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Addressing the God Question -- May 7th, Davenport Hotel, 8pm

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  • 28-04-2008 10:19am
    #1
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,417 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    The next meeting of the Irish skeptics will take place on Wednesday, May 7th at 8.00pm in the Davenport Hotel, Merrion Square, Dublin 2.

    Instead of the usual lecture format, this evening will instead be a discussion on the topic of Addressing the God Question: are religion and skepticism mutually incompatible?" This is an area that the ISS has not considered previously, though it has been discussed by skeptics groups elsewhere.

    The format of the evening will be as follows:

    Dr. Gary O'Reilly, School of Psychology, University College Dublin will introduce the topic with an overview of the issues.

    Ms. Ann James, Secretary of the Humanist Association of Ireland will present a position paper from the perspective of a non-believer.

    Dr. Donal O'Mathuna, a scientist, member of the Irish Skeptics society and a lecturer in the School of Nursing, Dublin City University will present a position paper from the perspective of a believer.

    Following the presentations Mr. Paul O'Donoghue of the ISS will chair a discussion with audience participation.

    A lively debate and healthy turnout are expected. As usual, the entry fee is €3 for members and concessions and €6 for non-members.


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    #2
    Tim Robbins
    Registered Users Posts: 8,993 ✭✭✭Tim Robbins


    robindch wrote: »
    The format of the evening will be as follows:

    Dr. Gary O'Reilly, School of Psychology, University College Dublin will introduce the topic with an overview of the issues.

    Ms. Ann James, Secretary of the Humanist Association of Ireland will present a position paper from the perspective of a non-believer.

    Dr. Donal O'Mathuna, a scientist, member of the Irish Skeptics society and a lecturer in the School of Nursing, Dublin City University will present a position paper from the perspective of a believer.
    How come no-one from one of the main Churches in Ireland is speaking?


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    #3
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,417 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Tim Robbins wrote: »
    How come no-one from one of the main Churches in Ireland is speaking?
    No idea -- why not come along and ask? :)


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    #4
    aguaclara
    Closed Accounts Posts: 44 ✭aguaclara


    how did the meeting go? was interested but unfortunately was out of the country.


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    #5
    ISAW
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 7,142 ✭✭✭ISAW


    aguaclara wrote: »
    how did the meeting go? was interested but unfortunately was out of the country.

    Went well. about 150 people present I would guess. The lead speaker admitted he was an "unbeliever" in the sense that he was not following any religion but he didn't present this bias in any unreasonable way. He gave a fair overview of the subject. The humanist gave a speech which was very subjective in a "this is what I believe and why it makes sense to me" . The DCU guy in a similar fashion began to explain why he believes what he does but it became somewhat an explanation of why he believes in the Bible. It turns out he was a lapsed Christian and became evangelised in the US. But he didn't come across to much as a "born again" Christian but he talk did go off into the historicity of Christ and scientific dating of the Gospels etc.
    Just this area alone hermeneutics, would necessitate several hours I think but it is off topic as the topic was whether belief in religion is complementary of conflicting with science.
    The questions went the same way with "why isn't it as silly to believe in Odin or Zeus as Christ?" type stuff and descended into a the dating of the Gospels rather than whether to believe in things outside science is acceptable. The humanist faced with such questions fell back into "well this is what I believe" as didn't address the fact that humanists may also accept natural law and ethical arguments which lie out side science.
    There was also some support expressed for evangelical atheism of the Dawking's variety and unchallenged claims about that made like the suggestion that science always improves and progresses and religion sticks with what they think is true. Heliocentrism slavery and Biblical Creationism are three fairly good counter examples to this assertion on the religion side as are maybe genetic modification, nuclear weapons and dare I suggest Fox News :) on the science end.

    A very broad topic to deal with. I would have preferred something more specific but even as it was it tended to wander off topic.


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