Members of campus theological organizations and Tuscaloosa community members gathered in the Birmingham Room at the Bryant Conference Center Tuesday night to witness Defending the Faith, a multimedia discussion aimed at defending Christianity against the basic tenets of atheism.
The event, sponsored by the campus ministries Tide 4 Christ and Christ First, featured Kyle Butt as the speaker. Butt works in the Bible department of Apologetics Press, an Alabama-based, non-profit organization that works to defend New Testament Christianity, according to their website.
Originally planned as a two-sided debate, the sponsor organizations hoped to find a leading atheist to counter Butt.
Trae Durden, a leader in the Tide 4 Christ campus ministry, said the organizers contacted Alabama Atheists and Agnostics last year, but attempts from the sponsors to book a prominent speaker were unsuccessful due to insufficient funds.
“We also tried to get a prominent atheist but could not afford their asking price, and none would come for free,” Durden said. “Sam Harris wanted $50,000 to debate Kyle here at the University. So we did the next best thing, we found several atheists on videos and plan to allow them to speak for themselves.”
Butt began the discussion cautioning the audience that this was no longer billed as a debate, but a discussion or defense of Christianity against the main tenets of atheism.
“It is our intent, and what we are going to try to do, is make sure we represent the atheistic position correctly,” Butt said. “I don’t agree with the atheistic position and, as you’re going to see, the presentation is definitely going to be one-sided in favor of Christian theism. But I do want you to understand that I think it’s important that you get the strongest case possible for atheism and then deal with that.”
Butt provided the audience with video clips and book excerpts from atheists and evolutionists such as Sam Harris and Charles Darwin. These excerpts, according to Butt, represented the philosophical underpinnings of atheism and were the points he would argue against.
Half the audience hung around after the three-hour discussion, conferring further with each other on various topics.
Sean Cavanaugh, a sophomore majoring in computer science who questioned Butt’s definition of objective morality in the Q&A session, said the event exceeded his expectations in some capacity.
“It was pretty biased… but less biased that I thought it would be,” said Cavanaugh.
Forrest Williams, a junior majoring in psychology and philosophy and vice-president of AAA, spoke at length with Butt during the Q&A session.
“I came in expecting more fire and brimstone type arguments,” Williams said. “I was very happy with the way he opened, but I do feel like our views were not fairly presented.”
Perhaps audience members who agreed with Cavanaugh and Williams will be pleased to hear that a more balanced debate may be in the works, according to Tim Keele, the current president of AAA.
“AAA actually does have several people that have voiced interest in debating for us, and had we been asked, we would have provided someone,” Keele said. In fact, we are now talking to Mr. Butt about having a formal debate later in the year, now that we know they are interested.”
