Lawrence Krauss nearly walks out of Islam debate over segregation

On March 9, the Islamic Education & Research Academy (IERA) organized a debate at the University College in London between atheist Dr. Lawrence Krauss and Muslim Hamza Andreas Tzortzis on the question, "Islam or Atheism: Which Makes More Sense?" But before the debate even began, Dr. Krauss walked out.

Krauss was originally told by the organizers that the audience of the debate was to be segregated by gender. Couples were to be allowed to sit together, but single women were to be seated in the back. Krauss had told the organizers that he would not be a part of debate with such seating restrictions and on Friday, he posted this Facebook status update:

“News update: Have now been informed that the event in London will NOT be gender segregated.”

Upon arriving at the debate, Krauss discovered that the segregation rule was still in effect and he walked out of the debate (video in the sidebar). He returned to the debate when the organizers relented and allowed all audience members to sit where they desired.

After the debate, Krauss posted this status update on his Facebook page:

“Almost walked out of IERA debate as it ended up segregated (single men and women not allowed to sit together). I had been promised that would not be the case, and then saw 3 really nice kids being ejected for sitting in wrong place. I packed up my bags and walked out. They caved in, and let the kids back, not without complaints of course from some of the attendees.” (source)