James Swan pointed out that Catholic Answers is running a new banner ad in their forums:
I confess, I wonder how many of Catholic Answers supporters have started to wonder, “Hey, why doesn’t this ministry I support do formal public debates anymore? I mean, this isn’t even a debate, it’s a radio program from 1995…fifteen full years ago.” Yes, and its a radio program where, in the second hour, Jimmy Akin (by rather careful counting) received 65% of the discussion time. Yeah, a real “debate.”
Of course, this is the same Catholics Answers who recently had their head of apologetics finally do a debate—on the Dividing Line. You all may recall the recent debate with Tim Staples on purgatory. Yet, I wonder why we don’t see banner ads for that debate? Probably because they have yet to even mention it on Catholic Answers Live. And though I have tried numerous times to get Tim Staples to respond to the e-mail I sent after the debate (sent to the very same e-mail address I used before the debate, to which Tim always responded in a fairly timely manner), so far all is silent at the CA headquarters about ever, ever making that debate available. Ironically, it was a real debate, with even amounts of time, a single topic, cross-examination, etc. We can continue to hope that someday we will see a banner ad for that debate, too, but, let’s hope we don’t have to wait fifteen years for that to happen.
So, Jimmy Akin, Tim Staples—all you fellows over there. Fifteen years is a long time. Just think of how far video has come in all those years! Sola scriptura! Purgatory! The Papacy! The Priesthood! Wouldn’t your supporters love to hear those topics debated? We stand ready.