Panel on Secular Morality (part 6/7)

The Secular Student Alliance hosted a panel follow-up discussion immediately after the Source of Human Morality Debate on 11/16/2010. The panel was largely an open forum for questions and conversation with the audience.

[The rest of the panel videos will be uploaded shortly]

Sorry about the sound quality, but everything should be audible if you turn your sound up.

The panelists are as follows, from left to right:

Gregory S. Paul: Labeled religion's "public enemy #1" by MSNBC, Greg Paul is a freelance author and researcher about the effect of religion on society, and vice versa. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Science magazine, Evolutionary Psychology, Philosophy and Theology, and numerous other journals and publications. Paul's theory centers around the thesis that there is no "God gene" that gives people an inherent propensity for religion, and that "prosperous modernity is proving to be the nemesis of religion." Greg is a Baltimore native and active in the Baltimore Ethical Society. Find out more about his "science of religion" writings at www.gspaulscienceofreligion.com.

John Shook, Ph.D. [debate moderator]: Dr. Shook is a scholar and professor living in Washington, D.C. He is Director of Education and Senior Research Fellow of the Center for Inquiry, and also is Visiting Assistant Professor of Science Education at the University at Buffalo, teaching for its online program in Science and the Public. From 2000 to 2006 he was a professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University. Shook publishes on philosophical topics about science, the mind, humanist ethics, democracy, secularism, and religion, and he has debated the existence of God with leading theologians including William Lane Craig. He has authored and edited more than a dozen books, including the new The God Debates: A 21st Century Guide for Atheists and Believers (and Everyone in Between).

Matt Dillahunty [debater]: Matt is the president of the Atheist Community of Austin, and host of the popular public access television and internet show "The Atheist Experience." He was raised as a fundamentalist Baptist, and was on track to become a minister until he started asking questions about the reasons for his belief. He rejected religion, and now serves as a public voice for rationality and secular morality.

Robert Anderson, Ph.D: Dr Anderson is a UMBC psychology professor and student advisor. He teaches a number of courses, including aggression and antisocial behavior, abnormal psychology, personality study, human sexuality and clinical psychology.

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[J3yblivion]

"i believe that I don't believe that I believe that ...."

[boricuamm707]

Lol I feel so bad for that muslim girl trying to make sense out of bullshit

[Kida001]

What insanity. Struggle through this life to end up with an eternity as a slave to the ego of a twisted god? No thanks.

[manoric82]

@cmpresents There are more than 5 senses: Sight, Taste, Touch, Pressure, Itch, Thermoconception, Sound, Smell, Proprioception, Tension Sensors, Nociception, Equilibrioception, Stretch Receptors, Chemoreceptors, Thirst, Hunger, Magentoception, and Time to names a few. The only sense to know there is no merit to religion is common sense.

[cmpresents]

The problem here is that atheist really think that they have the answers, that they know that this is the only world and only life and that there's no God. I mean, you only have five senses.

[cmpresents]

Poor Muslim girl, she doesn't even know anything about her own religion. Islam is such a barbaric faith.

[cmpresents]

The room is full of arrogant intellectuals that only care about the intellect, and that's why they will fail. These ppl are not out there feeding the needed or the helpless, no, they are arguing about how to reconvert the intellect. Hello atheist, religion is not the problem, evil is the problem.

[FIGHTFANNERD3]

@AcePro indeed thats why i hate religion 

[AcePro]

The muslim girl seems like she'd be such a nice intelligent beautiful woman, and her nonsense religion is the only thing holding her back from reaching any kind of potention. It's really sad.

[SonOfNye]

@SvendsenAtheist Seems like it. When someone refuses to take a position on what they consider moral, their entire structure of belief is flawed.