Feb 6, 2016 / 16:07 pm
An auditorium on the campus of the University of Colorado bustled with hundreds of people as a crowd of students and non-students alike gathered to watch two experts go head-to-head to debate an age old question: Is religion good or bad for society?
"My argument is simply stated: religion is not only good for society, but it is essential to society," said James Gaston, a professor of history and humanities at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.
"Religion is good and thus essential to society because of you...Everyone must search for truth, for self-knowledge...for God. We differ in what we think such happiness exists. Nonetheless, we search," he continued, saying religion is the pursuit of this search.
The Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought, an intellectual arm of ministry on the campus of CU Boulder, sponsored the Feb. 3 debate, in which two scholars discussed the pros and cons of religion.