My debate with the atheist, professor of religion, took place last
Thursday---funny the physicist is the theist and the professor of philosophy
is the atheist. It is like me teaching Astrology in the physics department.
The format was fifteen minutes each and then Q & A from the audience. The
auditorium sits 308 and it was standing room only. The atheist spoke first
and as I had anticipated he raised the issue of transcendence of God and the
question of evil in the world as objections to the existence or questioning
of the existence of God. I emphasized what science is and what it is not.
In particular, that physics is the prototype of science and that all the
data that constitutes the subject matter of physics is collected by
mechanical, electrical devices--not humans. I mentioned, therefore, that
materialism or naturalism places physics as the discipline that explains all
that exists--the physical universe, as well as, humans, free will,
conscience, etc. This philosophical position claims that the subject
matter of physics is everything that there is. The second part of my
presentation was my witness of a Christian and claiming that the Christian
worldview is most all-encompassing and that it explains the totality of
human experience. There was a multitude of questions and one could see the
genuine interest on the part of students. At least here in North Carolina it
seems that students are hungry for explanations of how to conduct and judge
their personal experiences and conduct. My wife Mary was in the audience
and said that it went very well. Only once my atheist friend sighed, a la
Gore, when I mentioned that according to the Christian worldview it was not
consistent to be all concerned about the fate of whales and still be
pro-abortion. I want to thank all those who prayed for me and advised me
for this debate. I think it was a good witness to our Lord. There were
faculty members in the audience as well. Moorad
P.s. It seems that Physics Today is going to publish my letter in the Novemb
er issue that deals with the question of what is science. I shall post the
material when it comes out.
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