Daniel Dennett vs Dinesh D'Souza: God 8of14

Dinesh D'Souza, Christian and best-selling author, faced off against Tufts professor, author, and atheist Daniel Dennett in a debate on the existence of god.

Was God created by humans? Daniel Dennett and Dinesh D'Souza will offer up two different answers to that question in the Cabot Auditorium during a debate hosted by the Freethought Society.

In addition to being a philosophy professor at Tufts, Dennett is "one of the most well-known atheists around," according to Freethought Society President Pat Andriola. Dennett will be arguing in favor of the resolution, which states that God is a man-made invention.

D'Souza, a conservative Christian and best-selling author, will oppose it.

Provost Jamshed Bharucha will moderate the debate.

"Each debater, starting with Professor Dennett, is going to get 20 to 25 minutes to open up his case," Andriola said. Following these statements, they will get two five-minute rebuttals each.

Finally, there will be a question and answer session during which the debaters will field inquiries from the audience.

Check out these books,

"Darwin's dangerous idea" Dennett,
"What's so great about Christianity" D'Souza

Category:

Education

Tags:

• daniel
• dennett
• dinesh
• d'souza
• god
• christianity
• atheism
• evolution
• creationism

[Gaius0]

I have to turn down the volume every time D'Souza speaks. It's ironic when you think how much the creationists keep trying to push the image of the "angry atheist".

[GhoulsFeeding]

Holy shit. Dinesh is the O'Reilly of the creationists. "I'm right because I'M LOUDER."

[GjVj]

Oh, for fucks sake. Please, Dinesh, just shut up, this is embarrassing.

[sondano]

@emailgarbage20 Newton was not the greatest scientist in history and he only explained things with god which he didn't understood but later were explained by greater scientists including Einstein and Hubble. He had the god of the gaps the same one you can read about in the Bible written by bronze age morons who believe the Earth was the center of the universe and you should be killed for adultery

[powderhunter127]

"We'll just call that a draw" I thought this guy was an "Intellectual". Does this guy ever get to an intelligent rebuttal to the fine tuning and creation of the universe based on a singularity? Not as intelligent as they make him out to be, but really good at dodging questions, and veiling answers, I'll give him that.

[emailgarbage20]

If the universe weren't fine tuned, there would be no possibility of life. For example, if the force of gravity were slightly stronger, the universe would be stuck in the singularity. If slightly weaker, the stars and planets wouldn't have formed.

Keep in mind that the greatest scientist in history, Issac Newton, spent more time studying the Bible than studying gravity. He was conviced that a divine agency created the universe according to rational laws subject to human understanding.

[facelessone86]

Funny shit.

The quotes he gives disproves his idea of atheistic faith.

They admit that it is speculation, unjustified fantasy. However, because there is no evidence for any of these situations they are all just as likely as a god. Therefor the most reasonable position to take is that, "I DON'T KNOW!"

One of he fundmental differences between believers and nonbelievers is that one is ok with saying, "I don't know" and the other isn't. Guess which one it is.

[wolfwing1]

The whole problem...and I hole Daniel points this out is the fallacy that the universe is fine tuned for life.

Reality is you flip it add a few words and get what we have, "Life as we know it, is fine tuned for the universe, and the laws within it." if the universe was different then life would be different, Maybe if matter never colessed you might get beings of just energy, the quarks and such forming into energy who knows.

[Onetimerule]

Enver Hoxha, the communist dictator in Albania, was a sadist who attempted to abolish religion and create a new utopia based upon atheist dogmatism and atheist milatarism. Apart from this, all the megalomaniacs of the 20th century have been religious.

[PurushaDesa]

I feel like Ricky Gervais right now listening to D'Souza - "Karl! You're an idiot. You - are - living in a cartoon world."

And I'm sick of Dinesh retreating to this idea that atheism needs to take responsibility for Hitler and Stalin. Athiests are sceptics and generally secularists.

The idea of becoming relentlessly homicidal due to your devotion to scepticism and the building of a society allowing for civilised disagreement is possible but implausible to the point of being laughable.