“Does Morality Require a God?” This public debate was held at Warwick University, organised by the Warwick Debating Society (of the Student Union). The debate was a panel debate with each speaker giving presentations and concluding comments. The panel debate was cordial, nuanced, intricate and was well argued on both sides. The Atheist side conceded that there was no such thing as ‘objective morality’ (something that is absolute and beyond the human mind), while the Theist side argued that if morality was left purely to humans and devoid of God, prejudice, self-interest and bigotry become acceptable sources of morality.

The panellists were a rich collection of leading Atheism/Secular Humanism and Theist philosophers and advocates of the UK, featuring the highly renown Rev Henry Wansbrough, Catholic Bible Scholar, General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible, and Chairman of the Trustees of the Catholic Biblical Association, Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association (BHA), and David Pollock, Former president of European Humanist Federation; and former Chair of the Rationalist Association (which publishes the ‘New Humanist’ magazine), and MDI’s co-founder and public speaker, Abdullah al Andalusi.

Abdullah has written a review of the debate, that can be found on his blog.