"Is US foreign policy or Islamic fundamentalism the major cause of Islamic terrorism?"

The first in hopefully a series of debates amongst members of DAM and Heretics occurs on May 27th at Chapman's Mill in Aurburn Hills. I (Jon Curry) will be debating Norm Cohen, assistant organizer of DAM on the above proposition. Chris McLaughlin will moderate. I defend the view that US foreign policy is the major cause. Norm defends the view that Islamic fundamentalism is the major cause.

The format is as follows. 15 minute opening statements. 10 minute rebuttal statements. Then Q&A from the audience. 20 minutes approximately, but we have some flexibility here which Chris will manage. Finally 5 minute closing statements.

This will occur at Chapman's Mill. Address below:

2086 Crooks Road, Rochester Hills, MI

For those that are unaware of the roots of this, Chris and Norm initiated an idea at the Detroit Atheist Meetup that they'd be interested in hearing debates regarding the various topics that are often discussed at the Detroit Atheist Meetup. We have a lot of intelligent people involved, so to maximize learning why not ask a couple of people to research a topic so the discussion is more informed. So it's sort of like having a typical discussion at DAM, but instead with a little more research.

Many people expressed interest, so we're setting it up now, though via my own Meetup group. Other topics are planned for the future. If you're interested in participating and/or have a topic of interest let me, Norm, Chris, or others know. Non secularists are also welcome to participate.