Atheist. Christian debate
MICHELLE THERLAULT
The Willamette University Collegian
Nov. 1, 2001
An ex- atheist turned Christian and an ex-Christian turned atheist debated the existence of a Christian God in the Cat Cavern Tuesday night in front of over 150 Willamette students. The formal debate was sponsored by the Campus Ambassadors and the Issues & Controversies Board. The idea to hold a formal debate was originated by Jeff Poush, campus director of Campus Ambassadors. “It speaks to relevance of issues in students lives, they want answers to these huge questions in peoples lives like the existence of God,” Poush said of the debate. “I like the format of a formal debate; its respectful. Instead of seeing people fight and argue, it gives people a clear impression of the truth and the claims people are making.”
Speaking as a Christian turned atheist, David Anderson attempted to systematically disprove the existence of God. “I’m trying to find holes [in the Bible’s logic],; I also only need one. Anderson said. Using overheads, he referenced biblical verses that he said contradicted other passages of the bible. “As far as I know there is no place in the Bible that says the same opportunities should be given to women as men,” he said. Siegel responded by saying “The Bible is not a collection of fortune cookie fortunes to be taken out of context…We are reading a document that’s 2000 years old. To read this without factoring in cultural context is to do the Bible a great injustice.”
“I thought that Dave Anderson didn’t really respond very well to issues brought up by Bob Siegel. He seemed more interested in presenting his own agenda,” said Senior Dominic McIntyre. Other students noticed a discrepancy between the persuasiveness of the speakers. “Based on his rhetorical style, I thought Bob Siegel was a minister because he was a powerful speaker, which could have been why he was more successful,” freshman Caitlin Simmons said. After the debate, the speakers stayed to individually answer questions from audience members. When asked why he speaks to college campuses about his conversion to atheism, David Anderson said it was “Mainly because I see a value in it. Being that I was once a Christian I found my life to have more meaning being an atheist. “The reason I became an atheist was just an accumulation of problems I had with the basic scheme of Christianity” “[The debate] was conducted in a non-biased way, I thought it was handled very professionally,” said Sophomore Rene Schwab after the event.