Huxley Memorial Debate

From Conservapedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Huxley Memorial Debate took place on February 14, 1986 under the auspices of the Oxford Union a student debate club of Oxford University. The motion "That the Doctrine of Creation is more valid than the Theory of Evolution" was debated by Edgar Andrews and A. E. Wilder-Smith for the ayes, and Richard Dawkins and John Maynard-Smith for the noes. A few members of the Oxford Union were additional speakers. After approximately 3 hours of debate, the notion was defeated by 198 to 115 votes.

[edit] Lost records

The actual outcome of the vote is not clear. A report on the website of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), quoting a publication by John Durant[1] lists 198 votes for the noes and 15 for the ayes.[2] A Christian site reports that Paul Humber from the Creation Research Society in Australia contacted the Oxford Union and got a reply from a Jeremy Worth that 'The results [of the votes] are noted in a large minute book which spans several years. I'm sorry to say that the minute book in question was either lost or stolen many years ago, which is a great pity.'[3] It seems that the only reliable records for the debate outcome are copies in mp3 format of the debate tapes that can be downloaded from the Richard Dawkins website[4]. The teller of the vote can be heard to announce the outcome as 198 for the noes and 115 or 150 (the voice of the teller is not clear) for the ayes.

[edit] References

  1. ↑ A Critical-Historical Perspective on the Argument about Evolution and Creation, John Durant, in "From Evolution to Creation:A European Perspective (Eds. Sven Anderson, Arthus Peacocke), Aarhus Univ. Press, Aarhus, Denmark
  2. ↑ AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion. Thematic Areas: Evolution: Perspectives
  3. ↑ http://www.tonguesrevisited.com/oxford_union_debate.htm
  4. ↑ Oxford Union Debate on Richard Dawkins Web
Retrieved from "http://www.conservapedia.com/Huxley_Memorial_Debate"
Personal tools