Coming soon, a debate on the nature of God, at the most famous debating society in Ireland, the Literary and Historical Society [L&HS] of the University College Dublin.

The motion that will be debated is: ‘This House believes that God Is Evil’

Date: Wednesday, 27th September 2017

Time: 18:00–20:00

Venue: Fitzgerald Chamber, UCD Student Centre, [University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland]

The Speakers are:

John Hamill is a Board Member of Atheist Ireland, an organisation based in Ireland founded in 2006. He is a regular commentator and contributor to various media channels and blogs.

Abdullah al Andalusi, international speaker and debater and co-founder of the Muslim Debate Initiative.

Peter Sands is a History and Geography teacher from County Armagh. Peter volunteers with a number of different Youth Ministry projects and is a Youth Ministry leader for Ulster. He is also a member of Catholic Comment, which offers a team of mainly lay people to speak confidently and clearly about the Catholic faith in the media.

All the other speakers will be UCD students from the UCD LH Society.

The L&HS posted the following event description:

The only thing we in the L&HS love more than intelligent discourse is controversy, and the debate this week is bound to have both in spades. We’ve teamed up with Isoc and Newman Soc to bring you the best discussion about God since Bruce Almighty, in a motion that for once will probably not include any mention of Trump.

We’ve brought together speakers of various faiths and beliefs to have this debate, and since it’s not in YouTube comments or on Twitter we might even be able to keep it civil. We’ll plunge into difficult questions like why do bad things happen to good people, if God is evil should we still serve Him, and what kind of supreme being would let Trump win (I lied earlier).

As ever, you’ll be able to have your voice heard as you’ll have your chance to give your questions and opinions to speakers. So what do you think? Is God more loving shepherd or neglectful parent? Invisible gardener or bratty kid with some ants and a magnifying glass? Is He even real or is He like an arts student with realistic career prospects- a fantasy?