{"id":629,"date":"2010-11-26T00:35:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-26T00:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/does-the-universe-have-a-purpose.html"},"modified":"2010-11-26T00:35:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-26T00:35:00","slug":"does-the-universe-have-a-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/does-the-universe-have-a-purpose.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDoes The Universe Have A Purpose?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I watched Rabbi David Wolpe debate Christopher Hitchens a while back and even though Hitchens seemed a bit soused, he still kicked Rabbi Wolpe\u2019s tuchis (apparently there was a re-match I haven\u2019t seen).\u00a0 I would have thought that he learned to stay away from such debates, but apparently he did not.<\/p>\n

On November 13, Wolpe joined William Lane Craig and R. Douglas Geivett in a debate against scientists \/ atheists Matt Ridley, Michael Shermer, and Richard Dawkins on the topic \u201cDoes the Universe Have a Purpose?\u201d<\/p>\n

First of all, let me say that David Wolpe has a wonderful reputation for his open-mindedness.\u00a0 He even took some flack for it in 2001.\u00a0 As Wikipedia describes it<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Wolpe became the focus of international controversy<\/a> when he gave a Passover<\/a> sermon<\/a> that discussed the historic validity of the Exodus<\/a> from Egypt<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You\u2019d think a guy with that ability to show some integrity would be embarrassed to be on the stage facing off against brilliant scientifically minded men, right?\u00a0 But a theist is a theist, so rather than standing with the smart progressive guys, he stood with the homophobic evangelicals.\u00a0 My respect for him is about gone.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t watched the whole debate yet.\u00a0 Embedding\u2019s been giving me a headache, so here are links to both debates:<\/p>\n

Wolpe vs. Hitchens<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Ridley, Michael Shermer, and Richard Dawkins vs. William Lane Craig, David Wolpe and R. Douglas Geivett<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I watched Rabbi David Wolpe debate Christopher Hitchens a while back and even though Hitchens seemed a bit soused, he still kicked Rabbi Wolpe\u2019s tuchis (apparently there was a re-match I haven\u2019t seen).\u00a0 I would have thought that he learned to stay away from such debates, but apparently he did not. On November 13, Wolpe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,12,24,25,27,30],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-atheism","tag-fundamentalist-christianity","tag-liberal-judaism","tag-liberal-religions-and-theologies","tag-morality","tag-non-theism"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cDoes The Universe Have A Purpose?\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I watched Rabbi David Wolpe debate Christopher Hitchens a while back and even though Hitchens seemed a bit soused, he still kicked Rabbi Wolpe\u2019s tuchis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/does-the-universe-have-a-purpose.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cDoes The Universe Have A Purpose?\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I watched Rabbi David Wolpe debate Christopher Hitchens a while back and even though Hitchens seemed a bit soused, he still kicked Rabbi Wolpe\u2019s tuchis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/does-the-universe-have-a-purpose.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-26T00:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. Falick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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