Religious debate

Until we began allowing television to destroy our minds and habits, public debating was a common feature of American life. Frequently such large crowds would gather that the debates had to be held outdoors to accommodate them. It took a sharp mind to follow the arguments from each side, let alone to decide which was correct. They were a FAR cry from the glorified press conferences that are called political debates today. Whatever one may think of the propriety of such exercises, there can be no doubt that such public displays of rhetoric (at least the better ones) were wonderful tests of the public's mental ability and were profitable to the development of it.