A few of my other favorite video debates between skeptics and spiritualists follow.
Sam Harris vs. Rabbi David Wolbe
This is a generally good debate and gets at a lot of the main conflicts between believers and skeptics. There is one particular moment that has entertained many viewers where Harris asserts that we should treat religious believers with the same disregard that we do believers in the ongoing life of Elvis Presley. It is here that the Rabbi asserts that though he has no empirical evidence for his beliefs such evidence is not necessary and he does have "supporting arguments" instead. Harris rightly points out that evidence is needed since his claims do "tresspass on scientific territory." Here I'd like to capture some of thinker and friend Ryan Mays' comments on this from my Facebook page (since rarely do interesting discussions take place on Facebook and are likely to be lost in the noise). Mays says:
Hitchins vs. Sharpton
This one is responsible for the loss of any remaining respect I had for Al Sharpton. While I didn't expect him to be able to withstand the full force of Hitchins' intellectual attack, I did expect him to at least convince me that he has spent a minute or two in his life thinking about why he holds his beliefs and perhaps maybe a minute even preparing for the debate. Sadly he did not convince me of either.
Sam Harris vs. Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan's book "No God but God" is one I found very facinating and learned quite a lot about the history of Islam. However his personal beliefs and motivations are suspect and Harris takes him to task very well, specifically regarding the defense of moderate muslims and differentiating them from the "fundamentalists" or "extremists". Harris asserts that our tolerance of the moderates actually shields the extremists from the scrutiny and confrontation they deserve.