A debate between two Christian evangelists and two atheist activists on whether God exists has drawn mixed reaction, with a humanist leader Thursday calling the event a "lopsided victory" for atheists, while a nonbeliever in the audience praised the evangelists for doing a "good job."
The ABC News "Nightline Face Off" pitted preacher and author Ray Comfort and former child star Kirk Cameron -- both from the "Way of the Master" ministry -- against two unnamed members of the "Rational Response Squad." The atheists obscured their identities, because they said were afraid of reprisals.
Although the debate was videotaped before an audience of 100 people in the Calvary Baptist Church in midtown Manhattan on Saturday, it wasn't posted on the ABC News website until Wednesday, and an abbreviated version of the event was shown on Nightline on Wednesday night.
After watching the debate, Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, told Cybercast News Service on Thursday that he "was surprised, actually, that the TV coverage made the debate seem a lot more balanced than it was when you watched it online."
From that perspective, "the Rational Response Squad made it quite clear that there's no way you can argue scientifically for the existence of God," Speckhardt said.
"Given that this was a debate between Comfort and Cameron -- who essentially are professionals at what they're doing -- and some people who are essentially volunteers on the other side, that was a surprisingly lopsided victory for those with the atheist perspective," he added.
For their part, Comfort and Cameron say the most encouraging response they've received from the program was an email from a member of the audience.
"Good job," the viewer wrote. "Although I received my invitation to the show via the atheist camp, I must confess that I was impressed with the two of you (and that I was embarrassed by at least two atheist audience members, whose hostile questions bordered on heckling -- I admired your calm and courteous responses).
"I find the 'design means there was a designer' argument to be perfectly logical," the writer stated.
That concept was used by Comfort in the early stage of the discourse as evidence that God does indeed exist.
"When I look at a painting, how can I know there was a painter?" he asked. "Well, the painting is absolute, 100 percent scientific proof there was a painter.
"And exactly the same applies with the existence of God," the evangelist said. "Creation is 100 percent scientific proof there was a Creator."
"We see a painting, we know there was a painter," one of the atheists, who calls himself "Sapient," conceded. But, he added, "We can call the painter, we can call the paint maker - but we can't call God to go visit his universe factory. Can Ray take us to God's factory to watch creation in action?"
