Collision is a documentary-film depicting a debate-on-tour in 2008 with famous atheist Christopher Hitchens and theologian Douglas Wilson. In 2007, the two began to argue the topic “Is Christianity Good for the World?” in a series of written exchanges published in Christianity Today. This then led to a book, and eventually a film. Here are my thoughts on the film:

First off, the documentary is creatively filmed. If you are looking for a debate here however, you wont get it. Although you get snippets of dialog from some of the debates, the film is largely a depiction of conversation. These are two people who although they have very different worldviews, they respect each other, and you get the sense they actually enjoy each others company. To be honest, this is a plus for the film… which rather than observing a straight forward debate which can be sometimes cold, you get a good look at the relationship behind the debating.

The film also depicts some of the personal side of the main characters. There is this interesting part where you see Wilson at home, with his large family, singing songs to his many grandchildren. In contrast, when Hitchens is portrayed at home, he is alone writing at his desk, and accompanied by a wall of books. When they are together… Wilson has this way of getting Hitchens to laugh, something that appears difficult for Hitchens to do.

The creative filming is brilliant. There’s a great scene where they are sitting in a bar with several other folks discussing end-times theology. The camera angle is titled on a slant, and the scene is shot in grainy black & white. In other places, the jumps from close-ups to profiles to wide-screen are excellent. The only parts I would have left out are the sporadic shots of stormy clouds and roaring thunder… not sure what the point of that was.

In terms of the content, the conversations and debate snippets were also interesting. It’s obvious that Hitchen’s main charge against religion and Christianity in particular is the moral aspects. He sees Christianity as an ancient tribal religion with bad moral principles, referencing the genocide of the Amalekites and the idea of the son of God having been sacrificed for atonement as repulsive. He views religious fundamentalism as the key problem in the world, and has mentioned 9-11 as his prime example of his anger towards religion.

Wilson is a worthy opponent. Because he is a presuppositionalist in his philosophy, he continues to make the point to Hitchens that true moral arguments require moral grounding. Morality presupposes objective standards, and Wilson’s main point is that Hitchens needs to borrow those moral standards to support a worldview (athesim), which has no basis in objective grounding. Wilson has no problem grounding his own knowledge ‘starting’ with the Bible, because everything, including “reason” presupposes a certainty of trust in something. Good stuff here all around.

In conclusion, regardless of where you stand in your belief in God, and the points you agree/disagree with in the various different discussions, the film is entertaining and worthwhile. Highly recommended.