As you know, I’ve had my “issues” with Steve Hays at Triablogue. But if the guy has a good idea then I’ll happily give credit where credit is due. And this is a really good idea. Steve observed that Dawkins has repeatedly refused to debate William Lane Craig. Although Dawkins says it is merely because Craig is not worth it, that clearly isn’t true since Craig is widely recognized as the world’s leading Christian debater. So it is more likely that Dawkins is wise enough to know that there is a good chance it wouldn’t turn out that well for him. He saw the bruises Craig left on his fellow new atheists and he hardly wants the same to happen to his fair Anglo features.
Fair enough. So Steve suggested a compromise: a joint writing project. (http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/10/debating-dawkins.html) As he recognizes, Dawkins is a “superb writer” so this would be a level playing field. (Craig, while a good writer, is not superb.)
I suggest a book. Craig has done a number of these kinds of debate books before, and this one would be a guaranteed strong seller which is the only thing that publishers care about and one of the big things that authors care about. Of course authors also care about the dissemination of their own ideas and that would clearly happen as well.
So I agree with Steve. Let’s give up on pressing Dawkins for a debate and go instead for a book. I’ll be the first in line to order.
