[audience cheering]

>> Good evening and welcome to Biola University.

My name is Craig Hazen, and I'm the director

the the Master of Arts program in Christan Apologetics here

and I'm honored to be the host tonight

to get things started.

Although the gym is packed with nearly 3,000 people

and it looks like you're stuffed in here pretty well,

and my condolences to those of you who

have already been sitting an hour and have another

couple of hours to go, hang in there.

Hang in there.

But you're not the only ones watching.

There are thousands of people in other venues

on this campus.

Not only that, there are people in overflow sites,

really across the country and around the world.

We have people in 30 states and four different countries

watching this and a special greeting to all of you who

are watching across campus and in places such as

Stockholm and Sri Lanka.

I hope you really enjoy this. [audience cheering]

A special greeting to some distinguished guests tonight.

William Lane Craig's wife, Jan, is here.

Jan, it's good to see you.

Betsey Hewitt is here. [audience applause]

My wife, Karen Hazen, is here.

Dr. Barry Corey, the university president, is here.

[audience cheering] [applause]

Yeah, we've got distinguished philosophers

all over the place.

Doug Given, JP Morton, hi-ho.

All right.

We're thrilled all of you could come.

Well this event was initiated by

the Associated Students of Biola University,

and it makes sense that AS President Eric Weaver

should give a quick welcome on behalf

of the student body.

Eric, come on up. [audience applause]

>> Good evening, everyone.

Biola is a 100 year old Christian un&iversity,

which desires to wrestle with big questions

in an honest and open way.

In my senior year, my AS colleague, Mark Keith, and I,

thought we should sponsor a blockbuster event

that pursues the biggest question of all:

it is reasonable to believe that God exists?

A proposal was presented to the Senate

and the student body heartily agreed.

So we invited two acclaimed academic leaders

in this area, William Lane Craig, and Christopher Hitchens,

and along with the wonderful people from the

Apologetics program, we are thrilled to see it

on display tonight.

On behalf of the students at Biola, I hope you really

enjoy this event.

Thank you. [audience applause]

>> Thank you for representing the students, Eric.

You're a senior.

How's that job search going in this economy?

Is that going well? [audience laughing]

We'll give you some help.

Oh no, our career services on Biola, first rank.

Thank you.

Well, the students got this going,

but there is one other important sponsor,

and that is the program that I direct,

the Master of Arts Program in Christian Apologetics.

If you like wrestling with the big questions,

the existence of God, evidence for the resurrection,

and the problem of evil, the historical reliability

of the Bible reconciling science and faith,

this really is a degree program for you.

And if you're watching at a distance and you're

thinking, "I can't do it 'cause I don't live

"in Southern California," that's not the case.

We have this amazing distance learning program

and it's really open to anybody and you don't need

to relocate to Southern California,

although it was a very nice day today.

You might want to consider it.

Although, they've just taxed us into oblivion,

so you may wanna reconsider that.

If you want to find out about these programs,

check out Biola.edu, B-I-O-L-A.edu,

and go to the Christian Apologetics page on that site.

Well.

How is this all gonna work tonight?

It's pretty straight forward.

In fact, your hand dandy program will tell you what's

going on, right up at the top, inside panel,

the program numbers one through eight.

It'll guide you through what's taking place

every step of the way during the debate.

So take a look at that.

Toward the end, we will have some time for questions,

but as you notice there's no mics

sitting up in the aisles.

We are going to throw it open to the students.

We have a student section up there, bravo.

[audience cheering]

Students of all stripes.

Now it's your job tonight to think up

some tough questions, and I expect you to actually vet them.

That is, you may have learn in school that there is

no such thing as a dumb question.

That is not true, okay? [audience laughing]

Not to intimidate you, but, check it out.

Do a peer review.

If you come with a question, run it by the person

next to you or on either side,

and let's see how it goes.

So we'll throw it open for some Q and A time

and our thoughtful moderator will make sure it goes well.

All right.

Well when we're done tonight,

there's one other thing you need to be considering,

and that is getting outside of this building

to the pavilion right outside here

and several places along the walk way

to pick up the featured books tonight.

One is God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens,

and another one is Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig.

These are the featured books. [audience cheering]

Pick them up, and you can actually have them signed.

To have them signed, just walk out these building,

look for all the lights, and there's some tables

out there and our distinguished debaters will be out

there signing books and answering your toughest questions

right there at the table, I'm sure.

If you've got a lot of books at home,

and in fact you own a book so you don't need another one,

perhaps you can buy some DVDs or CDs of some

dynamite debates and lectures that Bill Craig

has done around the world.

These are first rate materials and our

Apologetics program is actually the center point

for getting all of these, so if you wanna get

them tonight, they've got wonderful, special deals.

Check out the red flyer in your brochure

and that will tell you the scoop.

You can even pre-order tonight's debate.

If you'd like to get a copy of it,

it's something you want to share with a lot of people,

you can pre-order it tonight, fill out the form,

take it to the table, and they'll move you right through.

Well we're delighted to have Mr. Hitchens here

on campus be we realize that we theists certainly

have the home court advantage, I mean being in

a basketball court, that makes a lot of sense.

After all, it's a Christian university

and it even says, "All glory to God"

or something above the bleachers there,

so clearly this is a home court advantage for the theists.

And I imagine that the crowd here is over

two thirds Evangelical Christian,

although I'm thrilled to see some of the atheist

and agnostic community turn out wearing t-shirts.

I love that.

Yeah, absolutely, yeah. [audience applause]

I was lecturing at the University of South Florida

a few weeks ago and the entire atheist club

came out wearing t-shirts and we had the best time ever

so I expect the same tonight.

Well.

Since we have the home court advantage,

those of you who are theists, believers in God,

please, let's be polite to Christopher Hitchens.

He's known to say a provocative thing or two

so if you can practice your polite, golf clap.

[audience laughing] All right?

Let's practice that.

Practice that.

No shouting, no hooting.

There will be plenty of opportunity for it,

but let's restrain ourselves.

And those of you who are from the atheist

and agonistic community, again, no shouting,

no hooting, no hollering.

In fact, Mr. Hitchens, I can guarantee you,

doesn't really need a lot of help.

I just saw a video of him debating like four

prominent Evangelical Theists in Dallas,

and it really wasn't fair.

We needed more theists on the panel,

so I think he will do just fine,

but we're grateful for him to come to sort of

the pit of opposition at Biola University.

But we're grateful to really open up the doors

and run through these big, important questions,

and if the debate is not resolved at the end,

this is a basketball court for goodness sakes,

we'll lower the hoops, we'll turn up the lights,

and we'll let 'em go one on one.

[audience applause]

Yeah.

I hear Chris has game, so we'll see how that goes.

Well let's get to it.

It's my pleasure to introduce our moderator

of the debate tonight, and he'll get this party started.

Hugh Hewitt.

Yes, Hugh Hewitt. [audience applause]

Hugh is a law professor and broadcast journalist

whose nationally syndicated radio show is heard

in more than 120 cities across the United States

every week day by more than two million listeners.

By the way locally this program is heard on KRLA

which is 870 am.

I think it goes from like three to six.

Great program, in fact, I think it's one of the most

important, smartest, fast paced news and issues

program on the airwaves today.

So, check that out.

If you live in outlying regions, check HughHewitt.com

to find out where's he's broadcasting, or podcasting.

Professor Hewitt is a graduate of Harvard College

and the University of Michigan Law School.

He has been teaching constitutional law at

Chapman University Law School since it opened in 1995.

Hugh is a frequent guest on all the big

cable news networks and had written for the most important

newspapers in the country.

He's received three Emmys for his groundbreaking

television work and is the author of eight books

including two best sellers.

Professor Hewitt served for nearly six years

in the Reagan Administration in a variety of posts,

including assistant council in the White House

and special assistant to attorney's general.

Don't miss his daily blog at HughHewitt.com.

He's always been so very generous with his time

toward events like these at Biola,

and we are deeply grateful for his help here tonight.

Join me in welcoming our moderator, Professor Hugh Hewitt.

[audience applause]

>> Thank you ladies and gentlemen.

Number one, please turn off your cell phones.

I repeat, please turn off your cell phones.

Number two, gentlemen, to the extent that any of you have

jackets that are still on, please,

as Ronald Reagan once used to say,

feel free to just throw them on the floor.

It is a little bit warm in here.

Our guests, by virtue of this crowd,

it is obvious, need no introduction.

I am not going to waste time, then,

on elaborate introductions.

I just wish to thank them both for being willing

to participate in this most important of conversations.

It is the best of times, it is the best of times,

for those who like to argue about God in the public square.

Largely because of the rise of new atheists,

such as Mr. Hitchens, Richard Dawkins,

my friend William Lobdell, and