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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Office of Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Releases Debate Richard Dawkins Chose to Forget

For immediate release:


Full Two-hour video of debate from 1996 at Oxford University, along with written-response from Rabbi Shmuley,

available now at Beliefnet.com, Shmuley.com

Rabbi Shmuley was surprised to learn from a number of fans that his friend, Richard Dawkins, the world’s most famous atheist, posted a statement on his website attacking Rabbi Shmuley, and denying ever debating him. The statement on richarddawkins.net reads: “Boteach organized debates, with himself as chairman, and I sometimes took part in debates with the outside visitors that he imported, for example Robert Winston. Boteach was a surprisingly impartial chairman, but he was always just a chairman, never a debater in any of the debates that I attended.”

This is, unfortunately, a particularly bold untruth. The debate, which took place at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, on October 23, 1996, attracted hundreds of students and featured, on the atheist side, Professor Dawkins and Chemistry Professor Peter Atkins, and on the religion side, Rabbi Shmuley and Professor Keith Ward, the Oxford University Regius Professor of Divinity. The Oxford L’Chaim Society (the student organization Rabbi Shmuley founded and chaired) student president, Josh Wine, was in the moderator’s chair.

Ironically, in a vote at the end of the debate to determine how many students had changed their minds upon hearing the arguments, the religious side prevailed and defeated Dawkin’s side, which might account for his selective memory. (The full footage of the two-hour debate is being made available on shmuley.com and beliefnet.com)

For Additional Information contact press at shmuley.com

shmuley.com

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