The Nightline Debate Videos

May 11, 2007

Bart Dorsey uploaded the debate, as it was shown on Nightline, to YouTube. (Thanks, Bart!)

Watch both segments before they get taken down. And then compare the episode to the preview video…

[tags]atheist, atheism, Nightline, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, Brian Sapient, Rational Response Squad, Bart Dorsey[/tags]

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What Are Your Thoughts?leave a comment

Mriana

More of the same stuff from Kirk and Ray. It’s rather sad, IMHO. 🙁 Instill fear and guilt into others. Doesn’t seem very nice for people to do this to others. Emotional abuse, mild or severe is not very pretty. I’m sorry, Hemant, I didn’t bother with the second one in this thread, because the first one was too sad to see, even if the atheists were very strong in the debate. It’s a shame and very sad that Ray and Kirk call emotional abuse in any form caring about Kelly, Brian, and others. Why can’t Christians take a step back and see what they are doing to others? Not that mocking the Christian position, as Brian and Kelly were accused of doing, is a good thing either, but I really feel since the Religious Reich can’t handle the truth, they need to quit asking for these debates and stop imposing guilt and fear on others. It just doesn’t work to convert others, but rather it turns most people off.

I appreciated what Kelly and Brain said, but feel sorry for them because they had to indure such behaviours from Kirk and Ray on National TV. Even Kelly called it an appeal to the emotion- the fear emotion.
Siamang

Yeah, this whole thing has gotten ugly, and here too. I’m bowing out of these Comfort/Cameron discussion threads because I find myself pulled into IIDB-style arguments, and that’s not what I’m blogging for now.

I think these Com/Cam threads have brought in people spoiling for a fight/argument/brilliant conversion.

I think the “Friendly” part of “Friendly Atheist” is completely missed by the crew of steamrollers.
Anatoly

I’m with Brian Sapient on the performance of those two- “what a numb nut.” Yep, there are absolutely no transitional fossils, not one. I hope that sometime in the future they would release a DVD of the entire debate.
Siamang

I’m disappointed that Sapient used that phrase and that tone.

It’s the last thing we need. But then I’ve said I don’t care for Sapient and the RRS’s style many times before now.
yinyang

Why didn’t Brian and Kelly leave after Ray mentioned the Ten Commandments? There was no good reason to continue when they clearly violated the premise of the debate; and, as “rational responders,” they should have realized that a faith vs. science debate is useless, and ends up with people talking past each other instead of to each other. Besides, they would have spared us all the insult that is the “bull-frog.”
Mriana

Ray and Kirk only asked for the debate so that they could televangelize. It was nothing more than an attempt at self-gratification, IMHO. Kirk is the same person who has attempted to deny another actor stem cell research on unwarrented religous grounds for his medical ailment. I can’t remember his name, but he was on Family Ties and Spin City. It’s very sad when such things happen.
Siamang

Michael J. Fox is the actor you’re thinking of, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease.

And your post immediately puts me in the mind of the old stop motion animated series “Celebrity Deathmatch.”
David S

If you see the unedited (or less edited) versions it’s pretty clear that the broadcast version of the debate was edited to “even out” the debate for Ray and Kirk so they didn’t come across as completely failing at the whole point of the debate (which was to prove god without using faith/bible).

Also the RRS guys really really really need to work on appearance, tone, body language, etc. The facts are on their side–they can be positive and respectful and come across much better.

And hey, I made it onto Night Line again (for a fraction of a second).
Siamang

Why didn’t Brian and Kelly leave after Ray mentioned the Ten Commandments?

I propose they call a new debate. They should say that they have absolute scientific proof that God does not exist and they’ll tell this proof to the world if 20/20 does a live worldwide broadcast.

Then when the cameras are rolling they should get up and show a picture of the Mona Lisa.

“We know that the Mona Lisa had a creator, and his name was Leonardo da Vinci. How do we know this? It has a signature. All the greatest works of art are signed by their creators.

“How do we know that the world was not created by a god? Because there is no signature ANYWHERE on the Earth.”

At this point they should hold up a satellite photo of the earth.

“Now SURELY, all the wonder of nature and all the beauty of life on earth would make it a FAR, FAR more wonderful work of art than the Mona Lisa. Which makes it far, far more likely that anyone who created it would be proud enough to sign it. And yet, we find NO SIGNATURE! Look! Look on this picture of the earth, can anyone find the word ‘Yaweh’ written anywhere? No!

“Thus I have proven that either God doesn’t exist, or He was too ashamed of his creation to actually sign it.”
Mriana

Siamang said,

May 11, 2007 at 6:38 pm

Michael J. Fox is the actor you’re thinking of, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease.

Yes, thank you. I wonder how he’s doing currently.
tobe38

Kirk Cameron said this in his introduction:

As a former atheist, myself, and evolutionist, I want to pull back the curtain and show that the number one reason many people do not believe in God is not because of a lack of evidence, but because of a theory that many scientists today consider to be a fairytale for grown-ups.

I found this hilarious. The theory he is referring to is evolution, but if you listen again it’s so ambiguous that if someone didn’t know better, the “scientists” could be evolutionists and the “fairy tale for grown-ups” could be creationism. Which would make him right – that is a big reason why a lot of people don’t believe. Own goal!

David S said:

Also the RRS guys really really really need to work on appearance, tone, body language, etc. The facts are on their side–they can be positive and respectful and come across much better.

I agree. Even just dressing up a bit more smartly would have made a better impression. It’s like a job interview – it should be all about your CV (resumee?), but you have to make an effort with presentation, appearance, etc.
Darryl

Larry, you said this:

God knows it is impossible to truely be an atheist. He has made himself known to all mankind. He has set eternity in every mans heart. We are all without excuse for denying Him. What can be known of God is evident in all He has created. He won’t force anyone to beleive in, rely and trust in Him. It’s up to each individual.

I find it interesting that you Christians claim to be the people of God and say you want to do his will, but you don’t follow his example.

Not only does God not “force anyone to believe in . . . Him,” he does not preach at people; he does not badger people on blogs; he does not ridicule people for not believing in him; he doesn’t try to convert them; he doesn’t try to undermine the teaching of evolution in our schools; he doesn’t try to pack our Supreme Court so as to repeal Roe V. Wade; he’s not railing against stem-cell researchers; he appears not to give a damn about what gay people do in their bedrooms; and he has expressed no opinions on a host of issues from authoritarianism and militarism among conservative Christians to Britney Spears exposing her pathetic paw paw in public! Why don’t you be a real follower of Jesus and follow his example?!
AV

Kirk Cameron said this in his introduction:

As a former atheist, myself, and evolutionist, I want to pull back the curtain and show that the number one reason many people do not believe in God is not because of a lack of evidence, but because of a theory that many scientists today consider to be a fairytale for grown-ups.

Kirk thinks that being a “former atheist” gives him privileged access to Teh Atheist Hive Mind? What an arrogant jerk!
Mriana

Siamang, there is a problem with having another debate in which they try to prove the existance of God… Neither of them are theologians, they’ve never done any scholarly study on the matter either. So anything they say will be bogus. With the knowledge I have, I can use the Bible to show JC is a myth. I doubt I can use it to debate the existence or non-existence of a deity, BUT I can possibly show the definition of god is a man-made concept and that Judaism and Christianity evolved from various myths. If Kirk and Ray are anything like some people around here, I can more than likely run circles around them theologically wise. I know that the theologians I know, could run circles around them and leave them in the dirt looking like idiots.
Richard Wade

Oh please not another “debate” debacle. That was a half hour infomercial for those two frauds and their videos. Now Friendly Atheist has been invaded by trolls, self-styled saviors, keyboard theologians, pseudo scientists and drive-by witnesses all wanting to be right rather than be curious, all telling us what we think, believe, feel and do. Nobody is asking us. I accidentally knocked down a wasp nest once… If there’s another farce on TV like that one I’ll be out of here until the swarm goes away.

It’s time WE frame the discussion here. We do too much reactive responding to their challenges and not enough challenging of our own. Stop dickering with them over scripture, arguing over science and superstition. We should refer all the Christian newcomers who have shown up here to “do us good” in the last two days to this posting only. Don’t talk to them anywhere else or about anything else. The abuse of non believers is the shameful hypocrisy that the pious either ignore or give only brief lip service to. I’m sick and tired of Christians tollerating it.

Let’s challenge all these loving Christians who are so often sorry to hear that their brethren are treating atheists like dirt to DO something effective about it, to step up and actually stop other Christians from all the abuse, rather than say, “Well gee I’m sorry to hear about that, but anyway back to my point about how you atheists are wrong…”
Mriana

keyboard theologians

ROFLMBO! That’s good, Richard, but I wouldn’t give them THAT much credit. Theologian is an overstatement. They aren’t even that! They don’t even study the darn thing to actually know what it’s all about! Trust me, I know one is not finished with me yet, because they can’t handle the truth or even comprehend what I’ve told them because it’s not what THEIR church TOLD them.

Like I said, they are afraid to actually study it for fear they will become like us and loose their salvation. *rolling eyes* I still say the truth sets you free and I don’t mean it the way the religous do. Most of them don’t have a clue as to what they are really talking about. They THINK they do and they THINK they know more than we do because they have the misconception that we don’t study the Bible. They really need to take a surf over to CFI and alike to get their eyes openned.