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[soft music]
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[audience cheering]
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>> Good evening and welcome to Biola University.
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My name is Craig Hazen, and I'm the director
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the the Master of Arts program in Christan Apologetics here
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and I'm honored to be the host tonight
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to get things started.
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Although the gym is packed with nearly 3,000 people
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and it looks like you're stuffed in here pretty well,
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and my condolences to those of you who
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have already been sitting an hour and have another
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couple of hours to go, hang in there.
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Hang in there.
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But you're not the only ones watching.
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There are thousands of people in other venues
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on this campus.
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Not only that, there are people in overflow sites,
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really across the country and around the world.
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We have people in 30 states and four different countries
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watching this and a special greeting to all of you who
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are watching across campus and in places such as
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Stockholm and Sri Lanka.
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I hope you really enjoy this. [audience cheering]
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A special greeting to some distinguished guests tonight.
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William Lane Craig's wife, Jan, is here.
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Jan, it's good to see you.
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Betsey Hewitt is here. [audience applause]
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My wife, Karen Hazen, is here.
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Dr. Barry Corey, the university president, is here.
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[audience cheering] [applause]
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Yeah, we've got distinguished philosophers
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all over the place.
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Doug Given, JP Morton, hi-ho.
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All right.
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We're thrilled all of you could come.
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Well this event was initiated by
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the Associated Students of Biola University,
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and it makes sense that AS President Eric Weaver
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should give a quick welcome on behalf
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of the student body.
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Eric, come on up. [audience applause]
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>> Good evening, everyone.
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Biola is a 100 year old Christian un&iversity,
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which desires to wrestle with big questions
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in an honest and open way.
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In my senior year, my AS colleague, Mark Keith, and I,
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thought we should sponsor a blockbuster event
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that pursues the biggest question of all:
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it is reasonable to believe that God exists?
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A proposal was presented to the Senate
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and the student body heartily agreed.
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So we invited two acclaimed academic leaders
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in this area, William Lane Craig, and Christopher Hitchens,
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and along with the wonderful people from the
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Apologetics program, we are thrilled to see it
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on display tonight.
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On behalf of the students at Biola, I hope you really
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enjoy this event.
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Thank you. [audience applause]
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>> Thank you for representing the students, Eric.
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You're a senior.
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How's that job search going in this economy?
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Is that going well? [audience laughing]
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We'll give you some help.
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Oh no, our career services on Biola, first rank.
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Thank you.
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Well, the students got this going,
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but there is one other important sponsor,
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and that is the program that I direct,
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the Master of Arts Program in Christian Apologetics.
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If you like wrestling with the big questions,
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the existence of God, evidence for the resurrection,
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and the problem of evil, the historical reliability
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of the Bible reconciling science and faith,
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this really is a degree program for you.
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And if you're watching at a distance and you're
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thinking, "I can't do it 'cause I don't live
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"in Southern California," that's not the case.
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We have this amazing distance learning program
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and it's really open to anybody and you don't need
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to relocate to Southern California,
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although it was a very nice day today.
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You might want to consider it.
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Although, they've just taxed us into oblivion,
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so you may wanna reconsider that.
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If you want to find out about these programs,
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check out Biola.edu, B-I-O-L-A.edu,
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and go to the Christian Apologetics page on that site.
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Well.
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How is this all gonna work tonight?
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It's pretty straight forward.
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In fact, your hand dandy program will tell you what's
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going on, right up at the top, inside panel,
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the program numbers one through eight.
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It'll guide you through what's taking place
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every step of the way during the debate.
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So take a look at that.
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Toward the end, we will have some time for questions,
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but as you notice there's no mics
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sitting up in the aisles.
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We are going to throw it open to the students.
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We have a student section up there, bravo.
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[audience cheering]
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Students of all stripes.
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Now it's your job tonight to think up
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some tough questions, and I expect you to actually vet them.
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That is, you may have learn in school that there is
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no such thing as a dumb question.
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That is not true, okay? [audience laughing]
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Not to intimidate you, but, check it out.
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Do a peer review.
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If you come with a question, run it by the person
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next to you or on either side,
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and let's see how it goes.
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So we'll throw it open for some Q and A time
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and our thoughtful moderator will make sure it goes well.
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All right.
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Well when we're done tonight,
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there's one other thing you need to be considering,
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and that is getting outside of this building
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to the pavilion right outside here
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and several places along the walk way
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to pick up the featured books tonight.
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One is God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens,
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and another one is Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig.
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These are the featured books. [audience cheering]
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Pick them up, and you can actually have them signed.
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To have them signed, just walk out these building,
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look for all the lights, and there's some tables
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out there and our distinguished debaters will be out
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there signing books and answering your toughest questions
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right there at the table, I'm sure.
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If you've got a lot of books at home,
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and in fact you own a book so you don't need another one,
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perhaps you can buy some DVDs or CDs of some
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dynamite debates and lectures that Bill Craig
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has done around the world.
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These are first rate materials and our
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Apologetics program is actually the center point
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for getting all of these, so if you wanna get
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them tonight, they've got wonderful, special deals.
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Check out the red flyer in your brochure
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and that will tell you the scoop.
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You can even pre-order tonight's debate.
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If you'd like to get a copy of it,
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it's something you want to share with a lot of people,
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you can pre-order it tonight, fill out the form,
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take it to the table, and they'll move you right through.
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Well we're delighted to have Mr. Hitchens here
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on campus be we realize that we theists certainly
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have the home court advantage, I mean being in
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a basketball court, that makes a lot of sense.
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After all, it's a Christian university
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and it even says, "All glory to God"
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or something above the bleachers there,
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so clearly this is a home court advantage for the theists.
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And I imagine that the crowd here is over
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two thirds Evangelical Christian,
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although I'm thrilled to see some of the atheist
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and agnostic community turn out wearing t-shirts.
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I love that.
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Yeah, absolutely, yeah. [audience applause]
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I was lecturing at the University of South Florida
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a few weeks ago and the entire atheist club
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came out wearing t-shirts and we had the best time ever
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so I expect the same tonight.
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Well.
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Since we have the home court advantage,
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those of you who are theists, believers in God,
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please, let's be polite to Christopher Hitchens.
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He's known to say a provocative thing or two
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so if you can practice your polite, golf clap.
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[audience laughing] All right?
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Let's practice that.
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Practice that.
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No shouting, no hooting.
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There will be plenty of opportunity for it,
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but let's restrain ourselves.
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And those of you who are from the atheist
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and agonistic community, again, no shouting,
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no hooting, no hollering.
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In fact, Mr. Hitchens, I can guarantee you,
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doesn't really need a lot of help.
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I just saw a video of him debating like four
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prominent Evangelical Theists in Dallas,
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and it really wasn't fair.
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We needed more theists on the panel,
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so I think he will do just fine,
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but we're grateful for him to come to sort of
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the pit of opposition at Biola University.
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But we're grateful to really open up the doors
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and run through these big, important questions,
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and if the debate is not resolved at the end,
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this is a basketball court for goodness sakes,
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we'll lower the hoops, we'll turn up the lights,
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and we'll let 'em go one on one.
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[audience applause]
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Yeah.
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I hear Chris has game, so we'll see how that goes.
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Well let's get to it.
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It's my pleasure to introduce our moderator
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of the debate tonight, and he'll get this party started.
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Hugh Hewitt.
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Yes, Hugh Hewitt. [audience applause]
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Hugh is a law professor and broadcast journalist
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whose nationally syndicated radio show is heard
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in more than 120 cities across the United States
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every week day by more than two million listeners.
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By the way locally this program is heard on KRLA
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which is 870 am.
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I think it goes from like three to six.
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Great program, in fact, I think it's one of the most
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important, smartest, fast paced news and issues
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program on the airwaves today.
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So, check that out.
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If you live in outlying regions, check HughHewitt.com
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to find out where's he's broadcasting, or podcasting.
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Professor Hewitt is a graduate of Harvard College
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and the University of Michigan Law School.
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He has been teaching constitutional law at
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Chapman University Law School since it opened in 1995.
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Hugh is a frequent guest on all the big
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cable news networks and had written for the most important
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newspapers in the country.
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He's received three Emmys for his groundbreaking
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television work and is the author of eight books
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including two best sellers.
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Professor Hewitt served for nearly six years
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in the Reagan Administration in a variety of posts,
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including assistant council in the White House
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and special assistant to attorney's general.
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Don't miss his daily blog at HughHewitt.com.
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He's always been so very generous with his time
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toward events like these at Biola,
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and we are deeply grateful for his help here tonight.
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Join me in welcoming our moderator, Professor Hugh Hewitt.
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[audience applause]
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>> Thank you ladies and gentlemen.
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Number one, please turn off your cell phones.
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I repeat, please turn off your cell phones.
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Number two, gentlemen, to the extent that any of you have
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jackets that are still on, please,
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as Ronald Reagan once used to say,
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feel free to just throw them on the floor.
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It is a little bit warm in here.
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Our guests, by virtue of this crowd,
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it is obvious, need no introduction.
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I am not going to waste time, then,
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on elaborate introductions.
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I just wish to thank them both for being willing
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to participate in this most important of conversations.
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It is the best of times, it is the best of times,
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for those who like to argue about God in the public square.
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Largely because of the rise of new atheists,
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such as Mr. Hitchens, Richard Dawkins,
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my friend William Lobdell, and