Professor debates theologian

October 5, 2009 by Victoria Gonzalez · 2 Comments

An atheist UNLV professor and a Christian radio talk show host met Saturday in the Green Valley Evangelical Church to debate the existence of God.

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Author, theologian and Christian talk show host Steve Gregg explained why he rejects scientific claims of evolution.
“There is something that is there that explains what has come about since,” Gregg said. “There are things we marvel on that science may not ever be able to explain.”

He went on to say that the founder of nature must be supernatural and that no one has shown that anything other than a deity made life.

“We don’t know that there is no God,” Gregg said.

Assistant professor of philosophy William Ramsey, who taught at the University of Notre Dame for 18 years, was given the chance to explain his views and some of the criticism he has faced for being open about them.

“I was once told [in Notre Dame], ‘What’s a nice place like this doing with a guy like you?’” he said.

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Ramsey also said that, for him, things do not make sense if they do not fit well together – a criticism he found of theology.
“I feel that way with core Christian claims. They just don’t make sense to me,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that we need to be ‘saved.’”

Ramsey continued on to speak about salvation and why he believes Christians technically “kill the messenger” by devoting themselves to the idea that Jesus died for the sins of mankind.

Ramsey ended his speech by saying he could not understand how a benevolent, loving and caring God would let bad things happen to human beings.

He said Orthodox Christians believe that suffering will happen to those who don’t believe in God.

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“It is essentially a scare tactic saying, ‘You better believe in this. If not, bad things will happen to you,’” Ramsey said.
The focus of the debate was then turned to Gregg, who argued from the perspective of a religious devotee.

“In a Christian point of view, heaven cannot be tainted with bad people,” Gregg said. “God wants people that are repentant for their faults and sins.”

Ramsey took the floor again to say that he believes there has to be reason for every single fact and that he is perfectly happy believing in facts alone.

To this, Gregg responded by saying that the miracles of Jesus were consistent with who he claimed to be.
Gregg asked Ramsey what it would take to convince him that there is a God. Ramsey responded by saying that he would require clear-cut evidence.

“I need to walk out of here and look up to see the stars arranged in a way that tells me, ‘Hey Ramsey, I exist,’” he said.
In one last question from Ramsey to Gregg, the professor asked the theologian why God makes it so difficult to believe and stays silent.

“Seeing is not necessarily believing [to everyone],” Gregg responded. “You believe what you are willing to believe and don’t believe what you are not willing to believe.”

At the end of the debate, both sides took time to express their respect for one another, with Ramsey adding that he believes there is an openness to atheism that has not always existed in the philosophy at large.