Last night I heard an interesting debate with Reza Aslan (Progressive Moslem) vs Sam Harris (extremist atheist). It was also hosted by Johnathon Kirsh (Jewish) who had his own interesting comments to the discussion.
Reza Aslan, imo, was a much stronger debater, but maybe I was a bit biased. I think one of his best points was that Harris was in claiming the extreme views of religion represented them, was an "literal" as the various fundamentalists views. He also had a knowledge of the conflicts in various areas of the world that Harris didn't. Still I thought that Harris did a good
job, and wasn't entirely overshadowed.
This wasn't a formal debate, but Kirsh did referee a bit, quoted the authors' works at several points and kept things moving.
There will be a rerun of this tonight at 10:00 EST, I think. On CSPAN2. Geek warning, as this is really geek tv.
It is worth catching if you can.
--des
Reza Aslan, imo, was a much stronger debater, but maybe I was a bit biased. I think one of his best points was that Harris was in claiming the extreme views of religion represented them, was an "literal" as the various fundamentalists views. He also had a knowledge of the conflicts in various areas of the world that Harris didn't. Still I thought that Harris did a good
job, and wasn't entirely overshadowed.
This wasn't a formal debate, but Kirsh did referee a bit, quoted the authors' works at several points and kept things moving.
There will be a rerun of this tonight at 10:00 EST, I think. On CSPAN2. Geek warning, as this is really geek tv.
It is worth catching if you can.
--des
