Filmmaker and author Ray Comfort has to revise his outreach plans to atheists, according to Washington, D.C. police, or face arrest. At the June 4 Reason Rally in the National Mall, where an estimated 20,000 atheists will gather to hear speakers such as Johnny Depp and Penn Jillette, Comfort had planned to give away 5,000 copies of his new book about atheism, along with $25,000 worth of Subway gift cards to atheists, as a gesture of Christian love.
After announcing the D.C. outreach, and plans to film open-air preaching for his TV program ("The Way of the Master" -- broadcast in 190 countries) he had over 1,000 Christians officially register to join him. "To the D.C. police," Comfort reported, "that constituted a protest and therefore we needed a permit to gather. We would have to stay at the other end of the National Mall, and they said that if we persisted to approach atheists to speak with them we would be arrested."
The best-selling author then decided to cancel the outreach event, though they would still be filming at the Washington Monument.
I mentioned in a previous post that Comfort was apparently helping to train Christians to approach the Atheists attending the Reason Rally and attempt to convince them of the error of their ways.
Now personally I would have enjoyed an exchange like this because I really like seeing superstitious people cry, however I totally understand that it could have proved really annoying to people who were hoping to engage in intelligent conversations.
Later in the article Comfort claims that he has a "good relationships with Atheists." Which is probably fairly accurate as most Atheists see him as a non-threatening buffoon after viewing his now famous "banana argument" against Atheism.
A classic in every sense of the word.
I read about this yesterday, and evidently his 'new book' was published in 2008-I guess we can expect to see Palin out and about handing out the unsold books she's strong in the hanger someday.
ReplyDeleteRe Mr. Comfort's banana argument: He slides right past the fact that bananas lacked most of the attributes he is extolling—until they were shaped by selection and cultivation.
ReplyDeleteLove it!
DeleteIrrelevant, Ted. Recall that the father of genetics was a Catholic monk. So much for your binary thinking.
Delete@ 11:22
DeleteSorry, but it is NOT irrelevant! That damned fool using the banana argument kept saying the banana was perfectly formed - or "created by god" in his words - for the human hand. The shape and easy sectioning he so "gracefully" described didn't occur until after MAN had gotten involved in developing the varieties of large bananas we have today.
The banana as food grew many millennia ago and there was no need for seams for easy opening or shaping for the human mouth. If you watch monkeys eat a banana, they bite right through the skin and into the fruit at whatever point they happen to get their mouths around.
Obviously you need to listen a wee more closely to what is being said by Comfort, because he was saying the banana CAME that way from the sky fairy.
Pure bull shit. Which is what Ted was pointing out, albeit considerably more politely.
As to the father of genetics being a catholic monk, so what? It might have been anyone. And it is BECAUSE of Mendel that Ted's point is made.
Comfort is making a joke. Atheists have a reputation for being humorless. Case in point.
DeleteAnother common atheist error is seeing things in black and white, generalizing, pigeon-holing people into limiting stereotypes, and reaching to make a silly point.
Sometimes a banana is just a banana. Pompous atheists, get over yourselves.
Oh my, the rules apply to Christians also. Don't worry, he will rant and rave about how he was discriminated against.
ReplyDeleteBTW am I the only one that thought it was funny they listed the value of Subway gift cards but apparently the books had no value?
As an atheist, I would love to be able to attend the Reason Rally, mostly for the chance to just surround myself with "like-minded" people for a change. Having Ray Comfort or any other evangelical proselytizing at me at such a rare and wonderful event would have been an extreme annoyance. I can get that kind of treatment any day of my life............the Reason Rally should definitely be a "Jesus Freak Free Area" as far as I am concerned.
ReplyDeleteI am agnostic and always have envied the ability of agnostics and atheists to be quiet and rational in their thinking and reasoning. However, 20,000 people is a big crowd and when people gather in big crowds and for annual events (or whatever timing they choose) they risk becoming as fanatical as the crazy Christians. I'd love to attend a smaller gathering, plus I'm not a Johnny Depp fan at all. Regardless, I hope these folks enjoy themselves and don't have that idiot Ray Comfort or other proselytizers getting in their faces. Live and let live.
ReplyDeleteI'd take a free subway card but I'm not changing my mind.
ReplyDeleteWhen anyone who gets in my face preaching about how wrong I am and that I'll burn in their hell, I not so politely suggest they FOAD.
ReplyDeleteI so wish drump get win, market collapses, saudi changes oil to gold standard and these shitheads with money lose everything. Cant wait. I buried some money to tied me over.
ReplyDelete11:04 Has it occured to you that the rest of us would go down along with the 1%? Also, too this guy looks like a SERIOS drunk.
DeleteThey could have turned the other cheek...
ReplyDeleteI know everbody is dieing to know this (not) but my insta is back to public. Now you can see my little angles pics agin.
ReplyDeleteHe stated that his following would be eating Subway for 40 years because he couldn't pass them out to atheists. The people in charge of the Reason Council suggested giving them to homeless or the needy. Let's see if these "christians" will actually do the "christian" thing that the "uninlighted" Atheists suggest.
ReplyDeleteLeave the poor Kiwi alone. You're punching downward. It's a form of bullying.
ReplyDeleteArgue with Dr. Kenneth Miller, the Brown University professor who co-wrote the evolution textbook which the fundies hate. He's a practicing Roman Catholic. Or take issue with Dr. Martin Nowak, mathematical biology prof at Harvard, and also a devout Catholic. Aren't you curious about these brainy Catholics?
Learn how these staggering intellects reconcile the science of evolution with belief in a creator God. (Hint: They don't deal in sky fairy talk. That's kid stuff.) Then take aim at their rational positions if you can.
But no, you always go after the low-hanging fruit. That's no fun at all.