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- From: geoff@East.Sun.COM (Geoff Arnold @ Sun BOS - R.H. coast near the top)
- Newsgroups: alt.atheism
- Subject: Re: A Challenge
- Date: 27 Jan 1993 14:22:08 GMT
- Organization: SunSelect
- Lines: 25
- Distribution: world
- Message-ID: <1k65qiINN3ac@seven-up.East.Sun.COM>
- References: <930127.110630.8Y4.rusnews.w165w@mantis.co.uk>
- Reply-To: geoff@East.Sun.COM
- NNTP-Posting-Host: tyger.east.sun.com
-
- In article w165w@mantis.co.uk, mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk> () writes:
- ##cobb@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (Mike Cobb) writes:
- ##> So it wouldn't be worth the effort to get opposing groups together to try to
- ##> set up a forum for debate?
- ##
- ##I doubt it. My experience is that Usenet is actually *better* for these
- ##debates than real life, because on Usenet all participants can respond
- ##point-by-point, can't be interrupted, and can retrieve previous sections of
- ##the debate for reference and quotation. And the oratory skills of the
- ##preacher don't help him sway the audience.
-
- I agree. A case in point is that of the philosopher Antony Flew. He's
- one of the most elegant and thoughtful writers about atheism, but in
- several published debates (one with Terry Mieses, and another that I
- forget) he was deemed to have "lost" the debate because he was more
- interested in polite, courteous, fairly reasoned debate than in
- demagoguery.
-
-
- ---
- Geoff Arnold, PC-NFS architect, Sun Select. (geoff.arnold@East.Sun.COM)
- --------------------------------------------------+-------------------
- "What if they made the whole thing up? | "The Great Lie" by
- Four guys, two thousand years ago, over wine..." | The Tear Garden
-
-