“FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE”

Dr. David Menton to speak Sunday, March 14^th

Although not officially part of the Debate Summit, Grace Community is pleased to announce that Dr. David Menton, of Answers in Genesis, will be guest speaker Sunday morning, March 14^th, for Grace Community’s worship service. Dr. Menton’s message will be based on Psalm 139:13-14;

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

Dr. Menton earned his Ph.D. in biology from Brown University. For many years he did research and taught human anatomy at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he was twice awarded Professor of the Year. Dr. Menton’s message on Psalm 139 will include a fascinating presentation of the intricacies of the human eye and ear. The public is invited to join us for the 10:00 a.m. service.

The Debates:

WHAT TO EXPECT: Debate Summaries

DEBATE 001: “Moral Foundations: Which makes more sense, Christianity or Atheism?”

(Buckner vs. Lucas)

Every thinking person has moral concerns and some sort of a value system. We think there are right ways and wrong ways to treat people or to be treated by them. How do we account for this? How do we understand the basic foundations of morality? Does Christianity or does Atheism make better sense of morality?

DEBATE 002: “Flight in birds and bats: Is evolution or creation the best guide?”

(Provine vs. McIntosh)

Birds and bats have very specialized characteristics that make the phenomena of flight possible. What is the ultimate source of those physical characteristics? Is naturalistic evolution the best guide for understanding flight, or does flight indicate the design of a Creator?

DEBATE 003: “Free Will: Does it exist? Does it matter?

(Provine vs. Sullivan)

This is NOT a debate about theological free will (an issue theologians raise when considering the effect of sin upon the human will). Human beings are complex organisms, but do we possess a free will or are our thoughts and choices governed by the laws of physics and biochemistry that control the processes of our brains? Does human free will exist or is it a myth? Does it matter? Dr. Provine states that free will is a myth and is “the fangs of religion”. Dr. Sullivan believes that “free will is a reflection of God’s volitional nature”.

TICKETS!

Online Ticketing NOW AVAILABLE HERE

Tickets are $6 per debate or $15 for all three. Only 800 tickets are available per debate so get yours now!

A Word From Dr. Ed Buckner

I'm delighted that I'll be a part of "The Debate Summit" in March and I urge everyone--Christians, Atheists, and everyone else--to attend and to come prepared to learn and to be stimulated, to see things from a different perspective. Jay Lucas has noted on this site that he'd love to see me as "the first Christian President of American Atheists," and I'm flattered and honored at his goal. Mine, of course, is to develop Jay--clearly a good speaker and a fine guy--as "the first Atheist Senior Pastor of Grace Community Church." I fear our expectations may be mutually frustrated, but I hope your expectations are to learn, to think, to enjoy seeing and participating in a mutually respectful, good-natured exchange about matters that all of us think are profoundly important, deeply worth our time and contemplation.

And I hope that your expectations will fare far better than Jay's or mine are likely to.

And if anyone knows some good arguments I can use (or maybe some good dirt on Jay--what the hey, it couldn't hurt, right?), please e-mail me--ebuckner@atheists.org--or come to our website, www.atheists.org or post your wisdom on our blog-- http://atheists.org/blog/ (The No God Blog).

See everyone in March!

Meet Dr. Andy McIntosh

1st Class Hons. in Applied Mathematics , University of Wales (1973), PhD “Unsteady Premixed Laminar Flames” Cranfield (1981), DSc “Mathematical modelling of unsteady combustion processes within gases, fluids and solids”, University of Wales (1998).

Professor Andrew C. McIntosh DSc, FIMA, C.Math, FInstE, CEng FInstP, MIGEM, FRAeS holds a chair in Thermodynamics and Combustion Theory in the Energy and Resources Research Institute at the University of Leeds, where he lectures and researches in the field of Combustion and Explosions. His research has included investigations involving fluids (the interaction of pressure waves with flames) as well as solids. In the area of heterogeneous combustion he is interested in the safety of reactive substances, which can include traditional fuels such as coal, but also may include agrochemicals some of which are now being used widely to increase crop yields, but in bulk can have unusual ignition properties. At present he is investigating the ignition of explosives where a double combustion wave phenomenon is apparent. This work is in collaboration with Orica Ltd (ex ICI company based in Canada and Australia). He has over 150 publications in Journals and Conferences on these subjects.

In the last few years he has been involved in research in the area of biomimetics where the minute combustion chamber of the bombardier beetle is being studied. This has led to research first sponsored by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council followed by extensive funding from industry to apply the technology discovered to a number of aerospace and pharmaceutical uses. He is a trained mathematician and has worked in aerodynamics at Cranfield University and the Royal Aircraft Establishment (Bedford) before coming to Leeds where he gained a DSc in 1998 and a personal chair in 2000. He became a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in 2002 and in 2003 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

*Dr. McIntosh is Speaking in Personal Capacity at Debate Summit 2010

Meet Dr. Will Provine

Will Provine has been a professor at Cornell since 1969. His Graduate Fields include the homefield of EEB, History, Science and Technology Studies, Zoology, and Education, spanning three colleges. He earned a Ph.D. in the History of Science at the University of Chicago in 1970. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the author of The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics (1970) and Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology (1986), both published by The University of Chicago Press. He is currently writing a book on the implications of evolution and another book on random genetic drift in evolution. His huge library on evolution and genetics is being moved gradually to the Cornell Library.

In 1986, he began an evolution course for non-majors in biology and has taught that every year, along with a seminar course on the implications of evolution. Both courses have changed much over the years. He has lectured in many countries, including China, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Norway, France, England, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Canada, Ecuador, and widely over the USA. His greatest interests outside of academia include the rehabilitation of persons harmed by the myth of free will, rebuilding farm tractors and bulldozers, growing gardens (especially garlic), cooking, and country living.