"it was debated whether" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is usually used to introduce two alternatives or choices that have been discussed or considered. For example, "It was debated whether the renovation should take place before or after the holiday season."
At the time, it was debated whether humans had a single origin or several, with each race being separately created.
QUESTION FROM MARTIN: I understand there was a time when it was debated whether or not photography was a legitimate form of art.
However, moves to privatize existing public hospitals, beginning in 1992, met with much public opposition, and it was debated whether services and efficiency had been improved.
But in 1982, when the museum opened, the nearby piers were in dismal disrepair; it was debated whether the area could ever be a tourist destination.
From the time of the Greek philosopher Aristotle it was debated whether the embryo was a preformed, miniature individual (a homunculus) or an undifferentiated form that gradually became specialized.
Once it was realized that both parents contribute to new organisms, it was debated whether the male or female was most responsible.
Conversely, iRBC endothelial cytoadherence leads to upregulation of inflammation, although it is debated whether this occurs by iRBC cytoadherence on its own or whether other factors are necessary.
It is debated whether this is true also at gestational diabetes.
It is debated whether all forms of learning represent the same process.
It is debated whether chronic urogenital inflammations and infections may trigger the formation of antisperm antibodies (ASA) in semen.
It is debated whether the argument was over a disputed point, an unpaid debt or a love rival.
