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To the Editor,

Last night our commu-
nity and UNBC were
treated to a debate on
the validity of the exis-
tence of a God. The
Canfor .Theatre (which
holds three hundred)
overflowed some twenty

GERRY CULLEN,

DETROIT DIESEL-~ALLESON BRITISH COLUMBIA LTD | pirector

Debate about

minutes before the
scheduled beginning
and the debate had to
be piped to the hun-
dreds who listened from
outside. It is probably
safe to say that few
were changed in their
beliefs either way by this

BBA, CGA

oe

LETTERS

debate but it did indi-
cate, as Dr Michalos
said at the conclusion,
that our University is
ripe for a course in com-
parative religions and

perhaps for a_ full-
fledged philosophy
department. It is cer-

CGA

tainly also overdue for a
chapter of the Campus
Freethought Alliance to
balance the Interfaith
Campus
which has facilities at
the University.

Our own Alex
Michalos, Professor of

Special Projects

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Chaplaincy .

od Sparks Letter

Political Science, gave a
series of logical argu-
ments against the pos-
sibility of a Divine entity

while our visitor,
Michael Horner, from
Trinity Western

University presented his
case in favour of the
existence of a God.
Now, | have no reason
to believe that Mr
Horner has any but the
purest of motives. He
comes up here from his
teaching post at TWU to
Spread the Word and
save ‘souls for Jesus.
That is his job. | do not
doubt his sincerity: |
only reject his asser-
tions. What was a
debate for Dr Michalos
was a sermon for Mr
Horner. According to his
literature, he has made
his presentations in
seven countries and
participated in over forty
debates in the last four-
teen years. As a result,
his debating style has
evolved into something
of a dog-and-pony show
complete with slides
and overhead projec-
tions of quotations from
famous and learned

persons. His presenta-

tion was peppered with
references to books
which we should all
read
in order to be enlight-
ened. | was not
impressed by his
appeals to
authority any more than
by his insertion of
supernatural causes
wherever science has
not been able to provide
explanations of origins.
Today, barring
avalanche, flood or
other disaster, | will be
attending a lecture by
Mr Horner entitled, “The
Absurdity of Life Without
God”. | am eager to
learn why three-fourths
of my life has been
absurd whereas it would
have been worthwhile if
| were to have plugged
faith in a God into all the
holes in my knowledge,

February 21, 2000

like caulking a leaky
boat.

| do not usually dwell
on questions of religion.
| try to lead a good
life by the moral com-
pass | have developed
over almost sixty years
of life. In most respects
this compass is congru-
ent with the Judeo-
Christian moral code in
that it is based on what
the Christians call the
Golden Rule. | have felt
no inclination nor rea-
son to believe in any
supernatural being
since my teens and |
have apparently not
been handicapped in
any way as a result.

Since the first men and
women cringed from
thunder, there have
been those who came
forth to intervene with
the angry gods, if just
they were kept free from
the burdens of labour.
This is something which
has not changed over
the ages. We still have
a vast caste of persons
willing to intervene with
the Almighty in
exchange for susen-
tance and tax breaks.
We are about to enter
the twenty-first century
since the invention of
one of the largest of the
religious cults.

For two millennia man
has followed the siren
call of the priests and
preachers of this cult to
crusades and slaughter
from the quest for the
Holy Grail to the bomb-
ing of Iraq to the dis-
memberment of
Yugoslavia. All of this
has been in the name of
a man who walked
among us_ preaching
love and understanding.
The hypocrisy has been
too much for me.

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