They are fascinating, especially because, often, both of the debaters are brilliant, highly educated, well-prepared with extensive reasonings and plausible evidence. Yet they hold totally opposite life-stances and worldviews.
One particularly fascinating though somewhat irritating debate on YouTube is:
THE GREAT DEBATE: MARSHALL VERSUS ZUCKERMAN--CHRISTIANITY VERSUS SECULAR HUMANISM
Probably the most baffling aspect of this debate is that both individuals aren't arguing contrary views!
Marshall states he is presenting 7 central truths of the Christian religion, BUT then instead of arguing for 7 key points of creedal Christianity, he presents fallacious and distorted historical claims that were only partially true of some tiny heretical Christian groups.
These he contrasts with the worst of non-Christian ideologies such as the Vikings' worldview of raiding, rape, and slaughter.
And, oddly, Zuckerman contrasts Secular Humanism NOT to liberal religions including Liberal Christianity but the worst of Fundamentalistic, Creedal Christianity!
For instance, he contrasts the modern successful society of Denmark, very secular, to the modern dysfunctional and violent society of Mississippi and other southern U.S. states, very fundamentalistic.
Actually, a more accurate historical and contemporary comparison would show how similar Secular Humanism is to Liberal Christianity.
And how similar Reductionistic Nonreligion is to Fundamentalism.
Examples abound of the latter especially. Here are two central ones:
#1 Reductionism and Fundamentalism both emphasize that humans have no inherent worth.
And Reductionism and Fundamentalism, this bad odd couple, often use demeaning terms when speaking of the Human Species.
Negative examples of this include for Reductionism: All humans are "just complex chemicals," "puppets," "jumped-up apes," "wet robots," etc.
For Fundamentalism: All humans at conception/birth are "totally depraved," "in essence, evil", are "clay pots;" and some humans God created as "toilets and spittoons," etc.
#2 Reductionistic nonreligion and Fundamentalism also are very deterministic emphasizing that all humans have no choice.
Everything is determined (in the case of Reductionism) by the "Laws of Physics," or the "Cosmos," or "Evolution," etc.
Everything is determined (in Fundamentalism) by Yahweh or Allah, etc.
To be continued--
Say No to a Bad Couple--Reductionism and Fundamentalism
Say Yes to Kissin' Neighbors--Liberalism and Humanism.
In the LIGHT,
Daniel Wilcox
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