Part 5 of 9 - Sam Harris vs William Lane Craig - Debate: Does Good Come From God - 7 April 2011

Part 5 - Sam Harris debated William Lane Craig at Notre Dame University on 7 April 2011 on the topic Does Good come from God?
Are the foundations for moral values natural or supernatural? - This was the way the debate was introduced by the moderator.

Introduction overview of the speakers (taken from the website):

Sam Harris, one of the "Four Horsemen of Atheism," a neuroscientist, philosopher, and bestselling author, will seek to show that the separation between scientific facts and human values is an illusion. Harris will prove that science, not religion, should provide the basis for morality.

William Lane Craig is an American Evangelical Christian apologist, theologian, and analytic philosopher known for his work in the philosophy of religion, historical Jesus studies, and the philosophy of time. One of the foremost apologists in the field, Craig has faced some of the best and has been known to hold nothing back in his sharpshooting style of debate.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Sam Harris
• William Lane Craig
• Debate
• 2011
• Theist
• Atheist
• Moral Values
• The Moral Landscape

[winston2015]

God may exist, but we could give it no form we know of. There is no reason to believe in such a being. And because 'god', if i exists, is a mystery, postulating such an idea only begs more questions than it answers. Such as, where did God come from? and do on.

[5heynen5]

To bad Nietzsche or Hume isn't around to shut them up.

[yshua1337]

...furthermore, if it is true that Dr. Harris has been encouraged to "not play Dr. Craig's game" as I read before viewing this debate, what is it that Dr. Harris is meant not to take part in? Are intelligent young men and women really encouraging a scholar such as Dr. Harris not to take part in friendly scholarly debate with another scholar? This is just madness. The New Atheist movement is so popular because of emotional impact and not rigorous personal education on the subjects of religion.

[yshua1337]

I don't understand how people support Dr. Harris here! All he does is throw out vague attacks against Christianity, the same ones Atheists have been using ineffectively for hundreds of years, and then, by avoiding the question at hand, makes moral judgements without actually having established any reason to have objective moral judgements apart from a metaphysical objective reality such as God. Please, please, please, do not be taken in by pop Atheism.

[Kuhnfuze]

Sam Harris. What a genius.

[mbelma6329]

Is this really the best atheists have to offer? These arguments are nothing new and have been answered times over by Craig and others.

[mbelma6329]

Look at all the balance of opinions here on YouTube! Haha

[DuppyBruh]

Craig is really petty in this one, he just uses his contingencies to exonerate himself from his ridiculous claims that his doctrine and others are filled with hundreds of pages of genocide. He claims that Sam keeps trying to debate theism even though thats not the topic (Does Good Come From God) and then keeps saying that atheism is obviously bad because it has no grounded morals from god.

[devourerofbabies]

7:25 is where the entire debate falls apart for Craig. He is reduced to simply re-iterating and ignoring Dr. Harris's points while insisting that God is what makes morality objective. He has already explained what he believes, but is at an utter loss to support his beliefs, and has no further options other than to say I'M RIGHT! HE'S WRONG! like a toddler having a tantrum. I'm always shocked at the intellectual bankruptcy of apologists, but I'm no longer surprised.

[tollington14]

Sam is my new hero!