Are the churches using atheists to gain more converts?

[madog]

Maybe just my suspicious mind .... I can understand the Christian debaters as they make a name and get paid to debate, that it might damage their church comes second place to their own self promotion, but there must be something in it for the churches, they are not in the business of promoting freethinking ...

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This really interests me, I see all the debates happening in Christian churches with atheists and have a sneaky feeling that those churches are using the debates to get more converts? I personally hope this is back firing on the churches, so would appreciate any thoughts or examples either way ...

Is religion growing or decreasing in the USA?

As dumb and ignorant, as most religious demagogues are - even they are not naive enough to hope to convert atheists through debate. It's theater aimed at christians, to give their beliefs an illusion of relevance in the secular, science-oriented modern world, to allow them to keep up appearances of academic diligence and to distract them from the fact, that christianity has been slowly losing influence, ever since they've been unable to burn their opponents and dissidents at the stake.

If any of the christian debaters do actually hope to convert anyone - it's mainly members of competing denominations. Because if someone's already drinking the cool-aid, then they might be persuaded to drink your particular brand...

Good answer