God spurs debate ‘The Ultimate Questions’
‘Does God Exist?’ debate raising more questions for students
Joanna Bhaskaran, staff
Was the universe generated out of nothingness or is it the product of intelligent design? On Feb. 6, more than 100 people came to University Centre to find the answers at “Does God Exist?,” a debate organized by the Campus Crusade for Christ.
The event brought together Kirk Durston, a theist, and Tim Schroeder, an atheist, to argue the existence of God. As theist and atheist respectively, they raised the well-worn questions and debated the issues that many people have pondered. Durston, currently a PhD candidate for computational biophysics at the University of Guelph, holds an MA in philosophy and a B.Sc. in engineering, while Schroeder holds a PhD in philosophy from Stanford University and is now an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Manitoba.
A firm believer in the existence of God, Durston spoke about the origins of the universe, refuting the common atheist belief that the universe was generated from nothing.
“If the universe had a beginning, then it had to have a cause. The universe began to exist, therefore, it had a cause. However, if a timeless cause [is] to give rise to a temporal effect like the universe, the cause should be a personal agent who chooses to create an effect in time.”
He followed with what he called his personal experience with God and the historical existence of Jesus Christ.
Schroeder retorted aptly with questions in hand.
“God is a beneficial delusion; we choose to believe in His existence because we believe that it will benefit us. . . . I, personally, however, find it hard to believe in a God that wouldn’t intervene when Hitler became chancellor of Germany, who allows a baby to be born with its brain exposed and when bad things continue to happen. If there was an intelligent being who is supposed to be essentially good, why won’t He intervene?”
According to Schroeder, the similar feeling one describes as a personal experience with God can be replicated by using LSD, sticking a strong magnetic field to your head, and the ancient Arab tradition of spinning around in circles; all of these have resulted in a reported feeling of oneness to a higher power.
After the debate, Hadeesha Piyadasa, a self-described agnostic, said, “These are topics that I have thought about quite often and, based on this debate, I see a pretty valid argument for the existence of God, but I’m still searching for my answers.”
Natasha Sajan, a University 1 student, said, “I’m doing a religion course now and, although I have always believed in God, this course raised quite a number of questions for me and I was hoping to have a few of them answered at the debate. Some of them were answered, but both the speakers raised some pretty interesting arguments, which in turn raised many more questions for me.”
Lynnette Vanbruggen, a representative from Campus Crusade for Christ, said she was pleased with the event’s turnout.
“Questions like this always generate a huge amount of interest. We’ve put on this debate in the past and we’ve seen many people get involved and get interested. There were many valid questions raised and we received a lot of positive feedback from the debate.”
Similar debates took place all over Canada during the first weeks of February. The “Does God Exist?” debate held at the University of British Columbia drew 1,200 spectators, student newspaper the Ubyssey reported.
