Dig & Delve Dialogue hosts friendly debate

Jason Rivers
Special to Spur Ottawa

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This age-old question of finding meaning was the theme of a recent friendly debate hosted by Dig and Delve, the Centre for Inquiry Canada, and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).

The May 1 debate brought together Dr. Os Guinness, a Christian author and social critic with RZIM, and Dr. Christopher DiCarlo, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and an advisor for the Centre for Inquiry Canada. They both had 25 minutes to present their view, followed by a five-minute rebuttal period and a question period with the audience.

Referring to the Socrates quote, Guinness says, “If he is right, many people in the West are living lives that aren’t worth living. For all sorts of modern reasons, people are not thinking and caring enough about reaching an examined life.”

Guinness underscores the importance of reflecting on and understanding your worldview. However, he also notes that “people would rather surround themselves with busy, entertaining distractions than think through the ugly realities of life.”

“If we take a purely naturalistic view, we maintain that we are here because of many cosmic forces…and a huge amount of luck.”

A key point he makes is that, without God, atheists have no basis for human dignity or rights.

DiCarlo identifies what he calls the “big five questions”: What can I know? Why am I here? What am I? How should I behave? What is to become of me? He says the way we answer these trickles down to how we see human dignity.

“If there is no God, then the universe is simply accidental and we are a product of that accidental occurrence,” he says. “As such we would be on our own. The universe would be devoid of any absolute meaning or moral sense. This prospect scares some people.”

DiCarlo believes we can only understand the world using science, reason, and logic. As a skeptic, he is willing to follow the evidence, wherever it leads. He describes himself as an “agtheist,” an agnostic toward the origins of life, but disagreeing with the major religions.

“Why does someone who is totally handicapped still have inalienable dignity?”

“If we take a purely naturalistic view, we maintain that we are here because of many cosmic forces, biological and chemical reactions, and a huge amount of luck,” he states.

In the scope of time as accepted by evolutionists, and the vastness of the universe, he argues that we are finite creatures who may be utterly meaningless. Meaning in life, he argues, comes from what we make of it in the moment.

Guinness disagrees. He asserts that an “I did it my way” attitude works for the rich or educated, but ignores the marginalized. He contrasts the idea that we are here by “dumb luck” with how Christians believe God creates people with purpose.

“Why does someone who is totally handicapped, completely uneducated, and has no privilege of education still have precious, inalienable dignity? Jews and Christians would say it is because we are made in the image of God.”