Over at the AtheistForums.org web site there is one particular member who has been claiming rather consistently that God (as described by Christian theism) exhibits several fundamental contradictions. Given the ubiquitous popularity of such a view among the lowing Dawkinsian herd, I thought it might be a worthwhile investment of my time and energies to engage that claim in a formal debate. So I challenged her.

And she accepted.

The debate will take place over the course of the next few weeks (perhaps five or six when allowing for responses to audience questions) but once it is completed I will make an announcement here—and quite probably will make it available as a PDF document from this web site, in the interest of those who might want to print it and read it offline at their leisure. That is subject to my debate partner’s agreement, of course, but since the debate will already be in public domain at AtheistForums.org I cannot foresee why she would refuse.

So, I will announce when the debate is completed.

(P.S. The informal debate with William Brall for the time being is suspended. Not sure what has happened but he has not yet withdrawn, although he may as well have.)

UPDATE: 6 September 2009

First, the gender of my opponent was clarified; pronouns here were corrected. Second, she has given her consent to the completed debate being made available from this site.

Furthermore, the debate has been structured and agreed upon, including the number of rounds and the deadlines for each. We now know that the debate will be concluded the first week of October:

  • Opening Statements (11/Sep/09 23:59 hrs. Pacific)
  • Response to Opening Statements (18/Sep/09 23:59 hrs. Pacific)
  • Rebuttal Against Responses (25/Sep/09 23:59 hrs. Pacific)
  • Closing Statements (2/Oct/2009 23:59 hrs. Pacific)

UPDATE: 29 September 2009

Unfortunately, the formal debate was terminated. It was by mutual agreement, but I still say “unfortunately” because we were within one round of finishing the debate. So close. Anyhow, through private correspondence, Saerules had informed me that she wished to end the formal debate, having grown so frustrated with the environment and rules of a formal debate that she had lost nearly all interest in it. As you will likely be able to tell, it was her first experience with the format. Had she known what the constraints were in a formal debate, she probably would have chosen to have an informal one from the start.

At any rate, here is a PDF copy of the debate. Enjoy.

UPDATE: 15 October 2009

I just received official notice from Saerules that she is terminating even the informal debate. And so now with any form of the debate having been terminated by Saerules, plus William Brall likewise having abandoned a similar debate, Christianity is demonstrated as continuing to stand very firm against indefensible allegations of irrationality.

Most Commented Posts