Wednesday, December 5, 2012
On the fundamental question--evolution or creation?--Americans are on the fence. According to one survey, while 61% of Americans believe we have evolved over time, 22% believe this evolution was guided by a higher power, with another 31% on the side of creationism. For some, modern science debunks many of religion's core beliefs, but for others, questions like "Why are we here?" and "How did it all come about?" can only be answered through a belief in the existence of God. Can science and religion co-exist?
For
Lawrence Krauss
Director, Origins Project and Foundation Professor, ASU
For
Michael Shermer
Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and author
Against
Ian Hutchinson
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT
Against
Dinesh D'Souza
Author, What's So Great About Christianity
MODERATOR
John Donvan
Author & Correspondent for ABC News
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Subscribe to the PodcastFor The Motion
Lawrence Krauss
Director, Origins Project and Foundation Professor, ASU
Lawrence Krauss is an internationally known theoretical physicist. He is the Director of the Origins Project and Professor of Physics at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. Krauss has written several bestselling books including A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing (2012). Passionate about educating the public about science to ensure sound public policy, Krauss has helped lead a national effort to defend the teaching of evolution in public schools. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Learn moreFor The Motion
Michael Shermer
Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and author
Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and Editor of Skeptic.com, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and an Adjunct Professor at Claremont Graduate University and Chapman University. Shermer’s latest book is The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths (2011). He was a college professor for 20 years, and since his creation of Skeptic magazine, has appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, and Charlie Rose. Shermer was the co-host and co-producer of the 13-hour Family Channel television series Exploring the Unknown.
Learn moreAgainst The Motion
Ian Hutchinson
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT
Ian Hutchinson is a physicist and Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He and his research group are international leaders exploring the generation and confinement (using magnetic fields) of plasmas hotter than the sun's center. This research, carried out on a national experimental facility designed, built, and operated by Hutchinson's team, is aimed at producing practical energy for society from controlled nuclear fusion reactions, the power source of the stars. In addition to authoring 200 research articles about plasma physics, Hutchinson has written and spoken widely on the relationship between science and Christianity. His recent book Monopolizing Knowledge (2011) explores how the error of scientism arose, how it undermines reason as well as religion, and how it feeds today's culture wars and an excessive reliance on technology.
Learn moreAgainst The Motion
Dinesh D'Souza
Author, What's So Great About Christianity
A New York Times bestselling author, Dinesh D’Souza, has had a distinguished 25-year career as a writer, scholar and intellectual. A former Policy Analyst in the Reagan White House, D’Souza also served as an Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute as well as a Rishwain Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. Called one of the “top young public-policy makers in the country” by Investor’s Business Daily, he quickly became a major influence on public policy through his writings. In 2008 D’Souza released the book, What’s So Great About Christianity, the comprehensive answer to a spate of atheist books denouncing theism in general and Christianity in particular. D'Souza is also the former President of The King’s College in NYC,
Declared Winner: For The Motion
Online Voting
Voting Breakdown:
62% voted the same way in BOTH pre- and post-debate votes (31% voted FOR twice, 24% voted AGAINST twice, 8% voted UNDECIDED twice). 38% changed their mind (6% voted FOR then changed to AGAINST, 2% voted FOR then changed to UNDECIDED, 7% voted AGAINST then changed to FOR, 2% voted AGAINST then changed to UNDECIDED, 13% voted UNDECIDED then changed to FOR, 8% voted UNDECIDED then changed to AGAINST) | Breakdown Graphic
Research
Research For The Motion:
- Articles & Publications: Michael Shermer
- Articles & Publications: Lawrence Krauss
Research Against The Motion:
- Articles & Publications: Ian Hutchinson
- Articles & Publications: D'Souza, Dinesh
About This Event
Event Photos
http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/728-science-refutes-god/728-science-refutes-god?tab=2&start=140#sigProGalleriacb04f43095
191 comments
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Wednesday, 05 December 2012 17:55 posted by Jennifer H Renee - last time I checked historical narratives, poetry, prayers, genealogies, parables and the like weren't considered 'kindergarten' level material. Try to be less condescending and maybe more people will listen to you.
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Wednesday, 05 December 2012 17:11 posted by Gil Evolution is a fact. Evolution is a fact. Evolutions is a fact. You can say it as many times as you want. It still does not change the fact that it is in fact NOT a fact.
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Wednesday, 05 December 2012 16:40 posted by Dave Renee: Twaddle! But , remember ,your good heart hasn't been put ther your gene pool to have got this fare it must be hard wired.
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Wednesday, 05 December 2012 15:01 posted by Gary S What if ... what if GOD is simply One Consciousness and we all are comprised in that Consciousness? What if our bodies are nothing more than receptors, like a radio picking up radio waves, only the "waves" are Consciousness itself? What if everyone is right and we all see and hear the same thing but describe it differently?
What if my radio is tuned to a different frequency than yours and as I describe what I am hearing you firmly and honestly (and rightly so) disagree with me because your in your experience you are hearing something completely different.
Even if we are listening to the same frequency it's likely our interpretation will be different. Isn't that one of the marvels of the human mind ... to see things from different perspectives?
What we believe is not relevant. It may stroke my ego to think my frequency is better than the next, but it's not. It's just different. And in the end, we're all tuned in to the same source ... call it GOD ... call it Consciousness ... call it what you will. It's all the same.
Science is just on another frequency and describes it yet another way. - Comment Link
Wednesday, 05 December 2012 09:55 posted by Aleksander Rotner to Renee Margaux:
this Creator you are talking about is like a true force of nature, beyond any rationale. It delights me when the weather is nice and my life is pleasant, it annoys me, when the weather turns cold and my life is in disarray. No amount of wishing, praying, pleading or cursing makes any detectable difference to me. - Comment Link
Wednesday, 05 December 2012 08:46 posted by Scott All you have to do is simply read the religion of hitler on wikepedia and see that he used religious beliefs and quotes to GAIN the churches and peoples trust. He was NOT Christian in fact, he rebelled against the church at a young age. In some of his books, he supports the fact that he was AGAINST organized religion. So please, whoever keeps claiming hitler was Christian or Catholic please go read a book.....morons.
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Wednesday, 05 December 2012 00:46 posted by mike it said: God is the first truth and the last fact; therefore does all truth origin in Him, while all facts exist relative to him. God is absolute truth. Reason alone cannot achieve harmony between infinite truth and universal fact. To science, God is a possibility, to psychology a desirability, to philosohpy a probability, to religion a certainty, an actuality of religious experience. Science stabilizes philosophy through the elimination of error, while it puifies religion by the destruction of superstition; but science is not god. Therefore, there never was a conflict between science and religion/God per se. I belong to the camp of intelligent design; besides the other unknown cosmic laws/energy, God creates through science. Proving is the hardest part and the reason for the existence of debates such as these.
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Tuesday, 04 December 2012 13:29 posted by Renee Margaux The 'bible' is a book written on a kindergarten level. Science is the College edition, ready for us as we come to understand the world.
In my mind, science makes a creator BIGGER. The creation of life in all man and animals is miraculous. Just because we understand it now doesn't change that fact. Every thing science discovers changes things but does not eliminate the wonderment of it. I mean think about it: how amazing and still a bit incomprehensible is the knowledge that the earth is 4.5 billion years and the universe is nearly 14 billion. How clouds form, why the tides exists, why there are mountains and volcanoes, how plants make oxygen, how chemicals react and combine, how our body's work and how similar it is to other mammals YET we are so different, that sea life breathe underwater, that birds fly and soar.... IT'S ALL SO AMAZING... All animal life was created with a brain, we have the gift of reason and free will. To use it in scientific discovery to understand our creator brings us closer in the relationship.
Love deepens as couples / families discover and grow together. To not participate and accept what we learn can be likened to a child who is afraid to venture outside and really see the world we live in. - Comment Link
Tuesday, 04 December 2012 13:24 posted by Shawn Craig you just proved a very lmportant point. "If humans evolved from apes, why aren't apes turning into humans still?" That is not how evolution works, you obviously have never studied it, but Ofcourse that is the argument heard over and over again. Read and learn before you try to disprove something. Evolution is a fact. Not just a theory. Germ theory- just a theory but its a fact germs make you sick. Theory of gravity.... Etc etc
Funny you said science can't get around something from nothing. Lawrence Krauss one of the speakers actually has a book explaining this. I'm sure he will bring it up during his time. Not only is it possible to get something from nothing, it's actually quite common. - Comment Link
Tuesday, 04 December 2012 12:19 posted by Terry This vote is deceptive. I was confused as to what for and against actually were. I wouldn't doubt that some of the fores meant against and vise versa. At any rate, Christians consider religion man's attempt to reach God and relationship God's attempt to reach man. Christians beieve in a relationship rather than a religion. How can science disprove that my relationship with God doesn't exist?!
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