This was an amusing bus advert in Oxford to promote something not so amusing: a guy who’s over-zealous and over here – William something – whom nobody will debate with as he is said to be hermetic in his arguments ie not to leave a way in for anyone else. I’m not sure how this works as Dawkins rarely seems to have a problem getting as many words in as he likes, but I shall check it out. I am in any case predisposed to dislike US evangelists – who needs ’em? – and, as I quoted in yesterday’s debate, St Francis was very wise in this respect when he said ‘Talk about God all the time. Use words if you must.’ Anyway, Dawkins is probably not going to debate with this guy because of his debating style and, since Dawkins seems willing to debate pretty much Martini-style (any time, any place, any where) his refusal seems to have some significance. Hang on, I’ll try and find out who it is…
Here’s the advert:
http://www.thinkingchristian.net/2011/10/of-interest-theres-probably-no-dawkins/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkBD20edOco
He does seem to go on and on in the above clip. I don’t like this kind of triumphalist debate – it’s very ego-bound and the level of this particular bit of debate does not seem very high. I find the whole fundamentalist-scientist debate very tedious.
Unlike… yesterday’s debate at the Secular Society. I have always found the good people there very polite and respectful of those with whom they disagree – John McGinley of Trinity church got a good hearing there- and yesterday’s guest was similarly received. In fact David Paterson, a self-styled ‘Atheist Vicar’, would have served as an excellent antidote to fundamentalists of both persuasions: tolerant and open-minded, he stands for religious tolerance and against dogma; having gone along with the question ‘how the hell can you be an atheist vicar?’ I found myself in sympathy with a great deal of what he had to say. Where I differed was in his assertion that God does not exist outside of human beings; and that there is no life after death. These are fairly basic beliefs, you might think, and yet he had a lot to say that was relevant and helpful – and not as waffly as some ‘Sea of Faith’ people seem to be. Judge for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9eqCeXV34c
Off to the Martyrs now. Definitely not atheist. But the question of whether it’s a fruit or a vegetable, persists.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 