The Great Debate

ABC will be airing a debate about the existence of God. The atheists will be represented by the Rational Response Squad, and the Christians by TCT regular and Christian author Ray Comfort with Mike Seaver, er, Kirk Cameron.

This threatens to be an end-all debate, a fully-satisfying spectacle. I mean, what’s not to like about this: There are the Rational Responders, atheists who embarked on the Blasphemy Challenge, encouraging people to submit videos of themselves declaring there is no God, no Holy Spirit, and no Jesus Christ. On the other side are two intellectual giants who “proved” God’s existence by highlighting the usability of a banana.

Something tells me that an “agree to disagree” will be waiting at the end of this contest. The Christians aren’t going to bring up anything the atheists haven’t heard. The atheists will have no luck convincing the Christians that there’s no God. The Great Debate is unwinnable to both sides: The anti-god logic of atheism won’t comply with Christianity’s supernatural background. Christianity’s blind faith holds little water with people who place a god somewhere between leprechauns and the tooth fairy.

Comfort and Cameron claim they’re going to prove God’s existence in ten minutes, without relying on a blind-faith argument or scripture. I’m interested in seeing how, and I’m hoping it doesn’t revolve around how well a delicious and nutritious banana fits into my hand.

The Rational Response Squat advertises their blasphemy challenge on lots of teen-oriented websites and tells people to deny Jesus Christ's existence (and God's, and the Holy Spirit's). The deity of Christ has been questioned. But his existence is pretty widely corroborated. In the interview linked at the start of this paragraph, they claim that atheism is the last thing acceptable to be targeted with hatred, as though atheists are an oppressed minority. I disagree with this.

I would also disagree with anyone that would make the same claim about Christianity. As I see it, the American Christian has little grounds to complain of oppression.

I am a believer in Christ, and I am saved by His blood. But all the argument and debate in the world didn't convince me of this, and will likely never be an evangelistic boon. He is too big for logic. He is too big to fit into an argument, and He is too big to be a given, to be obvious.

One Love