20 Christians vs 1 Muslim — Uthman ibn Farooq at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
A structured debate between Shaykh Uthman ibn Farooq and twenty students and professors from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary — the largest Baptist Bible university in America — held in Louisville, Kentucky. The debate rotates through four prompts via a flag-vote elimination mechanism: (1) The Prophet Muhammad is clearly mentioned in the Bible; (2) Jesus is not God according to the Bible; (3) Jesus is a prophet and servant of God; and (4) the Bible is not 100% preserved. Participants include a Conservative Presbyterian, a Biblical Unitarian pastor, Catholic and non-denominational students, an Episcopalian, and others. Key arguments cover Song of Solomon 5:16 (Muhammadim), Isaiah 42 (Kedar, Sal'a, Mushallam), ego imai in Luke and John, divine omniscience and hypostatic union, Acts 3:13, Hebrews 2:7-9, the Johannine Comma, Mark 16:9-20, Matthew-Luke genealogy contradictions, and the manuscript and chain-of-transmission preservation of the Quran.
A structured debate between Shaykh Uthman ibn Farooq and twenty students and professors from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary — the largest Baptist Bible university in America — held in Louisville, Kentucky. The debate rotates through four prompts via a flag-vote elimination mechanism: (1) The Prophet Muhammad is clearly mentioned in the Bible; (2) Jesus is not God according to the Bible; (3) Jesus is a prophet and servant of God; and (4) the Bible is not 100% preserved. Participants include a Conservative Presbyterian, a Biblical Unitarian pastor, Catholic and non-denominational students, an Episcopalian, and others. Key arguments cover Song of Solomon 5:16 (Muhammadim), Isaiah 42 (Kedar, Sal'a, Mushallam), ego imai in Luke and John, divine omniscience and hypostatic union, Acts 3:13, Hebrews 2:7-9, the Johannine Comma, Mark 16:9-20, Matthew-Luke genealogy contradictions, and the manuscript and chain-of-transmission preservation of the Quran.
The purpose of this archive is to make the main claims easy to review, connect them to related Islamic topics, and preserve the original video only as a second step for anyone who wants the full tone, timing, or back-and-forth of the live exchange.
Participants
Shaykh Uthman Ibn Farooq
Islamic scholar and da'ee. Founder of the One Message Foundation, known for public street dawah and debates on Islamic theology, comparative religion, and biblical criticism.
Conservative Presbyterian Scholar
A student or professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary debating from the Westminster Confession of Faith framework. Engages most extensively on the Muhammad-in-Bible prompt, concedes the linguistic presence of the name, and returns later to press the Hebrews 1 counter-argument and discuss the hypostatic union.
Will
Head pastor of Compass Christian Church, a non-denominational church in Louisville, Kentucky. A Biblical Unitarian who believes Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God but not part of the Trinitarian Godhead. He agrees with Uthman on the question of Jesus's divinity.
Robin
An Episcopalian participant who reads the Bible as an anthology of meaningful ancestral stories, not literal history, and describes herself as probably more Unitarian than the Unitarian.
Adam
A non-denominational Christian who does not hold the Bible to be inerrant or univocal and concedes that the scribal errors documented by MacArthur and the NET Bible undermine treating it as a perfectly preserved word of God.
Mary
A participant who asks detailed questions about belief versus action in Islam, the fate of non-Muslims who do good deeds, and the Islamic approach to dawah.
Various Christian participants
Students and professors from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who took turns debating in the 20 vs 1 rotating format, including a Catholic convert, non-denominational students, and others.