The Existence of God

Kyle Butt and Blair Scott squared off in front of a near-capacity Norton Auditorium last Thursday during the Christian Student Center (CSC) sponsored “God Does Not Exist” debate.

Not only was Norton full but, according to Scott, there were over 50 thousand IP addresses that tuned in to the live Internet feed.

In his opening remarks, Butt expressed the importance of the crowd’s involvement.

“What I ask all of you to do, is to honestly consider what’s being said,” Butt said.

In Scott’s opening statement, he stressed his role in the debate.

“I’m not here to convince you he’s wrong,” he said.”I’m not here to convince you I’m right. I’m here for the audience. I’m here to confuse the living hell out of you.”

He also wanted to make the audience’s involvement clear with an idea he repeated throughout the debate.

“I want you to go home and do the research on your own,” Scott said.

The event kept a steady pace, with both debaters bantering back and forth, calling each other out on logical fallacies, and cracking a few jokes here and there.

Though the event was well-attended, it has left some students, and one of the debaters, questioning the purpose.

“I thought the debate was okay,” Hanna Archer, freshman photography major, said. “I don’t think Scott held his own. However, Kyle Butt did horribly and stepped around every question that was given to him with snarky remarks and jokes.

“I think Butt did better than Scott, but (Butt) should have done much better than (Scott) did.

Kerrie Holloway, a grad student in the Education Department, echoed some of Archer’s remarks.

“I think it was well-executed in filling up Norton, but I’m not sure it really accomplished its purpose,” she said. “I’m assuming the goal was to reach out to non-Christians (I’m assuming that because it was hosted by the CSC and not an Atheist organization), but it didn’t seem to do that. Instead, Kyle Butt seemed to be extremely disrespectful and seemed to enjoy making fun of the Atheist.”

Scott also doubted the relevance of the event.

“They can’t prove God exists,” he said”And I can’t prove he doesn’t, because that’s trying to prove a negative, which you can’t do.”

Butt, however, disagrees.

“I think it’s possible to prove God’s existence,” Butt said. “I think proving God’s existence provides an objective morality and shows that humans are different from animals.”

Students seem to disagree with Butt, and blame it on preconceived notions.

“I think it’s a waste of time to debate things like that,” Archer said. “Generally, Atheists and Christians alike go into the debate with one opinion and leave with the same.

“I think it was a pointless, losing battle, and next time they should pick a better and less worn out topic.”

Holloway commented further.

“I honestly doubt most the people in the room understood the points and data Kyle Butt was throwing out and those same people entered with their minds closed to what Blair Scott would say. On the other hand, non-Christians would have agreed with Scott regardless and not Butt because of their preconceived notions. I doubt if anyone came with an open mind searching for the ‘truth’ (which of course is relative anyway).Overall, I don’t think either made any groundbreaking arguments and the ‘winner’ will depend on who you talk to.”

Scott said he had one main purpose for the debate.

“These events are kind of for entertainment purposes, but it’s about getting the thoughts in,” he said.”I want people to have the conversations on the car ride home or at work tomorrow. That’s what’s important: getting people thinking.”