An Interview That Will Make You Go Insane February 13, 2009

An Interview That Will Make You Go Insane

By Guest Contributor
February 13, 2009

Imagine a conversation featuring Pat Robertson and bananaman Ray Comfort that features this snippet:

Robertson: Tell me about the essentials of Darwinism. What have you understood that Darwin taught?

Comfort: Well, Darwin was a very bitter man…

That would make you go crazy, right? Why is one ignorant man asking a more ignorant man about a subject neither one knows much about?

Then you may not want to watch this:

Comfort also shows evolution is false by asking random people what they know about the theory. When the victims seemingly get annoyed by his questioning, or tell him they’re not sure of all the answers, he basically claims victory.

(via Atheist Media Blog)

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  • Helfrick

    HA! “Crazy” by Patsy Cline had just started playing on my computer when I opened this page and saw bananaman. Perfect!

  • Kyle

    Evolution is a fairy tale for adults. Irony bus just hit me.

  • Shane

    I seriously LOL’d…

  • Hank Bones

    Hehe. Fairy tale for adults. Hehe.

    Hemant, are you one of the good atheists or bad atheists?

  • Chad

    I love it. He’s even got a book called, “You can lead an atheist to water, but you can’t make him think.”

  • Laugh now . . .

  • I raged so hard at this.

  • Ty

    And we’ll laugh later, too.

    Especially at people like you.

  • Amy

    Nope, can’t even bring myself to press play!

  • Richard Wade

    Why is one ignorant man asking a more ignorant man about a subject neither one knows much about?

    That’s the basic activity of religion, right?

    He portrays Darwin as if he dreamed up his theory in the grief-filled shadows of his parlor. Nothing about spending decades traveling the world, making careful observations. That’s because Comfort has never, ever, ever done that. He dreams up his reality in the shadows of his own parlor.

    It actually looked like Pat Robertson was beginning to regret having Comfort as a guest, when he kept repeating his question about evolution. A 700 Club first: A guest who is even more inane than Robertson himself.

    I haven’t heard a more asinine misrepresentation of evolution anywhere, and I’ve heard some doozies. He thinks that it means that male dogs and female dogs “evolve” along independent tracks and just happen to meet at the right place and time.

    This clown is the Einstein of Ignorance.

  • Munjaros

    Head hurts from collisions with desk.

  • Chris

    I made it to “fairy tale for adults” before I had to stop. A religious person calling evolution a fairy tale for adults is just too much fucking irony for my brain to take this early in the morning.

  • Comfort is just absurd, which isn’t surprising. I saw a video yesterday of him doing some street preaching. The guy he was talking to (who claimed to be either an atheist or someone who believes in evolution) eventually just walked away because it was a lost cause. Comfort then claimed victory.

    What was most infuriating (and what probably caused the guy to walk away) was that Comfort was just making shit up. He said repeatedly, “There’s not a shred of evidence for evolution!” He had a gorilla manequin next to him that he was using as to show how silly evolution was… that evolution claims that the gorilla is your grandfather.

    It would be hilarious if not for the fact that you just KNOW that some people are going to believe his bucket of crap.

  • I nearly ruptured myself laughing at Ray. His “evolution of the dog” malarky was particularly entertaining “the first dog had a tail, legs and could see…until then he’d been blind”.

    He’d make a great stand up comic! It’s a shame he’s not joking though, I’d sleep a lot better at night if he was joking. Oh well, Dark Ages here we come!

  • mike

    The missing female argument is not only awesomely stupid, but it’s kind of undermined by Genesis. If every male needs a female, how come god made man first, and then made female as an after thought? Did god originally intend for Adam to self replicate, only to later change his mind?

    These guys remind me of very clever children. They are great at coming up with difficult arguments and questions, but extremely poor at understanding the responses and answers they get. I used to have the same problem with I was seven.

  • Cary

    Has Comfort ever considered that God might have caused the “big bang” and evolution? I’m a Christian, but I also like science. Science backs up evolution. Evolution and God are not mutually exclusive and it bothers me when Christians make idiots of themselves by denying scientific evidence.

  • schism

    Why is one ignorant man asking a more ignorant man about a subject neither one knows much about?

    Can you really be called ignorant if you’re as senile as Robertson? Possessing a clearly malfunctioning brain would seem to require a different set of standards.

  • Siamang

    James says:

    Laugh now….

    ooooohhhh…. scary dark clouded threat from the radical christian. OHHHH I’m SOOOOOOoooOOoOooOOO scared.

    Grow up.

    Anytime you want to join us here in reality, just go right ahead.

    —

    Every time I hear Ray Comfort speak I think “there’s no way he could be THAT stupid, could he?”

    And every time he proves me wrong.

  • Ty

    Don’t you know?

    When this great nation is returned to Jesus as the founding fathers wanted in their deeply Christian hearts, mockers of prophets of the Lord such as blessed Ray will all be sent to re-education camps where they will verily feed upon the Word of God until they are filled with His righteousness.

    Or be shot. Whichever is easier. Praise Jesus.

  • Turrboenvy

    You slept through biology class.
    …
    Therefore God exists.

  • Siamang

    I’m just floored that he thinks that the sexes of each species are assumed by biology to have evolved separately.

    Either that, or that he assumes that most people watching the 700 club would buy such a thing.

    Gee, I wonder how the early “evolving dogs” had babies in the intervening millions of years?

    That might be a great subject for an animation:

    This is what Ray Comfort thinks evolution means.

    And then show some slime, and then a fish crawls out and a lizard kind of squish-morphs out of the fish’s body, then a bird and a monkey and a deer and a dog. And then all those animals stand around and look at each other for a few hundred million years. And then the dog says “well, I better go look around and see if the girls are ready to mate!”

    It would look like the “who could it be?” animations they have on Zaboomafoo, where a nondescript ball of clay adds features one by one until you can tell it’s an elephant.

  • That was very painful. He does nothing to help his own views and everything to hurt both sides.

    I’m also depressed that people will believe his opinion based simply on his arguments and what makes them feel good. He shows a complete lack of understanding of the theories, but goes at them anyway.

    Then again, most adults never read another book after graduating high school, so I shouldn’t be surprised.

    Of course, if I want to disprove religion, it looks like all I need to do is interview a bunch of kids on the street and ask them questions about specific bible passages. …well, at least according to the methods he has set forth in this video.

    Pete

  • mikespeir

    “The blind leading the blind” comes to mind.

  • I’ve sinned before. I was once asked what that makes me. I asked her if the fact that Brett Favre has lost a game makes him a loser. I thought at the time that this was a clever response, but I would have been less proud of myself had I realized just how little I was up against.

  • Siamang

    Another response is to ask the lying question back on the questioner.

    “Sure, I’ve lied. Have you?”

    If they’re honest they’ll say yes.

    Then you say, “why should I believe you about Jesus when you’re an admitted liar?”

  • I love Ray Comfort so much. Seriously. I hope he has a very long career because there is no better example of just how absurd creationists are. It is one of my deepest wishes that he is still around doing his thing for years to come.

  • Leanstrum

    My brain! I needs it for the studies!

  • Siamang

    I agree, Butch. You’ll never find a better atheist-maker than Ray Comfort. I couldn’t design one more intelligently if I tried.

  • zoo

    “Nothing about spending decades traveling the world, making careful observations. That’s because Comfort has never, ever, ever done that.”

    Can’t say I’ve quite had the chance to do that myself yet. Nice thing is you really don’t have to go far from home; knowing a few close-to-home wild places intimately or getting a chance to work with a variety of animal types for a couple years is enough. Of course, if you go out presupposing creationism, especially if you’re willing to make the absurd lists of arguments he does [and can’t even see the truth hiding in those lists. . .], you can’t be helped.

  • Robertson: “why isn’t there an intellectual force stopping them [atheists]?”

    I LOL’ED!

  • Stephan Goodwin

    What’s beginning to amaze me about the Crazy Christian arguments is how much projection they do…

    See SCIENCE is the “fairy tale for adults,” not religion…

    ATHEISTS are intolerant because they won’t put up with religious intolerance…

    ATHEISTS just have empty faith in the lack of a god, not like religious folks who have books on their side…

    It’s so sad anymore…I think these religious people just need hugs and told it is okay to be scared of the unknown.

  • SASnSA

    “How many lies have you told in your life”

    I’d like to hear Ray answer that truthfully, but unfortunately I think he’s gotten to the point where he actually believes his own lies are the truth.

  • Richard Wade

    Comfort: “Have you ever lied?”
    Me: “No.”
    Comfort: “No?? Oh sure you have.”
    Me: “No, never.”
    Comfort: “Everybody has told lies.”
    Me: “I don’t know everybody. Do you know everybody?”
    Comfort: I don’t have to actually know everybody to know that everybody once in a while tells lies, and that makes everybody a liar.”
    Me: So, did some liar tell you that or did you tell that lie to yourself?
    Comfort: “That’s not a lie.”
    Me: “If somebody else told you that everybody is a liar, then you should not have believed him because he’s a liar. If you told that lie to yourself, then you should not have believed yourself because you are a liar.”
    Comfort: “Well, let’s skip that. Let me ask you this. Have you ever stolen?”
    Me: “No.”
    Comfort: “Oh come on. Sure you have.”
    Me: “Are we back to the lie you told about me being a liar? I thought you said you were going to skip that. Seems that was a lie too.”
    (ad infinitum)

  • GD

    The fact that this idiot can actually write and publish a book is amazing. Shame on the publishers for accepting such rubbish.

  • I’m afraid this look of incredulity on my face will be with me for the rest of my life.

  • Richard Wade

    Cary, I missed your comment in the crowd. Sincerely, good for you. I hope your brethren take your example. Let your prophet inspire you to practice kindness and respect, and let science describe the world around us.

  • It’s a much more heartening video if you start watching at 4:42, where Ray Comfort says:

    I don’t believe in God anymore. Evolution is a fact. The bible is just fairytales. And because of that I believe in a woman’s right to choose. I believe in gay marriage. And this is going to hurt you, mom and dad, but I’m going to move in with my girlfriend. I love you. I hope you love me and still accept me.

    If only it had ended there, too.

  • MH

    I spent some time on Beliefnet trying to convince the locals that evolution and atheism are not equivalent. Trying to let them know they should not fear evolution just because they hate atheism. I also asked them to explain the multiple lines of evidence of evolution. What I got back were restatements of Ray Comfort’s coke can analogy, Psalm 14, and the all purpose response of “you’re an evolutionist.” To be fair there were likely Beliefnet readers who are religious non-creationists, but they didn’t lend me any support.

    I did have fun pointing out that Psalm 14 was an ad hominem argument and wasn’t even relevant to evolution anyway. Ultimately I concluded that creationists can’t decouple evolution from their theology, so they have too much invested in it being false. So I gave up and got some free time back.

    So as wacky and poorly reasoned as Ray Comfort seems, he is finding an audience and convincing people. That is why he is publishing books.

  • That’s 7 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

    I think I actually lost a few brain cells listening to that man. They committed suicide. The sheer vapidness of Comfort’s comments was too much to take.

    They oughta do a “Mythbusters” on religion and creationism, featuring the ramblings of that gnome/troll Comfort.

  • One idiot talking to another idiot for an audience of idiots.

    The only cleaver thing about it is from capitalizing on the old statement… “No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people”.

    They are good at getting people to give money (700 club) and buy (Ray’s) books.

  • Richard Wade

    I watched it a second time to satisfy my curiosity. I wanted to finally decide whether he actually does have a basic understanding of how evolution works and is deliberately presenting it in ridiculous ways, or if he just doesn’t get it at all. I’m now convinced that he couldn’t present an accurate layman’s description of natural selection and evolution if his life depended on it. He has clearly never read an even brief and basic explanation of the theory. It’s not that hard, Ray. I could explain it to adults when I was ten years old and now as an adult I can explain it to ten-year-olds.

    Such cowardice and deceitfulness for a guy who likes to start his conversion attempts with “Have you ever lied?” This lying fraud says he represents God? The fact that he hasn’t been zapped into a smoking pile of carbon is evidence in favor of atheism.

  • Although Ray clearly gave a gross misrepresentation of the theory of evolution, he did sum up nicely what I understand to be the central evangelical belief in that version of Christianity. I quote from Ray:

    There was a legal transaction, we broke God’s law, Jesus paid our fine, that means God can dismiss our case on the day of judgment upon our repentance and faith in Christ

    It isn’t the “Sky Daddy”.
    Its the “Sky Cop”.

  • hoverFrog

    Gah! Evolution isn’t something that you can choose to believe in or not anymore than you can choose not to believe in gravity. Well, you can not believe in it but it makes you an idiot.

    “What do you say to someone who doesn’t believe in the Bible?”

    How about “Well done”?

    Argh! There are too many fallacies and errors that I don’t know where to start.

  • Mark

    You wrote: “…Why is one ignorant man asking a more ignorant man about a subject neither one knows much about?”

    LOL, that reminds me of when I watch two talking head journalists interviewing each other on CNN.

  • MikeySize

    If everything must have a creator, what created god? I’ll have to ask a creationist sometime? With any luck they’ll start repeating, “does not compute, does not compute…” and their heads will explode.

  • Geoff

    It actually took me four attempts to get to the end of this clip. I’ve heard others claim such a thing before now and thought they were exaggerating.

    I’ve already seen the bananaman display his idiocy, but hadn’t heard of Pat Robertson. Please tell me they are only pretending. This level of stupid really does burn!

  • The sad thing is that they (Ray and Pat) are smarter then the regulars who watch the 700 club on TV. There are some very very uneducated and gullible people out there… In America, they care mainly called evangelicals because they will believe anything they are brought up to believe and love to hear people echo their naive primitive beliefs on TV.

  • Slugsie

    The Crazy, it burns!

  • Lauren

    Oh, the stupid. Oh, how it burns. “The Bible says this, the Bible tells us that…” I just feel so bad for people who need a supernatural being in order to be good.
    How many lies have you told in YOUR life, Ray? Isn’t willful ignorance a sin?

    I can’t believe I made it all the way through that. I think my brain just melted a little. Help, I need some Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe!

  • SgtSkepper

    I think this just gave me an ulcer.

  • black wolf

    Ray has been corrected very carefully and thouroughly on his claims hundreds of times (see his blog ‘Atheist Central’). He doesn’t care. He knows who his customers are, and he knows there will always be more of them. “Be fruitful and multiply…”