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WHAT IS OUT THERE AND WHERE DID IT COME FROM? These are questions that will spark the live Stanford University debate "Atheism vs. Theism and The Scientific Evidence for Intelligent Design," live simulcast to be broadcast at 6 p.m. Sunday in the conference room at Valley Fellowship, 507 Palmer in La Grande. This picture of the Helix Nebula posted as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on May 10, 2003, quickly became an urban legend dubbed "The Eye of God." It is the closest example of a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a sun-like star. It lies about 650 light-years away and spans about 2.5 light-years in size. The picture compromises images from the Hubble Space Telescope with wide-angle images from a telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. - PHOTO Courtesy National Aeronautics and Space Agency's Astronomy Picture of the Day

Does science point to a Creator?

The Church Communication Network and Motive Entertainment have extended an invitation to "Atheism vs. Theism & The Scientific Evidence for Intelligent Design," to be broadcast live via satellite from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

Valley Fellowship will be hosting this event on Sunday from 6 p.m.. to 7:45 in the conference room at the church. Everyone is welcome and the event is free. Some materials will be provided.

Seekers, skeptics and believers will wrestle with the topic from both sides, as they consider one of today's most hotly contested issues. Featuring a world renowned line up of talent, the debate will be hosted by actor and writer Ben Stein and moderated by Michael Cromartie.

Presenting the position that the natural world contains evidence for a supernatural creator is Jay Richards, noted theologian and senior fellow with the Discovery Institute. In his book, "The Privileged Planet," Richards reveals "astounding findings [that] should lead any individual to re-evaluate entrenched assumptions about the universe — and even to reconsider our very purpose on what so many have dismissed as nothing more than an accident of cosmic evolution."

Supporting the position of the atheist is Christopher Hitchens, award-winning writer and author of the book "God is Not Great" in which he asserts, "There still remain four irreducible objections to the religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos..."

This historic debate offers all an unprecedented opportunity to engage in lively and thoughtful dialogue about issues of faith.

Hitchens is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a visiting professor of liberal studies at the New School. He regularly writes for the Atlantic Monthly and Slate, and is the author of numerous books, including "Letters to a Young Contrarian" and "Why Orwell Matters." He was named one of the Top 100 Public Intellectuals by Foreign Policy and Britain's Prospect. As a foreign correspondent and travel writer, he has written from more than 60 countries on all five continents.

Jay W. Richards is research fellow and director of Acton Media at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology with honors from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was formerly a teaching fellow. He also has a Th.M. from Calvin Theological Seminary, and an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia.

He is the author of many scholarly and popular articles in publications such as the Washington Post, National Review Online and Washington Times, as well as several books, including "The Untamed God" and "The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery," with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez.

Debate moderator Michael Cromartie is vice president at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he directs both the Evangelicals in Civic Life and Religion & the Media programs. He is a senior adviser to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and a senior fellow with The Trinity Forum.

Host Ben Stein is a multi-talented journalist, economist, author, actor and lawyer. Well known for his signature role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the highly talented Stein graduated with honors from Columbia University and was elected as valedictorian of his Yale Law School graduating class.

Stein has worked as a poverty lawyer in New Haven and Washington, D.C., a trial lawyer in the field of trade regulation at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., and a university adjunct at American University in Washington, D.C., the University of California at Santa Cruz and Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.