Hitchens, D'Souza Debate (Again)

Does God exist? Jean Torkelson reviews the recent debate between Dinesh D'Souza and Christopher Hitchens. I didn't attend the debate, as I didn't want to surrender $10 plus an evening to go.

Here's a telling line from D'Souza: "To me, doubt is intrinsic to religious belief. 'Belief' is not the same thing as 'knowledge.' If I knew for sure, I wouldn't have belief. Belief means trusting in God even (with) doubts. That doesn't make belief unreasonable or irrational."

But there is a huge difference between believing something is probably true based on spotty evidence, and believing that God exists based on no evidence. Of course D'Souza claims that various facts about the natural world demonstrate the existence of God, but the natural facts he cites do not support his supernatural conclusion. Notice how D'Souza tries to have it both ways: he claims to prove the existence of God, but in the end he claims that such a proof is unnecessary. God is not only unproved but unprovable and conceptually incoherent. But, as D'Souza makes clear, he will go on "trusting in God" even though he has no good reason for doing so, and such a practice is indeed unreasonable and irrational.

Hitchens, D'Souza Bring Road Show to Town

The Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought is organizing a Boulder debate on religion between Dinesh D'Souza and Christopher Hitchens, Catholic News Agency reports.

If I were a Christian, I would promote this debate, too. As noted, Hitchens holds that moral knowledge is innate, an indefensible position. So, while Hitchens makes many fine arguments around the periphery, he cannot answer the central question: what is morality without God?

Ben Degrow has a little fun with a Daily Camera headline, "Conservative D’Souza, atheist Hitchens to debate God at CU." Degrow posits that a "debate against the Almighty" wouldn't "be a fair fight by any remote stretch of human imagination."

On the contrary. I'm betting that, no matter how the debate organizers prayed or promoted their event, God would be a no-show.