And heres the report of the debate itself:
Famed atheist Hitchens to debate at Christian school in Plano
12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, November 17, 2010
By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
samhodgesdallasnews.com
If you're a Christian school bent on bringing in an atheist to test students' faith, why not shoot for the stars?
That was the thinking at Prestonwood Christian Academy, which landed Christopher Hitchens, a celebrity skeptic and author of the bestseller God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
Hitchens will debate William Dembski, a research professor in philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, on Thursday morning at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.
Though the public is invited, the main audience will be high school and middle school students from Prestonwood Christian Academy and other Christian schools, with one school coming from Arkansas.
"A lot of people may have the concept that a private Christian school is just a bubble, isolating kids from the world. We're just the opposite," said Dan Panetti, whose title at Prestonwood Christian is worldview director.
Students from Christian schools eventually go off to college or the working world, where tests to faith are inevitable. Therefore, Panetti said, it's important to give them early exposure to atheists' critiques.
Panetti said the Plano school put out "a pretty good chunk of change" " he wouldn't be more specific " to get an atheist of Hitchens' caliber.
"It's worth the investment," he said. "He's witty. He's very articulate. We wanted to make sure we didn't put somebody up there who our students would say is just a straw figure."
The British-born, Oxford-educated Hitchens is a prolific journalist and author who has gone around the country debating believers, including his brother, Peter Hitchens. Hitchens continues to take on Christians even though he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last summer.
"I'm praying personally for him every day as he deals with esophageal cancer and hoping that his brother's faith will one day become his own faith as well," said the Rev. Jim Denison, theologian-in-residence for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Denison was on a panel of Christians who debated Hitchens in Dallas a year and a half ago.
"On stage he is acerbic, sarcastic, and can be extremely confrontational," Denison said. "Off stage, he could not be more gracious. He was kind, encouraging, winsome, extremely funny, and a delight to be with."
Dembski has doctorates in both math and philosophy, and is a leading proponent of the intelligent design theory of creation. He's been doing his homework, reading Hitchens' books on atheism and watching videos of Hitchens debating.
"He's quick on his feet, passionate, and has a great feel for the audience," Dembski said.
Prestonwood Christian had a similar event last year, pitting Christian apologist Dinesh D'Souza against Dan Barker, a pastor turned atheist.
Panetti expects more than 2,000 students will come to the Hitchens-Dembski debate, with others participating through a live webcast.
Good conduct is required.
"Just because a person disagrees with us doesn't mean we have to be disagreeable to him," Panetti said. "We want to show him the love of Christ while he's here."
The point of this thread is not to continue the debate, but to note that the event was sponsored by Prestonwood Christian School of Plano, which paid Christopher Hitchens for his appearance and all his expenses, and took place at the Prestonwood Baptist Church. I think its worth observing that that church and school are NOT taking the route often criticized here, that of avoiding confrontation with opposing ideas and keeping their members and students sheltered from them, limiting them to preaching to the choir. It also wasnt some lightweight local that the school invited to challenge its students views, but a world-class author who is considered a leading voice for atheism. I find that remarkable and commendable.
Despite cancer, celebrated atheist Christopher Hitchens remains firm in his non-belief
11:12 PM CST on Thursday, November 18, 2010
By TOM BENNING / The Dallas Morning News
tbenningdallasnews.com
World-renowned author and atheist Christopher Hitchens challenged the existence of God with all his usual tools and arguments: philosophy, science, history and yes, even Scripture.
But his most passionate rejection of religion, and specifically Christian salvation, came from the more personal perspective of a man who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer this summer.
"To me, the offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can't give way is an offer of something not worth having," he said during a debate Thursday at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.
Hitchens, 61, has repeatedly scoffed at the notion that his closeness to death would somehow impact his long-held beliefs, and he only mentioned his illness in passing during a nearly two-hour exchange with William Dembski, a research professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
Even though a heightened sense of mortality loomed large, Hitchens remained firm in his convictions against religion, especially when describing what "conversation" he wants to have while he is still alive.
"I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don't know ... enough yet," he said. "That I haven't understood enough. That I can't know enough."
Prestonwood officials organized the event, which was open to the public, to challenge the faith of students at Prestonwood Christian Academy and other Christian schools and to prepare them for the differing viewpoints they will inevitably face some day.
The British-born, Oxford-educated Hitchens took on the task with relish as he sparred amicably with his opponent. He made a point of addressing the students directly, telling them they don't need to accept an "absolute authority."
"Don't think of that as a gift," said Hitchens, who showed no ill effects from cancer treatment, other than a bald head. "Think of it as a poison chalice. Push it aside, however tempting it is."
Dembski, a leading proponent of the intelligent design theory of creation, was equally aggressive in defending God and attacking Hitchens' beliefs. He set about "deconstructing" evolution and listed scientific evidence that he said pointed to a designer behind the universe.
"Getting from design and biology to theism is not a big stretch," he said.
Dembski also tackled head-on Hitchens' oft-repeated assertion that Christianity has caused countless episodes of destruction and death.
Dembski readily acknowledged that religion can be a problem. But he said Hitchens and others fail to acknowledge all the good it has accomplished. "We are sick, yes, but I'd say not incurably so," he said. "If fact, the cure is there."
Questions for debate:
Is there any basis on which to criticize Prestonwood Christian School for sponsoring and promoting this event?
Is this something that more communities of faith should do?
Please note that the questions for debate do NOT include continuation of the debate itself. There are plenty of other threads for that, and this is not one of them.
