King's College president, publisher to debate benefits of religion

April 13, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Dinesh D’Souza, president of The King’s College in New York City, will debate atheist Michael Shermer at 7 p.m. April 19 in University Auditorium at the University of Florida. The pair will ask, “Is religion the problem?”

The world sees increasing radicalism coming from all corners of the globe, and religion in general bears much of the blame. Historically, it would seem that religion has produced persecution and bloodshed in massive quantities. But is that a fair characterization? Would a secular world actually be a more peaceful world?

D’Souza, who will contend that religion has been beneficial to Western civilization, is a former policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He also served as the John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is the author of “What’s So Great About Christianity.”

Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the executive director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at Caltech and adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University. He wrote “Why Darwin Matters” and will contend that religion is, in fact, a problem for society.

The event is free and open to the public. The auditorium is located near the corner of Union Road and Newell Drive. The Young America’s Foundation and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute are co-sponsors for the debate.

The King’s College is located in the Empire State Building in New York City.