Clarence Darrow v G.K. Chesterton on evolution, science, and religion

[Sniffles]

Here Ivy, in case you missed it last night.

[youtube="FI4rpNrkfps"]Evolution debate[/youtube]

 

[Sniffles]

Then here's another one concerning Chesterton's debate with Robert Blachford on miracles.

[youtube="nBHGPMC-XKw"]On Miracles[/youtube]

 

[Ivy]

Thank you!

The theatrics were a little distracting, especially since the Clarence Darrow guy reminded me of Tom Smothers and I could never shake that.

I especially enjoyed "I'm not sure if my opponent is arguing with me, or some fundamentalist, perhaps an aunt of mine"

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

These remind me of various debates I've seen on this forum. I suppose the two viewpoints haven't changed all that much.

 

[Ivy]

Yes exactly! That's what I was getting at with the "are you confusing me with a fundamentalist?" thing. I feel like I say that ALL THE TIME if I take the side of defending religion in a debate.

 

[lowtech redneck]

Yes exactly! That's what I was getting at with the "are you confusing me with a fundamentalist?" thing. I feel like I say that ALL THE TIME if I take the side of defending religion in a debate.

Same here, and I'm not even a believer. Though to be fair, I've found myself assuming that regular atheists were militantly inclined during these debates, as well.

 

[Usehername]

I had about a 15 second moment where I "realized" that Chesterton was not, in fact, dead like I presumed him to be, and berated myself for my lack of basic understanding about some of the notable authors in my faith's recent history. Then I clicked the movie and had a deep feeling of relief about my knowledge base standing where I thought it did (which is not that much, but you don't want it to be less!).

 

[kuranes]

This was entertaining and thought provoking. Chesterton was given 90 percent of the good lines, however. I wondered ( upon noticing that ) whether these dramatic re-creations were based on an exact ( or reasonably close ) transcription of the debates or not.

When Darrow brought up Catholicism as being traditionally against science, for example, Chesterton accurately cited monks and other people having preserved much of what we know about history etc. in their archives. It's hard to believe that Darrow wouldn't have countered by conceding this point, and then mentioning Galileo, for example.