This debate ( audio | video [audio only] | 2 hours ) between Alister McGrath and Susan Blackmore took place in 2007 and asked the cleverly conceived question: "Is God a Delusion?".
2 Stars: Nothing too exciting about this debate. McGrath was verbosely vague and Blackmore, though interesting, focused on poisoning the well rather than debating the topic.
Oh man did Dawkins' really kick things off. No wonder all us nontheists worship him like Jesus Christ, Muhammad, or Ayn Rand, right?
Anyways, many people for half a decade and more asked the same debate question and it appears that in this debate, such a question was even asked of one purpose who isn't actually an atheist activist but more of a skeptic. Talking about Blackmore, btw.
So yes, this debate asked the question and this is just going to be one of my lame reviews. Sorry gang. I listened to it awhile ago and remember McGrath doing his normal thing, which is to say pretty much nothing, but in a calming and protracted manner. I also remember Blackmore going the Hitchens route against God's existence, which was to focus on the wicked by-products of such a poorly defined deity. She seemed more like she was having a go and not being caustic or anything but it just didn't seem to be as punchy as a result. It also didn't help so much be because McGrath seems pretty hard to rile anyways.
A bit of interesting stuff about Blackmore's journey from parapsychology into real science was mentioned here and there but this one can be skipped unless you're a fan of either speaker. But there's barely any talk of memes either, which is something else Blackmore is known for and related to the debate topic in that it's something Dawkins actually came up with in The Selfish Gene.
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PhilVaz 3/5
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