The response to the debate was overwhelming as people poured into the Opera House 30 minutes before the debate started. Reports indicate that an additional 200 people, including a full bus from Tallahassee, Florida, were turned away by order of the Fire Marshall and two Dothan City employees.

An opening statement by Gary DeMar, president of American Vision and moderator of the debate, briefly outlined the history of the Creation-Evolution conflict and pointed out that both sides in the controversy evaluate the evidence in terms of their operating assumptions. Evolutionists begin with “in the beginning matter,” while creationists start with “in the beginning God.”

While much of the discussion was technical in nature, the debate captivated the audience and was conducted in a professional manner. The Dothan Eagle reported the following on the front page of the November 28th issue:

“Carter appeared to stump Pierson with a question dealing with the number of generations it should have taken to correct some genetic mutations, according to the evolutionary theory. Pierson paused in mid-answer. ‘It’s very hard to answer these off the top of your head,’ he said. After pausing another moment, he said, ‘This looks bad, doesn’t it?’”

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