Livestreams new to MHCC campus

A debate held at Western Washington State University was streamed live to a group of students and instructors at MHCC Tuesday.

This was the first live stream event hosted by the college. Philosophy instructors Chris Jackson and John Hasenjaeger were responsible for organizing the event.

The topic for Tuesday’s session was “Evolutionary theories of religious beliefs: Does biology explain away god?” The event was held at 7 p.m. and ended at 8:30 p.m. The lecturers were Franklin & Marshall College Senior Visiting Scholar Michael Murray and Westmont College Biology Instructor Jeffrey Schloss.

Jackson said on Tuesday 15 students attended the event. He said, “It was really interesting. After watching the stream we shut it down and continued to have our own discussion. We ended up staying a long time after it was over.”

A second live stream was scheduled for Thursday during the same time slot in room AC1253. Thursday’s scheduled topic was “Natural evil in a fine-tuned universe: Is evolutionary suffering incompatible with a good god?”

Jackson said this will be the last live stream event of the term but he and Hasenjaeger are planning on holding more events next term.
Jackson also said he hopes to coordinate a debate next term with Portland State University Philosophy Instructor Peter Boghossian.

Jackson said of Boghossian, “(He) has said in the past that all faith based beliefs are delusional.” Jackson said he would like to debate him on this subject due to its condescending tone.

He also said he has written letters to the newspaper at PSU in the past to try to coax Boghossian into debate but has received no response.