Christians, Atheists to Debate the Existence of God

Two Christian evangelists and two atheist activists are squaring off in a 90-minute debate about whether God really exists - in a program to be shown on the ABC News website Wednesday afternoon, and an abbreviated version of the event will be broadcast during that evening's edition of the network's "Nightline" series.

"We are very grateful to ABC for taking this courageous step," said Ray Comfort of the Way of the Master Living Waters ministry in a news release regarding the first "Nightline Face Off," which was recorded before a live audience of about 100 people in New York City on Saturday. "As far as we know, nothing like this has ever been done before."

The author of more than 40 books, the New Zealand native claims he can prove the existence of God, scientifically, without mentioning faith or the Bible. "We will prove that God exists."

He is joined in the debate by Kirk Cameron, who is best known for portraying young Mike Seaver in the long-running TV sitcom "Growing Pains." The actor converted to Christianity when he was 17 years old and is currently Comfort's partner in their ministry's television and radio programs. CNS News

"The practical individual of today is a stickler for facts and results. Nevertheless, the twentieth century readily accepts theories of all kinds, provided they are firmly grounded in fact. We have numerous theories, for example, about electricity. Everybody believes them without a murmur of doubt. Why this ready acceptance? Simply because it is impossible to explain what we see, feel, direct, and use, without a reasonable assumption as a starting point.

Everybody nowadays, believes in scores of assumptions for which there is good evidence, but no perfect visual proof. And does not science demonstrate that visual proof is the weakest proof? It is being constantly revealed, as mankind studies the material world, that outward appearances are not inward reality at all. To illustrate:

The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world, Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an All Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn't so. We read wordy books and indulge in windy arguments, thinking we believe this universe needs no God to explain it. Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere."

"If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting there is a God,
I feel sorry for you."