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Two of our leading philosophers lock horns on the question of God and whether we need Him to avoid destroying our culture and ourselves. Roger Scruton, a visiting professor and research fellow at a number of universities and institutes, and A C Grayling, a former professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and now Master of the New College of Humanities, go head to head in one of a series of Oxford Debates for the 2012 festival.

Scruton’s new book, published on the eve of the festival, is The Face of God. In it, he aims to show how atheist culture and a turning away from God is self destructive for us and our culture. Scruton is a writer and philosopher who specialises in aesthetics, particularly in relation to music and architecture. He has published more than 30 books including Culture Counts: Faith and Feeling in a World Besieged and England: An Elegy.

Grayling is president elect of the British Humanist Association. His latest work, The Good Book, is described as a ‘secular bible’. It draws on many ancient traditions and civilisations to offer a compendium of secular wisdom. Grayling has written more than 20 books on philosophy including Ideas That Matter, Liberty in the Age of Terror and To Set Prometheus Free.