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Collision: The Movie

Christopher Hitchens/Douglass Wilson debate comes to the ACPL

By Jim Mount

Fort Wayne Reader

2010-03-22


What happens when you bring together two persons of strong, yet radically different viewpoints? That collision of world views is exactly what the 2009 film Collision is all about. Collision is a fairly recent independent film production documenting the unusual collaboration between Christopher Hitchens — a renowned atheist and “contrarian” — and evangelical theologian Douglas Wilson, traveling together and debating the merits or demerits of Christianity. According to the movie trailer, the two began a series of correspondences in the Spring of 2007 debating the value of Christianity in the world today. Their exchanges were described in the trailer as “humorous and fiery” and were published online in Christianity Today where it drew a “massive and vocal readership.”

When debating politics and religion, tensions are always bound to arise as people with strong, opposing views clash in sometimes spectacular fashion in the public sphere. How people with such strong opposing views can see eye-to-eye on anything, much less be civil with one another, is a seemingly remarkable feat. In Collision it happens with arguably two of the most diametrically opposed personalities possible.

On Friday, March 26th, groups that are as dissimilar as Hitchens and Wilson are to each other will be presenting a free screening of Collision at the Allen County Public Library. Campus Atheists & Agnostics of IPFW and FreeThought Fort Wayne have collaborated with Trinity Evangelical Church of Larwill, Indiana and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Wayne to bring Collision to the ACPL for a free screening and panel discussion afterwards, the focus of the discussion being the films central topic, “Is Christianity good for the world?”

Taking on this topic will a panel of representatives from the various groups. The event is hosted by Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Fort Wayne and will be moderated by Andy Downs, Director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics. So with the diversity of groups with opposing world views, what is the hope of the participants putting this event together? Some of the participants shared their thoughts on who they were, where their point of view originates from and what their hope is for the end result of the event. One such participant is Scott Greider, a member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church. “We chose a neutral venue,” Greider says of the selection of the downtown library as the location of the screening. “We didn't want to have it in a church, we decided early on to have the venue where all sides would feel comfortable and the downtown Fort Wayne library is certainly a place where culture occurs, where events happen and we figured this would be an ideal venue.”

“My personal hope for the event,' Greider continues, “is that people who are very convinced and assured and passionate in their world-views and viewpoints, persons such as myself, are able to say that we don't have to be angry or frightened of one another, we don't have to agree with one another but we can certainly talk, be respectful, fight our fights but in a way that respects each other and brings up the level of discourse hopefully so that the world is bettered which is obviously what both sides of the debate desire.”

Thoughts offered by by Chad Butterbaugh, a panelist representing the IPFW Campus Atheists and Agnostics on the discussion board, echoed Grieders' sentiments from the other side of the debate; “The main thing,” Butterbaugh says about what he hopes audiences will take away from the event, “is to understand that it's O.K. to have these sorts of debates. I mean obviously, out and out attacking someone whose religious beliefs are different from yours, even if you're keeping your debate on the level of the actual substance of their beliefs is often taboo, and when it comes to something like morality, I and a lot of people in the group think that is a shame.”

“I think that it is better not to just politely smile and nod when these issues come up but to rather address the substance of the debate head-on,” Butterbaugh continues. “In other words, if there are immoral precepts in a given religion, perhaps only among those who may take things too literally or too fundamentally, but still if they are there, it's better that we talk about it instead of having a gentlemens' agreement that we don't, because these are substantive issues with which people use to make decisions in their daily life.”

To be sure, no matter how amicable and civil the participants will be, there still promises to be fundamental disagreement over the topic that the debate between Hitchens and Wilson covers, and that being is the merits of Christianity as a whole. Clearly here, there is space for disagreement. “Overall, I believe Christianity is not a force for good in this world,” says Jake Doelling, President of FreeThought Fort Wayne and a panelist on the board, “I believe there are plenty of good Christians and good followers of other faiths ,but most of those people would be good despite their religion.”

“There is no need of heavenly reward or divine retribution in order to try to live your life the best you can,” Doelling continues. “It is good and in your best interests to be moral simply because it is useless to be otherwise. Caring about your life and the lives of your family and friends and community can give your life value and meaning in a universe that is indifferent to the plight of humanity.”

Adam Francisco, professor of historical theology at Concordia Seminary and a panelist on the board representing the other side of the debate, sees it differently. Commenting on what he terms as the New Atheism, Francisco says that the “consequences of ideological atheism is the loss of an objective morality and a consequent moral relativism that logically and necessarily follows.”

“There can be no ‘unalienable rights’ in a consistent atheistic world view,” Professor Francisco maintains. “So the right to life, liberty and happiness can be voted on or taken away. I'm not suggesting that belief in God makes someone more moral; rather that an objective, abstract and transcendent morality, very generally speaking, is best accounted for by posting a moral law given.”
Despite these extreme differences of opinion, there are things that members of these radically different camps agree on, and that is the positive merits of the film itself. When two proponents of radically different and opposing viewpoints (Hitchens and Wilson) can actually find avenues of agreement in other areas and actually develop something of a friendship, this speaks highly and optimistically of the future level of debate. As Doelling says of debating the substance of the highly controversial and sometimes volatile subject of Christianity in the modern world; “I do know the alternative is to do nothing at all and that that accomplishes nothing. It is far better to be an optimist and reach out to your fellow man than to live in fear and dread of those who are not like you. In that sense, you have nothing to lose but have much to gain.”

Collision will be shown in the theater on the lower level of the Allen County Public Library’s main location in downtown Fort Wayne at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 26. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Panel discussion and wine and cheese reception to follow the screening.

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