Atheist Hitchens, apologist Craig debate God’s existence
LA MIRADA, Calif. (BP)--During a season when many are preparing to celebrate Jesus' resurrection, two men debated whether there is even a God. 
A prominent atheist and a Christian apologist clashed April 4 in a debate titled "Does God Exist?" at Biola University, an evangelical school in La Mirada, Calif., near Los Angeles.
Christopher Hitchens, regarded as a leader of the new atheism movement, went head-to-head with William Lane Craig, a Biola professor regarded as one of the world's leading religious philosophers. About 4,000 people watched the debate in the university's gym while an estimated 6,000 others watched it online or from satellite locations around Southern California.
[QUOTE@right@150="The fruit of the naturalistic worldview is that mankind is reduced to meaninglessness, valuelessness and purposelessness."
-- William Lane Craig] While Craig had the home court advantage, Hitchens didn't hold back, exhorting, "Emancipate yourself from the idea of a celestial dictatorship and you've taken the first step to becoming free."
But Craig had his rejoinders.
"The fruit of the naturalistic worldview is that mankind is reduced to meaninglessness, valuelessness and purposelessness," Craig said.
Both debaters placed the burden of proof on their opponent. Craig said Hitchens would have to explain how the universe could create itself out of nothing, while Hitchens said Craig would have the formidable task of proving God's existence in the absence of complete knowledge ...
