Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/12/07/The_Great_Issues_Forum_Varieties_of_Nonbelief

Philosopher Colin McGinn and theologian Denys Turner discuss the question of whether atheism can coexist with a sense of morality. Both agree that morality exists independently of divinity.

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Journalist Susan Jacoby, philosopher Colin McGinn, and theologian Denys Turner explore questions such as: Is humanism another kind of religion? Is it religion's evolutionary future, rather than just one of several alternatives? What light does the recent scientific study of religion throw on these possibilities?

How do the new humanists compare to the new atheists? Can an atheist identity be shaped by a positive ethic, or must it be primarily an anti-religious sentiment? How will the persistence of belief and disbelief, as well as the tension between them, shape thought and culture in the 21st century? - CUNY

Colin McGinn (B.Phil., Oxford University), joined the UM Philosophy Department in 2006, having taught previously at University of London, University of Oxford, and Rutgers University. He was the recipient of the John Locke Prize at Oxford University in 1973. His research interests are in philosophy of mind (particularly consciousness, intentionality and imagination), metaphysics, ethics and philosophical logic.

Denys Alan Turner is a British academic in the field of philosophy and theology. He is currently Professor of Historical Theology at Yale University having been appointed in 2005, previously having been Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University. He earned his PhD in Philosophy from Oxford University.

He has written widely on political theory and social theory in relation to Christian theology, as well as on Medieval thought, in particular, mystical theology.