On Dec 26, 11:30 am, chibiabos <
c...@nospam.com> wrote:
> In article
> <
70c9f70d-b47f-43eb-82c7-492497ab5...@f33g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>,
>
> Samuel Harrigon <
samharri...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I want to have an honest debate with Buddika666. It seems she is
> > always challenging people here.
> > Well I challenge her tonight.
> > I want your atheist insight, Buddika. Lets roll.
>
> Simplified debate rules:
>
> 1. Debate consists of two teams taking opposing positions on any topic.
> "Team" can be a single person or group of people. Teams should be
> evenly balanced so that everyone has the opportunity to speak in the
> proper order. A free-for-all is not a debate; it is a melee.
>
> 2. One team takes the affirmative position, the other team takes the
> negative position.
>
> 3. Topic. A topic is enumerated. The topic is limited to a single
> statement such as, "The sky is blue." The topic requires the
> affirmative team to support the assertion ("The sky is blue"). The
> negative team is required to support an opposing position ("The sky is
> not blue.") The affirmative team has the burden of proof.
>
> 4. The speeches and speaking times are divided equally between the two
> teams.
>
> 5. Each team is permitted to make from one to three opening speeches,
> called constructive speeches. The affirmative team makes the first
> constructive speech, followed by the negative team, until all
> constructive speeches are complete. No rebuttal is permitted until all
> constructive speeches are complete.
>
> 6. After the completion of all constructive speeches, rebuttal begins.
> The negative team makes the first rebuttal speech, and rebuttal
> alternates affirmative, negative, affirmative, etc. (Thus, the
> affirmative team always gets the first and last word. This is designed
> to compensate for the affirmative team's burden of proof requirement.)
>
> 7. Definitions: During constructive speeches and rebuttals, the
> affirmative team has the responsibility to provide reasonable
> definitions of terms used in the topic or the debate ("Blue" must have
> a reasonable definition, and the definition must be accepted by the
> negative team. Trick definitions are not permitted, e.g. "Every color
> except blue is blue."). The negative team may challenge definitions,
> and the accepted outcome is judged by the strength of opposing
> arguments.
>
> 8. Burden of proof: The rule is simple, he who asserts must prove. The
> burden of proof begins with the affirmative team and is limited to the
> general assertion in the topic. However, the negative team may also
> make assertions in its constructive and rebuttal arguments that require
> them to assume the burden of proof.
>
> 9. Facts presented as arguments must be accurate and independently
> verifiable, e.g. "Blue light has an average wavelength of 475-500 nm."
> Facts that cannot be independently verified or are otherwise "fuzzy"
> ("The sky is infinitely high") are classed as opinions, and not
> generally regarded as supporting the burden of proof, although they are
> accepted as arguments.
>
> 10. Similarly, restatements or quotations of an opposing argument ("You
> said blue was 600 nm") must be accurate. Exact quotes are preferred.
> Restatements should not change the meaning of the original argument.
>
> 11. In general, no new constructive arguments may be presented during
> the rebuttal phase. That is, statements outside the scope of the
> original topic ("The night sky is black") are not allowed. With one
> exception, constructive arguments introduced during rebuttal are
> disregarded by the judge(s). That exception is if the rebuttal is the
> first opportunity to answer a direct question ("Isn't the night sky
> black?") and if these new arguments answer the question.
>
> 12. Refutation is different from rebuttal. Refutation includes the
> introduction of new evidence when used to counter a point raised by the
> opposition. Refutation can occur during any phase of the debate and is
> not limited to rebuttal.
>
> 13. Appeals can be made by either side for a variety of reasons, most
> of them concerning debate format. A team speaking out of turn may have
> its arguments rejected or disregarded by the judge(s), for example, if
> an objection is raised by the opposing team. In general, judges have
> the final say in whether or not to accept or reject an appeal.
>
> 14. Judging: The basic underlying principle of any debate is simple:
> The team doing the better debating is the winner. In some formal
> debates a point system is developed to indicate the winning team. These
> debates are rare and heavily regulated. Other debates rely on a simple
> consensus of the audience. The recent American political debates are a
> good example of the latter. "Winning" is often a matter of opinion but
> ultimately boils down to who has the better arguments. (Here, I
> suspect, one team will tire of the debate rather quickly and the other
> team will declare victory, deserved or not.)
>
> Concessions for Usenet debates:
>
> A single debate should be limited to a single thread. The subject line
> should state the affirmative position in twelve words or less,
> beginning with "Formal Debate: ".
>
> The first post should establish the rules, team members, and
> affirmative and negative positions, all of which are open to their own
> kind of debate. The rules I described above are taken from several
> online sources and are not written in stone. In fact, as I have
> learned, they vary considerably depending on type of debate and other
> factors. But any rules should be clearly established prior to
> beginning.
>
> Assuming we do not spend days deciding whether the table should be
> round or square, the second post should be by the affirmative team
> making a constructive argument, the third by the negative team making
> its constructive argument, as so on as described above.
>
> Unfortunately or not, Usenet is a world-wide forum. It is simply not
> possible to exclude others who wish to make statements in such a
> "debate." A workable solution would be to allow members of each team to
> use these statements in their own constructive or rebuttal arguments,
> otherwise they will be ignored by the judge(s), but each team must
> ACTIVELY state the arguments THEMSELVES and not rely on independent
> outbursts from the Usenet community as "support" for their positions.
>
> Spamming should be discouraged. For the purposes of a debate about
> religion and atheism, newsgroups on the atheist side should be limited
> to no more than two, and the same for the religious side. Care must be
> taken to trim replies and followups to relevant newsgroups. Deliberate
> spamming to off-topic newsgroups by either side subjects them to
> disqualification without appeal. Same for the peanut gallery.
>
> (I originally put this as #15 above but decided it belongs here
> instead.) Logical arguments: each team must agree to avoid logical
> arguments. There are any number of online references for these, but the
> most egregious of them is the Ad Hominem. As soon as one side
> degenerates into name-calling, comparing the other to Hitler, and
> profanity, they lose the debate. It's "Budikka" and "Rev. Harrigon,"
> not "Bud de bud de caca" and "Slime coated Zachy sock puppet." Count to
> 30 and think before hitting the "Post" button. You are representing
> everybody on your side, and it's not that difficult to act like adults,
> you know?
>
> Trim your replies. No need to include 2,000 lines of previous argument
> when responding to a single statement. We all have access to the
> preceding posts if we need to go back and look at them. Bandwidth isn't
> the issue, it's my 60-year-old eyes. Use your discretion.
>
> How do we declare a winner? Jeeze, you want me to think of EVERYTHING?
>
> -chib
>
> --
> Member of S.M.A.S.H.
> Sarcastic Middle-aged Atheists with a Sense of Humor
These rules are fine by me, but Harrigon has yet to state an assertion
he will support. I'm not going to debate just any old meaningless
thing that pops into his mind. Since Harrigon seems bereft of a
topic, I've listed five things the theists are failing in (to my
mind), in a separate message to him posted before I read yours. These
same items (with the recent addition of #5) have been posted by me as
a challenge to theists for some considerable time with no adequate
response.
I've also changed the header to "Budikka Accepts "Samuel Harrigon"'s
Debate Challenge" but we can agree on a header and then keep that
header throughout the actual debate. I must insist that this debate
be posted to alt.atheism, talk.atheism, alt.talk.creationism, not just
alt.atheism, because those three groups are where the overwhelming
majority of my challenges have been posted.
Since Harrigon has stated
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/c6507c65f46d0df3
That it's his express purpose to "convert some people for the Lord",
and in view of the season, if the topic needs to be narrowed down
somewhat, let's see if he'll argue in the affirmative something along
the lines of "Jesus Christ, Miracle Working Son of God, was a real
person", where 'Jesus Christ' and 'God' are defined as the main
characters from the Old and New Testaments in the Holy Bible, and
'real person' means there was an actual human who was the son of a
real god, born of an actual virgin, who performed the miracles
described in the NT., who was crucified, who actually *died*, and then
who came back to life in his original physical body.
Budikka