Comments by Russian Freethinker

The debate is now available for viewing at http://www.tkc.edu/debate/

3. Debate between Michael Shermer and Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #80680 by Russian Freethinker on October 22, 2007 at 3:38 pm

Tonight's Hitchens/D'Souza debate will be available shortly after it is finished on this website: http://www.tkc.edu/debate/

Thought some of you guys would be interested...

4. Atheists aren't a bad lot

Comment #80593 by Russian Freethinker on October 22, 2007 at 9:35 am

Awesome article, loved it! So witty and insightful.

It is interesting to me how in the religion/atheism debates Christians no longer argue that you need God to be good. Instead, now they say that morality is inherent in all humans, religious or not, because God has placed it there. Funny how theistic arguments evolve to fit the evidence.

Did you notice how D'Souza in the debate with Shermer argued that the reason Christians tend to behave worse is that they tend to be the more deprived people socially and economically? Wow, I'm impressed at the ability of Christian apologists to explain away any evidence :-) Aren't they clever?

5. Debate between Michael Shermer and Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #80424 by Russian Freethinker on October 21, 2007 at 6:53 pm

Also, I was frustrated with D'Souza's arguments for the Christian origins of science, equality and so forth. I kept wanting to scream, "But if these things came out of Christianity, why did the Church not get it for over a millennium???" Why did all of these things develop AFTER the Renaissance and the Englightenment when Christianity began to lose power, and not before? Shermer really didn't take advantage of so many opportunities in this debate. :-(

6. Debate between Michael Shermer and Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #80420 by Russian Freethinker on October 21, 2007 at 6:49 pm

I found it interesting that D'Souza argued that belief in justice in the afterlife somehow makes this life more moral. I find the contrary to be true. If you believe that there is reward for the hurting and punishment for the evil in the afterlife, you do not need to intervene and fight for justice in this life. If, however, the only justice is what you get here, your life is the only chance to make the world a better place. In other words, belief in the afterlife supports the status quo and causes passivity whereas rejection of the afterlife inspires protest and active participation in the here and now. It's too bad Shermer didn't make this point. I agree that he was an inferior debater.

7. Does fundamentalist religion cause the rejection of evolution? or is it the other way around?

Comment #80210 by Russian Freethinker on October 20, 2007 at 6:40 pm

I think there is something to what he is saying. I've often found that the counter-intuitive nature of evolutionary theory makes it difficult to use evolution as an argument against god. It just doesn't work for fundamentalist believers on an intuitive level.

8. Christopher Hitchens at AAI 07

Comment #80060 by Russian Freethinker on October 19, 2007 at 7:20 pm

Riley: "The basis for the argument of "free will" may be flawed - as you point out - but none-the-less, that is the basis for the Christian moral thesis as accepted by a consensus of Christians from all sects. You'd be hard-pressed to demonstrate that this bit of dogma is not a fundamental pillar of Christianity."

Riley, I am surprised that you claim to be a Christian and speak for the "consensus of Christians" and yet you know so little about Christian theology. Have you never read Augustine or Luther or Calvin? All of them denied freedom of the will, and yet they are foundational thinkers of the Western Christian tradition. If you ever get some free time, I'd encourage you to read Luther's "The Bondage of the Will".

So please do not speak for all Christians. There are plenty of Christians out there, especially in the Reformed tradition, that believe in God's absolute dominion over the human will. In fact, the doctrine of free will is incompatible with Christian soteriology, because it would require that faith be an act of human works. That would completely obliterate the concept of grace.