Debating the Debatable

God. The very word can spark a storm of debate, which in this case is exactly what happened. Tuesday January 26, about forty students teemed in Mr. Jones’ room for a debate on the existence of a higher power. The debate was set up as 8 minutes of one side stating their points, rebuttals after, and then questions from the other students.

Arguing the theism side was senior Bryce Laliberty. He believed in the existence of a “Great maximum being” and argued non-denominationally but rather just as someone who believed in a higher power. Laliberty also accepted evolutionism saying that this and God can coincide together. He also gave the metaphor of life as a lottery or wager, “On one ticket you have the possibility to win everything, and on the second ticket you have to possibility to win nothing.” This was his analogy to theism vs. atheism, “If you choose the first and believe, you may have salvation, if not you lose, you gain nothing.”

Junior Andrew Beeman argued on the atheist side. He presented the idea of an atheist scale taken from a famous atheist. The idea is that there is a scale from one to seven and this famed atheist even claimed to be a 6.9. Beeman said, “Most atheists don’t start out that way, they grow up with a religion and come to the conclusion that things don’t seem logical.” He also argued that God was created as a way to explain things and that “It takes a lot to disprove something that you hold dear.” Beeman also argued the point of free will, “A lot of religions believe that a divine spirit has a plan, yet humans have free will, they have a choice.”

As always with such a dividing topic there are people on both sides of the fence, the following are student quotes that were reactions to the debates:

“I thought the “god side” won. But I also think that this debate needed to happen because people could see what choices there are and what choices they have. Also Bryce was very well read,” said sophomore Jessie Yeakle.

“Regarding Bryce’s argument about tickets, you either believe or you don’t? You can’t force belief on yourself and god (if there is such a thing) would agree,” said junior Jack Maddy.

“I’m glad students at East can come together and have a healthy debate…I still feel like there are many more things to discuss…more debate. What I don’t see is how we are loosing anything if we don’t believe in God, It doesn’t mean we don’t have a purpose to life; we have our own ideas of ideal life, “said junior Chloe’ Dryke.

“Phil [Philosophy] Club is a great chance for all of us to come together and learn as a whole. We can share ideas and learn and grow together,” said junior John Babick.

“It was a well put together debate. There were lots of good points on both sides. There can’t really be a definitive decision on either part but it was well thought out and polite,” said senior Meredith Stewart.

“This club is for people who like to debate. We decide and learn what we think when we are young. This is a time to share what we have grown up with and you can change and build on what you learn and will learn,” said junior Maria King.

“It was an interesting debate. Philosophy club is a great semi-organized way to argue and discuss controversial issues and hear both sides,” said junior Grace Nesgoda.

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