American Jewish University sponsored a sold-out conversation on February 17 at Wadsworth Theater in Los Angeles on “Is There an Afterlife?”
The discussion was between Sam Harris (Letter to a Christian Nation), Christopher Hitchens (God is Not Great), Rabbi David Wolpe (Why Faith Matters), and Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson (Gift of Soul, Gift of Wisdom), and was moderated by Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal. The pseudonymous Burt Likko has a lengthy write-up of the evening here. AJU’s Jewish Television Network plans to post the video of the entire evening later on.
(UPDATE: Rob Eshman has a good summary of the debate, with a lot of quotes, at the Jewish Journal).
A sample of what the evening was like can be found in the video below of Rabbi Wolpe and Sam Harris responding to one of the early questions.
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
There is something remarkable in the fact that the evening was another in a series of debates, both in person and in dueling books published over the past four years, with th public buying books on both sides and the audience in the latest debate split as well (although Hitchens and Harris got the bigger ovations as they were introduced). As Hitchens took the stage, he received an ovation that is captured in the video below; you can read his lips as he leans over to Rob Eshman and says “make them stop.”
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
T