The Brothers Karamazov meets the New York Times Bestseller's List

Someone from the church sent me word that Rick Warren (pastor of Saddleback Church) and Sam Harris (neuroscientist and athiest) engaged in a debate about the existence of God, the nature of the current world and what they really think of each other. Here's the link.

Anytime I read one of these debates, I always hope the Christian will find some way to be just as sharp and logically sound as the athiest. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. Even more unfortunate: the athiest usually comes out more humane and humble. Again, this seemed to be the case here.

I certainly don't envy anyone who seeks to defend a belief system - be it Christian, Hindu, or atheism. But I particularly don't envy people who have to speak on behalf of faith traditions becuase they invariably have to defend dogma.

Philosophically, Harris has the easier job because he doesn't have to defend anything. He can simply open up questions, whereas Warren has to provide answers or at least project answers (especially since he is speaking on behalf of a good majority of evangelicals and would immediately be chewed up and spit out by certain Christians if he didn't say the right thing ... perhaps that is why he seems to throw in some rather random statements here in there ... because he knows he's got to cover his tush).

Anyhow, here's a good synopsis of what happens when two people get to talking about God and one has to defend God and the other doesn't:

WARREN: You're more spiritual than you think. You just don't want a boss. You don't want a God who tells you what to do.

HARRIS: I don't want to pretend to be certain about anything I'm not certain about.

It reminds me very much of the conversation between Alyosha and Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov - specifically the chapter titled "The Grand Inquisitor."

Wes