Noah presents one of the most clear and concise presentations of the Kalam Cosmological Argument I have heard to date. He gives the argument not in it's typical syllogistic form but in the form of three exhaustive dilemmas:
- The universe either had a beginning or no beginning.
- Given 1, the beginning of the universe was either caused or uncaused.
- Given 2, the cause of the universe was either personal or impersonal.
Moreland's opening statement consists of arguments from the origin of a finite universe, the fine tuning of the universe, biological information, objective moral law, and the historical reliability of the New Testament. Martin's opening statement contains arguments from the unfalsifiability fallacy, the localized activities of God, the impossibility of the moral standard, the problem of evil, and that the Christian faith should not have reason.
Alvin Plantinga is a champion on the philosophical forefront of modern Christianity. He currently serves as the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Recently Joe Gorra of the Evangelical Philosophical Society made a post Honoring Alvin Plantinga: "Alvin Plantinga's ideas, and his leadership with those ideas, have been deeply impactful for a whole generation of Christian philosophers, Moreover, his work has also been significantly appropriated by theologians, scientists, historians, psychologists and other Christian scholars working in various disciplines and fields..." (Read the full article here)
If you're interested in checking out some of Plantinga's works, check out his books here or any of these:
In his opening speech, Craig presents his arguments from existence, fine-tuning, moral values, the resurrection of Jesus, and the personal experience of the Holy Spirit. Stenger's opening response consists of four main points: the attributes of the Christian God are self-contradictory, tributes of the Christian God are inconsistent with what we know about the world, naturalism is a better explanation than supernaturalism, and the actions of the Christian God should be observable but are not. My favourite point was a response Craig made on Stengers objection of justice vs. mercy; Craig points out that this is not a contradiction, but actually the great beauty of the Christian faith. Overall this was a pretty good debate, worth the listen.
Prothero is known for his expertise in the processes of geological evolution and for his evident disdain for anyone who supports an anti-evolution agenda. The talk is introduced by Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine and interestingly enough, Prothero starts out by suggesting how evolution is an easier choice than intelligent design--because it helps to take care of the "bad design" argument. Most of Prothero's talk takes place exploring the fossil record in which he lists seven "common lies and misconceptions" of evolution as propounded by Young Earth Creationists and supporters of Intelligent Design:
- "Bushes" and "ladders"
- Gradualism vs punctuated equilibrium
- Fossil record is complete enough to show every transitional form
- Faunal succession is a myth
- "Cambrian explosion" is a creation event
- No transitional forms in the fossil record
- "Missing link" has never been found
- Our Common Ground - [video] [audio] [notes] [quotes] [extra]
- Adventures In Missing the Point - [video] [audio] [notes] [quotes] [extra]
- The Whys and Why Nots - [video] [audio] [notes] [quotes] [extra]
- Debating Darwin - [video] [audio] [notes] [quotes] [extra]
- God and Suffering - [video] [audio] [notes] [quotes] [extra]
- Cleaning Up the Mess - [video] [audio] [notes] [quotes] [extra]
- What Convinced Me - [video] [audio]
Stephen Meyer is the Director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute and author of books such as "Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design". Donald Prothero is Professor of Geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles and is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of hundreds of writings including "Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters". Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine and is the author of books such as "Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time". Richard Sternberg is a Research Scientist at the Biologic Institute and a Research Collaborator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
For some interesting follow up on this debate check out the links below:
- http://scienceblips.dailyradar.com/story/battle-in-beverly-hills-reflections-on-the-prothero/
- http://scienceblips.dailyradar.com/story/shermer-prothero-vs-meyer-sternberg-continues/
This debate between two giants of religious discussion took place on April 7th, 2010 at the University of Notre Dame. The debate topic is "Is Religion the Problem?" and is a continuation of "The God Debate". Dinesh D'Souza is the author of books such as "What's So Great about Christianity". Christopher Hitchens is the author of numerous books such as "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything".
Books like this are so key to read every once in a while because of all the denominational Christian debates, sometimes we need to see where we agree and not just where we differ.
- Chris Reese: Essay Series Forward
- Brian Auten: Essay Series Introduction
- Tawa Anderson: Does God Exist?
- Jim Wallace: The Best Explanation
- Wes Widner: Coherent, Consistent & Livable
- Richard Gerhardt: The Failure of Naturalism
- Bob Perry: Defrocking the Priests of Scientism
- Peter Grice: Orthogonal Complexity
- Chad Gross: Cumulative Reasons for Christianity
- Shelby Cade: Prophecy and Resurrection
- Luke Nix: Making Sense of the Resurrection
- Aaron Brake: The Facts of the Resurrection
- Amy Hall: The Historical Event of the Resurrection
- James Patrick Holding: The Impossible Faith
- Stephen J. Bedard: Christianity and Other Ancient Religions
- Anthony Horvath: Christianity Proved by the Nature of the Jewish Nation
- Mariano Grinbank: The Euthyphro Dichotomy
- Marcus McElhaney: Christianity is Objectively True
- Vocab Malone / Paul D. Adams: The Gospels Tell Me So
- Glenn Hendrickson: Christianity Explains Logic
- Brian Colón: Atheism: A Falsified Hypothesis
- Kyle Deming: Testing Christianity's Core Truth Claims
- Matthew Flannagan: Showing Christianity is True
- Brian Auten: The Wise Man Seeks God