About this topic
Religion in public life, secular humanism, civilization, social order, Islam, political authority, and the future of human communities.
Debates are grouped by their main question. Scores assess the reasoning presented, not the truth of a position. Read the assessment method.
Explore the assessments
Matt Dillahunty vs Randal Rauser — Humanism or Christianity? · 2023
Matt Dillahunty and Randal Rauser compare secular humanism and mere Christianity as practical foundations for equal worth, moral judgment, solidarity, and present human flourishing.
Matt Dillahunty: 83 · Randal Rauser: 84. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Aron Ra vs Michael Jones — Is Christianity dangerous? · 2019
Aron documents scriptural and social harms, but Jones wins by repeatedly separating Christian identity from causation and challenging unadjusted comparisons.
Aron Ra: 75 · Michael Jones: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Has New Atheism Failed? Alister McGrath vs. Alex O'Connor · 2023
Con wins 83–73 by separating atheism from New Atheism’s defects and decisively exposing Pro’s unresolved covenant, slavery, and Leviticus problems.
Alister McGrath: 73 · Alex O'Connor: 83. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Capitalism, Marxism, and Human Happiness: Jordan Peterson vs. Slavoj Žižek · 2019
Žižek prevailed 78–75 by separating capitalist prosperity from happiness and democratic freedom, while Peterson strongly defended poverty reduction, material security, responsibility, and meaning.
Jordan Peterson: 75 · Slavoj Žižek: 78. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
John Onaiyekan & Ann Widdecombe vs Stephen Fry & Christopher Hitchens: The Catholic Church Is a Force for Good in the World · 2009
Onaiyekan and Widdecombe emphasize global welfare, spiritual hope, and reform within a fallible institution; Fry and Hitchens argue that those benefits do not outweigh institutional abuse, sexual control, public-health obstruction, and unaccountable authority.
John Onaiyekan and Ann Widdecombe: 78 · Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens: 92. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Christopher Hitchens vs Alister McGrath: Poison or Cure? Religious Belief in the Modern World · 2007
Hitchens pressed evidential, coercive, and secular-moral objections; McGrath defended interpretive openness, transcendent morality, restorative doctrine, and Christianity's nonviolent norms.
Alister McGrath: 80 · Christopher Hitchens: 80. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Christopher Hitchens vs Tony Blair: Is Religion a Force for Good in the World? · 2010
Blair emphasized faith-inspired service, reconciliation, pluralism, and purpose; Hitchens countered with doctrinal harm, sacred conflict, secular alternatives, and stricter causal comparison.
Tony Blair: 83 · Christopher Hitchens: 85. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Steven Pinker vs Ross Douthat: Do We Need God? · 2026
Douthat defended transcendent foundations for morality and meaning, while Pinker argued that secular reason, reciprocity, and institutions adequately support flourishing and progress.
Ross Douthat: 80 · Steven Pinker: 85. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Sam Harris vs Dennis Prager: Religion, Morality, and Public Reason · 2014
Prager defends divine authority through moral durability and historical performance; Harris advances conscious wellbeing, open inquiry, and cooperation while challenging scriptural reliability.
Dennis Prager: 70 · Sam Harris: 81. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Stephen Woodford vs Glen Scrivener: Does Religion Poison Everything? · 2026
Woodford pressed doctrinal harm and non-Christian moral goods; Scrivener answered through Christian anthropology, reforming institutions, sacred equality, and nonviolent interpretation.
Stephen Woodford: 83 · Glen Scrivener: 80. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Tom Holland vs A. C. Grayling: Did Christianity Give Us Our Human Values? · 2019
Holland traces Western dignity and reform through Christian transformation, while Grayling argues that classical, cross-cultural, Enlightenment, and secular traditions provide stronger plural genealogies.
Tom Holland: 78 · A. C. Grayling: 84. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Christopher Hitchens vs Harold Kushner and Peter Gomes: God, Religion, and Morality · 2009
Kushner and Gomes defend religion as moral aspiration, resilience, and community; Hitchens argues that secular ethics survives while religion adds dangerous authority claims.
Harold Kushner and Peter Gomes: 81 · Christopher Hitchens: 86. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Glen Scrivener vs Alex O'Connor: Morality, Freedom, Slavery, and the Bible · 2026
Scrivener traces Western morality through Christian narratives and institutions, while O'Connor argues that mixed traditions, material struggle, and internal counterevidence better explain it.
Glen Scrivener: 81 · Alex O'Connor: 89. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Michael Jones vs Stephen Law: Christianity vs Humanism · 2025
Law’s comparative, neutrality, and evidential challenges outweighed Jones’s stronger pluralism case and qualified historical, social, scientific, and theological defenses.
Michael Jones: 72 · Stephen Law: 81. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Michael Jones vs Lawrence Krauss: Christianity or Secular Ethics - What's Best for Society? · 2025
Christianity's institutional and moral arguments narrowly outperformed secular ethics, while secular challenges concerning heterogeneity, fallibilism, causation, and equal standing remained substantial.
Michael Jones: 79 · Lawrence Krauss: 76. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Ben Shapiro vs Alex O'Connor: The Atheist Delusion, Free Will, and Society · 2023
Shapiro defends religious foundations for agency, morality, science, and cohesion; O'Connor counters with determinism, revisability, historical resistance, scriptural counterexamples, and epistemic honesty.
Ben Shapiro: 71 · Alex O'Connor: 87. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Christopher Hitchens vs Tariq Ramadan: Is Islam a Religion of Peace? · 2010
Hitchens foregrounds coercive institutions and secular equality; Ramadan answers through interpretive plurality, peace-oriented ethics, political causation, internal reform, and constitutional citizenship.
Christopher Hitchens: 80 · Tariq Ramadan: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Christopher Hitchens vs Peter Hitchens: Iraq, God, and Moral Authority · 2008
Christopher Hitchens defends intervention and secular morality; Peter Hitchens challenges Iraq's consequences and argues that binding moral authority requires transcendence.
Christopher Hitchens: 79 · Peter Hitchens: 77. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali vs Richard Dawkins: The God Debate · 2024
Hirsi Ali defended Christian renewal through personal transformation and civilizational need; Dawkins separated those benefits from supernatural truth and challenged religious moral authority.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 74 · Richard Dawkins: 84. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Christopher Hitchens vs John Lennox: Is God Great? · 2017
Lennox defended Christian explanatory foundations and redemptive hope; Hitchens pressed stronger challenges concerning revelation, secular value, suffering, authority, and historical complicity.
John Lennox: 77 · Christopher Hitchens: 81. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Dinesh D'Souza vs Matt Dillahunty: Does God Exist? What Is a Woman? · 2023
D'Souza defended faith-informed inference, biological institutions, and market incentives; Dillahunty answered with evidential burdens, institutional neutrality, and consequence-focused social welfare.
Dinesh D'Souza: 77 · Matt Dillahunty: 87. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Christopher Hitchens vs Dinesh D'Souza: Is Religion the Problem? · 2010
Hitchens challenged revelation, supernatural explanation, and religious authority; D'Souza defended theism through comparative explanation, design, morality, purpose, and human agency.
Christopher Hitchens: 83 · Dinesh D'Souza: 75. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.