Evangelical Church to Host Formal Debate on the Existence of God

An expanding evangelical church in the Santa Susana Mountains will host a formal debate next month on the evidence--or lack of--for the existence of God, launching what the congregation hopes will be a series of public examinations of major religious questions.

The Church at Rocky Peak’s announcement Friday that a theology professor will debate the existence of a supreme being with a prominent skeptic is reminiscent of fundamentalist-atheist oratorical contests that were popular early this century.

The purpose behind the local debates, however, is similar to the thrust of a papal encyclical issued Thursday urging that faith be informed by reason and philosophy. Observing that every generation asks basic questions about life, good and evil, Pope John Paul II on Thursday called on philosophers to support “the human being’s unceasing search for truth and meaning.”

The Rev. David W. Miller, senior pastor of the Church at Rocky Peak, contended such thoughtful approaches to beliefs are needed to counteract impressions among outsiders that churches are places guided by emotions and not intellect.

“It’s important that we have a reasoned faith and a reasonable faith,” Miller said. “God wants us to love him with an intellectual soul,” he said, citing words of Jesus in Mark 12:30.

The inaugural debate on Nov. 15 will pit Skeptic magazine publisher Michael Shermer of Altadena, author of “Why People Believe Weird Things,” and R. Douglas Geivett, associate professor of philosophy at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada.

Geivett, a past president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, is author of “Evil and the Evidence for God.” Shermer formerly was an assistant professor of the history of science at Occidental College.

The first debate is not being touted as a fundamentalist-atheist battle. It’s more like an encounter between a conservative evangelical and a skeptic-agnostic.

“Tragically, the word ‘fundamentalist’ today is associated with people who shoot abortion doctors and such things,” Miller said. Likewise, though Biola University has fundamentalist theological roots, its faculty members today tend to prefer “evangelical Christian” as the most accurate identification.

And Shermer’s agnosticism is reflected in the tag line on his voice mail: “Remember, nothing is certain, but I’m not sure about that.” The Skeptic Society, which he directs, publishes a nationally circulated quarterly magazine that promotes critical thinking and strives to debunk pseudoscience and superstition.

For future debates--the next one in March may tackle the Resurrection--the church and its co-sponsor, Biola’s Graduate Program in Christian Apologetics, may invite speakers who call themselves atheists; that is, those who deny the existence of supernatural realms and deities.

“I’m sure we have some members who would like to engage in debate,” said Henry Farber, corresponding secretary for Atheists United, based in Sherman Oaks. The 16-year-old organization has nearly 400 members, most of them in Southern California.

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The Nov. 15 debate will be one of the first public events to be held in the Church at Rocky Peak’s new auditorium, which can seat 1,500. The facility, which should be ready for worship services before the end of October, will double the capacity of the church’s present sanctuary, Miller said.

Even so, worship attendance averages more than 3,000 people at Saturday evening and Sunday morning services, the pastor said. The new auditorium--which has “a simple design and no crosses”--will eventually serve as the congregation’s activity hall when a permanent church is built higher on land near the Ronald Reagan Freeway near the Ventura County border.

“We have 70 acres and we’ve developed only the lower 23 acres,” Miller said. The hillside property off Santa Susana Pass Road affords “a gorgeous view of the San Fernando Valley,” Miller said.

The idea for the debate series came from the Rev. Dave Cox, who is in charge of college-age ministries at the nondenominational church. Geivett and Shermer will exchange views in timed segments over 90 minutes, followed by questions from the audience, Cox said. He said that a method might be worked out for the audience to cast ballots on which speaker gave the most compelling evidence for his view.

Tickets for the debate, which will start at 7 p.m., will be $5 (or $3 for students). Information: (818) 709-0113.