Anger, Mockery, And Insults, Oh My!
Zachary Moore Permalink
7 comments
Ray Comfort sent out this email to his supporters today, attempting to poison the well against Brian and Kelly. For what reason, one can only guess, but I don't think it's an unreasonable supposition that he didn't come off as well as he would have liked, especially since his previous debate with Ron Barrier from American Atheists kept the entire audience in stitches with his use of the argumentum ad bananum.
Just a quick note to let you know that the debate went wonderfully.
When I say "wonderfully," I have to qualify it. It was like an open air with an unreasonable and loud heckler. The "heckler" in this case wasn't just the two atheists we were there to debate, but the fifty atheists in the audience. As per ABC's stipulations, the audience was composed half-and-half -- fifty Christians and fifty atheists. The Christians were very quiet and polite -- the atheists weren't. It was very apparant [sic] who was who in the audience. It seemed that no matter what we said, it was completely ignored by Brian and Kelly (the atheists) and then followed up with their anger, mockery, and insults. But as with a good open air, the heckler is simply a platform to speak to the crowd who is listening. In this case there is a crowd of millions who will hear clear, concise evidence for the existance [sic] of God. How incredible. So I am delighted, because of what we were able to say.Below is the press release and the information you need to watch the debate Wednesday. Thanks for your prayers.God bless,
Ray Comfort
Well, the Rational Responders have released a video of the debate, and I have to say, I really don't see anger or insults- there were a bit of humor at Ray's expense, for example when Brian suggested that Ray violated his promise not to refer to the Bible by citing the Ten Commandments, and that the debate might as well be over just with that. At hearing this, the (according to Ray, atheist-only section of the) audience erupted in laughter. But I have to admit, it was a good rhetorical zinger that had probably been pre-planned, given Comfort's predictable playbook.
The video below will have to satisfy your curiosity until the official video is released tomorrow at ABC.com.
The video below will have to satisfy your curiosity until the official video is released tomorrow at ABC.com.
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7 Comments:
All very true. Thanks for keeping us updated.
is it just me, or does Ray Comfort sound scarily like Ralph (of Ted and Ralph fame) from The Fast Show?
I just watched the clips that are available on the Nightline website, and I have to say, I think that the RRS amateur video is a truly representative sample of the debate.
Comfort shows himself to be completely dense time and time again, provoking audience members, and even Martin Bashir himself (the moderator), to stop his evangelizing and get back to answering the question asked.
I think the RRS did very well, and I hope that they get bigger and even better opportunities like this in the near future. They are young, hip, and are able to connect with the "non-dense" types with their personalities. Plus it doesnt hurt that Kelly and Brian are good at both wielding atheist arguments and refuting theistic arguments off the cuff (except for that "3rd law/1st law gaffe... oops!).
The Nightline piece just aired... did its best to demonize Brian and Kelly, but couldn't do much to make Ray and Kirk seem any more reasonable.
I'll post some more thoughts later.
I disagree with Comfort that the atheist audience was hostile towards him. The womang from RRS was very, very bitchy though, and that one womang who asked about cancer was angry, but rightly so since Comfort just wouldn't answer the question right away.
I also disagree with Comfort when he said his words were ignored by RRS. On the other hand, I think he and Cameron were the ones ignoring the questions and went off on a preaching tangent. An example is when he was asked about people of non-Christian religions in other countries. Not only that, but Comfort presented NO scientific evidence for the existence of God. He basically gave a sermon using Biblical references to "prove" the existence of God.
Hi, just to let you in on some other info other than what Ray and Kirk gave you... There is a Christian by the name of Joel Rosenberg who will be on Glenn Beck CNN headline news on 6-15-07 at 7, 9 and 12;00am being interviewed about his 3 novels that he has written which preempted events and they are referring to him as a modern Nostradomus--- in his first novel he wrote about a attack on a American city which would lead to a war in Iraq- his fourth book explains how and what we can expect next. The novels in between prophecied Yasser Arafat's death- and an attack on CIA convoy in Gaza/ Amazing huh? It only gets better with Glen Beck as colorful as he is... and be sure to check out Joel's newest book "Epicenter"--already a huge hit! Read the future in advance! SHROUDSTORY.COM
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