Is Christianity All the Rage?

FlyBy surreptitiously snuck into the large auditorium at Paine Hall, expecting some sort of commotion as people try to answer the ultimate question: Is Christianity good for the world? But, as this is Harvard, the large room sat a scattered group of pensive-looking students watching the screening of the new documentary “Collision.”

The event was hosted by Harvard College Faith and Action in order to stimulate discussion and thoughts about Christianity. The discussion part, however, will come later, as ushers handed out interest indicators at the door for a potential  debate next Wednesday about whether or not Christianity is good for the world.

The documentary “Collision” features a series of debates between the prominent public atheist intellectual Christopher Hitchens and theologian Douglas Wilson on the role of Christianity and the world. Some of the interesting things from the documentary:

“(Christianity) is a wicked cult, and it’s high time we left it behind.” - Christopher Hitchens

“Christianity is objectively true; it’s objectively beautiful; and it’s objectively good.” - Douglas Wilson

“One of us has to admit real moral defeat. And I think it should be him.” - Christopher Hitchens

Well, you can imagine how the screening went. Although, FlyBy admits, the documentary itself presented both sides of the argument equally and objectively. Nicely done, film-makers.

For Stephen P. Murphy ’13, this event was really thought-provoking. “Harvard needs something like this,” he said, “we have intellect, sport, we don’t have a lot of spiritual stuff, this is a good way to bring that in, or to even start that.”