On Monday 2 August at the University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Dr Raymond Bradley and Dr Matthew Flannagan (of this blog) debated the topic “Is God the Source of Morality? Is it rational to ground right and wrong in commands issued by God?” With a turnout of 400-500 people, this debate was the largest Christian event to occur on Auckland University’s campus since the 2008 debate between Dr William Lane Craig and Dr Bill Cooke. For the benefit of those who could not be there, who are awaiting the editing and uploading of the video of the debate, we will be running a blog series where we bring you some of the debate in written form. This will include:
- Ray and Matt’s joint communique
- Ray’s opening statement, with introduction from Dr Robert Nola
- Matt’s opening statement, with introduction from Dr Chris Tucker
- Ray’s reply to Matt
- Matt’s reply to Ray
- Dr Glenn Peoples’ review of the debate
- The podcast of the debate
- The video of the debate
JOINT COMMUNIQUE
Read by moderator Professor John Bishop
1. Matt and Ray wish this to be a genuine debate in which they, so to speak, ‘lock horns’ on the issues, not — as so often happens — ‘talk past each other.’ They therefore agreed to exchange in writing their opening remarks so as to make it possibly for each to engage each other, not some caricature of what the other was saying.
2. They also agreed, right from the beginning, that they did not wish the organisers or supporters of either so-called ‘side’ to conduct a final poll as to which of Matt or Ray, if either, had ‘won’ the debate. Such polls, they both believe, encourage shallow thinking and an unfortunate disposition for supporters of one side or the other to go away crowing ‘our side won’ and thereafter put it out of their minds.
3. Matt and Ray are both philosophers who like to encourage people to reflect at length and seriously about the issues raised and to weigh carefully the evidence and the arguments for each of the opposing viewpoints.
Tags: Debates · Matthew Flannagan · Raymond Bradley4 Comments
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
Hi everyone.
Thought I’d get the ball rolling with this clip from the Atheist Alliance International Conference in 2009 by Dr. Andy Thomson with regard to where the source of our morality may come from, either heaven or nature. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnXmDaI8IEo
Paul – you may be interested in the Edge Seminar held at the end of last month on The New Science of Morality. Videos of the presentations and discussions are currently being uploaded and they are fascinating. Many of the best known scientists working in this field were represented. There are links to the materials in my posts:
The new science of morality and Is and ought.
I also recently reviewed an excellent book on this very subject and can highly recommend it. It’s John Teehan’s “In the Name of God: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence” and my review is at Evolution of gods, morals and violence.
Was it as exciting as the Peter Singer V Dinesh D’Souza debate?
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