God or Godless?

This is the title of a recent (2013) book of written debates by John W. Loftus (an atheist) and Randal Rauser (a Christian).
Twenty topics are covered in all, half chosen by one protagonist and half by the other. For each topic there is an opening statement of about 800 words from each person, rebuttals of about 150 words, and closing statements of 50 words.
It’s an interesting approach, although not without its weaknesses and limitations:-
- The opening statements were written completely independently, and so sometimes do not focus on the same subject-matter.
- The overall style, along with the very tight word limits mean that points cannot be elaborated in any detail. There are many sweeping statements and unsupported assertions.
- As with most such debates, there is a tendency for each protagonist to take a polarised position: for one to minimise the problems associated with Christian faith, and for the other to maximise them.
But the book is sufficiently interesting that I’ll set out on a chapter-by-chapter review of it.