Jacoby-Shermer Debate (9/10)

[This is Michael Shermer's concluding statement. It is about 4 minutes long.]

The debate between international Christian speaker Douglas Jacoby and agnostic and skeptic Michael Shermer took place Saturday June 23, the highlight of the 2007 International Apologetics Conference, sponsored by the Apologetics Research Society. The debate topic: Does God Exist?

Dr. Shermer is one of the three or four most famous atheist / agnostic scholars in the world, author of 12 books and President of the Skeptic Society. He has held dozens of debates, appeared on Oprah, 20/20, Dateline, Tom Snyder, Larry King Live and The History Channel. Dr. Jacoby, director of the Athens Institute of Ministry, has spoken in hundreds of cities in some 80 nations.

This exciting event was held before a packed house, with an overflow crowd watching close circuit monitors outside the venue. Kedron Jones (Board member of ARS) was moderator and affable host. Shermer and Jacoby both bring their best analytical skills to this debate. The interchange is lively, with both speakers willing to concede points made by their opponent. You will benefit greatly from weighing the arguments put forth. Douglas' clear and incisive arguments for the existence of God are persuasive. He argues from cosmology (both its creation and its complexity). and the unmistakable fact that moral absolutes are part of reality. Shermer makes the case that religions are socially constructed, historically dependent, and that the faith you adhere to and the god you believe in depend largely on when in history and where in the world you were born.

The two-hour debate is lively, engaging and instructional. You can watch each speaker's opening, rebuttal, rebuttal summary, and conclusion here at YouTube. For the entire debate in one DVD, however, including the 40+ minute Q&A session, please visit www.douglasjacoby.com. The Skeptics Society website is www.skeptic.com.

To post further comments, please visit Jacoby's forum at www.jacobyblogs.com.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• jacoby
• shermer
• debate
• god
• exist
• evidences
• apologetics

[superfisto]

Shermer wins via logic bomb.

[templarart]

Overall I believe Shermer did a great job.

I do disagree with him when he says things like "science could not prove a god". Of course science could prove the existence of a god or the validity of a relgiion or the authenticity of magic if any of these were actually real. For example: "Double blind testing and extensive statistics indicate that prayers from Jehovah believers heal 800% more amputees than control group Thor believers."

[templarart]

@dwheel39

> Can you prove to me you're not living in a dream?

Pointless. All logic and reason begins with accepting that reality is real. Questioning reality is a complete waste of time and thoroughly counterproductive. You might as well sit in a corner doing heroine.

> double blind study

Half prayed for. Half not. Even if not everyone was doing it right or well - there should be a significant difference. This study works great with medicine because medicine is real.

[dwheel39]

@templarart Maybe you can help me out then. Can you prove to me you're not living in a dream? How would you go about that? i'm just curious.

What would a double blind study look like to prove, empirically, that you are loved by your family? How would you set that up? And you can't just say, because they told you. Their words are determined by brain chemistry through a natural selection process, are they not? And people can be dishonest. Tell me about your study, thank you.

[templarart]

@dwheel39 Of course studies would work. The reason there's no difference is because your Architect Of The Known Universe and Existence Sustainer is like all other fictional Architects Of The Known Universe and Existence Sustainers: none of them exist. The Fallacy you should be looking up is 'Special Pleading' where you tell us that Jehovah doing nothing doesn't mean anything but Odin, Zeus, Ra, Mithra, Brahma, Baal etc (10,000x over) are obviously not real because they don't do anything.

[dwheel39]

@templarart lol...okay, stop and think about that for minute. You would subject the Architect of the known universe, an omnipresent, omniscient Being to a double blind scientific test to arrive at statistics for prayer??? WHAT??? lol God is NOT a mechanism! He is BEING of infinite intelligence by definition. I'm sorry, but not everything is tested empirically. This a category fallacy. God is not simply matter or energy that you can "test". He's the one sustaining your existence. :)

[jamestrekky]

@superfisto nice sherman, ends the debate reading a book. lol. why not give a reference and the audience can stay home.

[alexhamster1134]

@Jrobes123 he didnt need 8 mins :P

[MorganMarvinson]

His summary proposes a god that is totally disconnected from the physical world and then invokes a "multiverse" when the concept is total theory without evidence that it is so. This is not a debate about science, but a debate about philosophy, and the jaded philosopher simply doesn't know what to believe.

[IconicFiber]

an evil genius

[Jrobes123]

So much for an 8 minute conclusion.

[kombajndosalatek]

well, it's much more comfortable position to say 'i don't know' than saying 'i know x' or 'i know y'