On April 17, 2014, Ratio Christi hosted what was dubbed “Debate with an Atheist” at 7:00 PM in G137.  Keith Kendrex, advisor of Ratio Christi, debated against Gregg (who asked the group not to share his full name).  The debate was slotted to last until 8:30 PM.

Ratio Christi is a Christian apologetics club held on campus ever Thursday from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM.  At the meetings, the club discusses how to defend faith through science, history, philosophy, and religion.  The group tries to bring in a volunteer from outside the Stockton community who considers themselves to be well versed in atheism to debate Keith Kendrex in a way that is informative and not derogatory to either side.  Both debaters are encouraged to be kind and courteous to their opponents, conversing using facts without personal attacks.

The debate allows students who have been attending the club to see how to put the tactics they have been learning at the meetings to practical use.  By seeing it in action, students can better understand the arguments presented before them and be better able to either defend or refute the information presented to them.

The debate topic was “Is Christianity True?”  It was set up to follow a set structure of introduction, rebuttal, conclusion, and a Q&A session.  Gregg started the debate and Keith followed.  During Keith’s rebuttal, the fire alarms went off and everyone was forced to go outside.  Once everyone was permitted to go back inside, Keith was allowed to finish his rebuttal.  Students wrote down their questions on notecards and the conclusion portion was cut out completely.

Everyone gathered outside of the library for the weekly Thirsty Thursday Bible Study and then were invited to go to Denny’s at 9:00 PM to continue the debate’s Q&A session.  Students who could not attend the Denny’s session were encouraged to write down their questions along with their e-mail address so they could receive their answers.