Last Thursday, I flew up to Edmonton, AB for a number of debate/dialogue events with Randal Rauser in promotion of our new book An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. In addition to the events with my friend Randal, I was also excited to meet some good friends I had made on previous trips to Edmonton. Cold city, warm people.
Randal and I had a semi-formal debate on Friday night (Which was recorded and will be released as a podcast soon) and a conversational Q&A on Saturday morning (Not recorded). The last event of the weekend was on Saturday evening at Sherwood Park Alliance Church.
After some introductory words, Randal and I each presented about a 15 minute introduction to a few arguments for our positions. This was then followed by lead pastor Greg Hochhalter joining us on stage to pass questions from the audience. It was a lovely evening. Rather than a debate or even conversational argument, it was much more of an exploration of how two very different persons see the world. After the event, a number of those in attendance came up to me to thank me for sharing and participating in the dialogue and mentioned that the experience had a positive effect on their perceptions of atheists in general. Needless to say, I found the exchange to be a real success.