The Great God Debate
On Tuesday, June 5, my buddy Hugh Hewitt will be hosting a debate between philosopher John Mark Reynolds and journalist Christopher Hitchens on the existence of God and the impact of religious belief on daily life. It will be on Hugh's national radio program, airing from 6:00 to 9:00PM, Eastern time.
Hugh has asked me and other "Godbloggers" to suggest propositions for this debate. So, here are a few he might want to consider:
1. The research compiled and presented by physician and medical researcher Larry Dossey, Jr. has demonstrated a strong connection between prayer and higher success rates for medical treatments. Proposition: Prayer is a legitimate tool of medical treatment.
2. Recent works by several historians have documented the positive impact Christian faith has had on the development of Western ethics and socieities. Proposition: In spite of horrible things done "in the Name of Christ," Christianity has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on its adherents and on the societies it has touched.
3. Proposition: It requires greater blind faith to believe that the universe has just happened into existence than to believe that an intelligent being created it.
4. Proposition: Jesus Christ is God-in-the-flesh and God's ultimate self-disclosure.
5. Proposition: Grace is the unique concept which indicates that Judea-Christian teaching about God is either true or false.
I may have more. But those seem like good ones with which to start.