The ping pong kingI used to have epic games of ping pong with Peter Kreeft, back when I was his student. Now we will be jousting in a different arena:
The Edmund Campion Debate Society
at the Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts
presents
its third debate of the academic year 2010-11 between two keynote speakers:
Robert Spencer, Director, Jihad Watch
&
Prof. Peter Kreeft, of Boston College
On the topic:
Resolved: That the Only Good Muslim is a Bad Muslim.
Speaking in the affirmative will be Mr. Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, frequent guest on Fox News, ABC, BBC, and many other media, and author of nine books on Islam, including NY Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. Spencer will contend that orthodox Islam is intrinsically intolerant of other faiths and incompatible with a free society, such that when individual Muslims grow secularized and less observant, they may become less of a danger to free societies.
Speaking in the negative will be Prof. Peter Kreeft of the philosophy department at Boston College, author of more than 45 books, including the recently released Between Allah and Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims. One of Mr. Spencer’s former teachers, Prof. Kreeft will argue that Catholics and Muslims belong to sister, Abrahamic faiths, and should cooperate to resist the secularization and moral decay that prevail in the postmodern, post-Christian West.
The debate is sponsored by the Edmund Campion Debate Society at Thomas More College, which has previously sponsored student debates on topics such as the morality of the 18th (Prohibition) Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the “just war” credentials of the American Revolution. Named for the great Jesuit martyr whose forensic skills flummoxed the most articulate Anglican spokesmen in his day, Campion Society student debates follow the Oxford format–extemporaneous, without notes or time limits, conducted in the style of the British parliament. Created to help students gain a deeper appreciation of Rhetoric as a liberal art, the Campion debates supplement Thomas More College’s traditional core curriculum, which extends through all four years, covers the Great Books of the Western world, and includes extensive training in Catholic philosophy and theology.
The event is free and open to the public.
Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, 8 p.m.
Newman Humanities Room
Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts
6 Manchester Street
Merrimack, NH