whanau

Most of us here like to think that we could hold our own in a debate, especially a classic "Athiest vs Thiest" matchup.

Well here is your chance to prove your skills ! Recently I have been writing to the discussion board of www.christiancambridge.org , the official Christian website of the famed Cambridge university in England (where I am due to go in 7 months time w00t! )

Keep in mind that these guys and girls are good- most of them have studied theology at the leading university in Europe (perhaps the world)
I've been fighting rationally and valiently, but sometimes its time to call in the calvary. So if you want to challenge your discussion skills please visit there and start writing to some of the threads. Note that you must write well and present lots of good evidence to have any chance of winning an arguement here, so sweeping statements won't win the day. If this sounds interesting- I'll see you there !

Feather

Meh, I read the post started by you. Seems they're re-hashing the usual Xtian arguments:

1) Faux Persecution
2) Interpreted Bible
3) God is "unknowable."

I don't see how any of those responding to your post has especially gone beyond the bounds of the standard fare for theist defense.

Plus you came off as pretty confrontational. Dunno how much that will net you on the forums there.

Good luck in Cambridge! Are you starting Undergraduate or Graduate studies there?

whanau

I start at undergraduate for computer science.
Should be an amazing experience....

As for being confrontational, well thats me. Debating in Singapore the style is very aggressive (addressing the speaker by name and using adjectives like "idiotic" is rewarded) so I guess I've adopted that. Plus I lead the U-21 singapore hockey league in cards so you can see where I come from....

lunachick

Hiya, whanau.

Sorry to be off-topic, but where did you get your name? I see you are in Singapore, but your name is the Maori word for family. Are you a Maori living in Singapore?

Anyway, good luck with your studies at Cambridge!

Rusting Car Bumper

Debates are typically a waste of time and are mostly counter productive.

DC

braces_for_impact

I don't think so. I think it's an excellent exercise for the mind, and you can learn an awful lot from another person's position on a particular topic. It may also have the possibility of convincing those that sit on the fence on some issue.

I find a debate can help your communication skills immensely, and public speaking can help in facets of everyday life. My trouble (oral debate) is with church state seperation issues...ugh.

Workin' on it though.

Rusting Car Bumper

Actually no. Most studies about debates determine that the better presentation wins.

Another thing is that the reasons people believe usually have little to do with the usual debate points. Very very few people believe in god because of cosmological and fine tuning arguments.

Further, the issues are more voluminous than can be handled by verbal debates.

Agreed, but public speaking is not synonymous with debate. One can do the things you've outlined above while finding common ground and talking WITH believers instead of AT and THROUGH them. I have participated in dialogues instead of debates including one in front of about 1000 people. It gives an opportunity to address the issues you'd liek and let them see us as human instead of always battling them with "Im right and you are wrong."

DC