Just days from their Monday night face-off in New York, neither Christian conservative Dinesh D’Souza nor outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens was expecting an easy win.

Hitchens and D’Souza have debated each other twice before on policy questions, but never on religion. Now, with the May publication of Hitchen’s book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, and this month’s release of What’s So Great About Christianity by D’Souza, the God issue is timely. Both talked to WoW this week.

For Hitchens, the question of God’s existence is behind all others: “I’ve always thought of it as the main argument. … Whatever you’re arguing about, whether biology or astronomy or genetics, you’re going to get to the point where you’re arguing about … what is good, what isn’t, what we are here for. That’s why I’ve been thinking about it all my life.

Hitchen’s fight against religion grew more urgent after the Ayatollah Khomeini ordered extremists to kill Hitchen’s friend, the novelist Salman Rushdie, “in the name of God.” “The great project of civilization is to demolish theocracy,” Hitchens said.

D’Souza says that Christians can no longer afford to remain silent: “A lot of Christians have retreated from the public square, hoping that it will remain neutral so they can practice their faith in private. … It seems to me that Christians have no alternative but to be engaged.”

Reason is the best counter to atheism, said D’Souza: “I would ask an atheist to make a list of the ten values or institutions that he regards the most. … I think the atheist would realize to his dismay that virtually none of these values would exist without Christianity.”

The debaters sized up the competition. “Hitchens tends to be a bit of a bomb-thrower,” D’Souza said. “I’m reviewing my strategies for how to beat him.” Hitchen said that unlike many apologists for Christianity, D’Souza knows the issues and is accustomed to debate. But he added, “I’ve never been told after these debates that I’ve lost one.”

Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens will debate at the Society for Ethical Culture in Manhattan on Monday at 7:30 p.m. The debate is sponsored by The King’s College and is free and open to the public. For more information, contact [email protected].