

Proof of hominin fossils older than the Bible

(Kirk’s bizarre denial of evolution)

Whether carbon dating or radioactive magnetic dating exists and can be conclusive

Microevolution

(Kirk is completely floored when Brian asks him “How can you not walk a mile without taking one step at a time?” and has absolutely nothing to say in defense. Instead he asks for the question again and skips to macroevolution)

The difference between state worship and atheism

(someone posed the question about Communist states acting as atheists)

Why are people murdered for being Christian or speaking to Christians in countries or states that are not Christian?

(Kirk says it’s love of their faith and people, that’s why they’re killed. It’s in the audience questions segment).

Cultural context of religion and faith projections

Did God create both good and evil?

(Ray skirts the entire issue by talking about light/darkness and ends up agreeing with the original question posed to him and could not explain why other than saying “It’s not true”. Kirk fumbles.)

Why do things like AIDS, cancer, and the Ebola virus exist

(Ray talks about suffering instead of directly addressing the question. Uses distraction tactics to hinge upon fear mongering. Ray also says to not use “suffering” as a rejection of God although it has no basis in the question)

What the atheists missed or ignored:

The difference between state worship and atheism and what atheists have done in the name of “good”

(they share a great number of similarities but this is Kelly’s area of “expertise”)

Cultural projections of a godhead upon oneself

(and I mean any godhead figure)

What to do if the Christian God does exist

(other Atheists have postulated on this as well)

Use of applied logic on abstract subjects for cultural projections and invalidation of godheads

(Martin made the most salient point about this earlier in the debate)

Everything I think they missed were either questions directly asked to them or inferred by the questions asked to them. Believe me, some of this crazy stuff I could never make up.

Trackback URI.