The Edinburgh Festival is an amazing event. With its accompanying cluster of "festivals" (Fringe, Book, Jazz & Blues, etc.), the city is not only inundated, it is transformed (including my own home church!). Inevitably, this artistic extravaganza brings with it not only the sublime and spectacular, but also the seamy and sordid.
One of the bright spots of this year's events will be a debate of the proposition, "The New Europe Should Prefer the New Atheism" ("a discussion between a scientist who thinks God is great and a cultural commentator who doesn’t"), between John Lennox and Christopher Hitchens, moderated by James Naughtie. Co-sponsored by the Trinity Forum and the Fixed Point Foundation, this debate will pit the claims of Christianity against one of its most vocal critics.
It is scheduled for the morning of Saturday, 9th August in Edinburgh's Usher Hall. There's plenty of time to get here, and I believe that tickets are still available.