NPR Debate: Is America Too Damn Religious?
Intelligence Squared is a live public debate series distributed by NPR and based on the successful forum of the same name in the UK. Each Oxford-style debate features six experts, three for the motion and three against it. The audience is tallied on the motion before and after the debate to gauge the debate’s influence.
From the Intelligence Squared Mission Statement:
The goal of IQ2 US is to raise the level of public discourse on our most challenging issues. To provide a new forum for intelligent discussion, grounded in facts and informed by reasoned analysis. To transcend the toxically emotional and the reflexively ideological. To encourage recognition that the opposing side has intellectually respectable views. To engage the live audience as active participants who will ask questions and decide which speakers have carried the day by voting on the motions both before and after the debate.
The latest debate was on the motion: America is Too Damn Religious. You can listen to the entire debate via streaming media or download an hour-long MP3 of the highlights. I also strongly recommend the debate on Freedom of expression must include the right to offend.
Here is an archive of the existing debates, a calendar of upcoming debates, and the obligatory RSS feed.
