Do You Take the Free Dinner?

Free food??? Oh heck yeah I could accept it. Especially since I’ve been craving Red Lobster anyway.

Not interested. Honestly, I think Mr. Comfort should donate the money to Second Harvest.

I’m on the side of “Resist on Principle;” and I’ll just repeat what I wrote last time Comfort was invoked here: (link) (emphasis mine)

Hemant: Can you name some other Christians you believe are doing good work to spread Biblical word? (In other words, what other Christians do you respect and support?) What do you make of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church? Are their actions and beliefs consistent with the God you believe in?

Ray: There are millions of Christians (and thousands of Christian organizations) that I love and wholeheartedly support.

I know that many atheists will disagree with me when I say that I love atheists. But if I didn’t, I would have paid for the meals of 40 atheists when they invited me to dinner, in Orange County. Why would I give Red Lobster meal vouchers to atheists on my blog? Why did I give away 120 hard cover books to atheists? I don’t hate anybody. I think that the people at Westboro Baptist church are terribly misguided and that they are misrepresenting Christianity.

What I left in the comments:

Parse: In other words, you ‘love’ atheists as a potential converts, or as strawmen to box for your audience. If you truly loved us as you say you do, you wouldn’t lie about our arguments and our viewpoints.

I’m not about to be suckered into being the atheist equivalent of “I’m not racist, ’cause I got a black friend!” As far as attempts go, this one is rather transparent.

Can we take the coupon and give it to a more needy family? If it’s transferable, I can’t imagine why we wouldn’t sign up for it, then give it to someone who could really use a free meal.

I have no problem accepting it, except that Red Lobster is disgusting.

Seriously, the food is inedible, and how that place stays in business I will never know.

Like Deiloh, I would rather see the money go to a charity that feeds people in need (one of my wife’s an my charities of choice).

And, Red Lobster? No thank you! They, and other Darden properties, are just mediocre… I would much rather drop $100 a person on a great meal at a great restaurant. Thalassa in NYC, Farallon in San Francisco, Joe’s Stone Crabs in Miami come to mind. Anywhere in New Orleans.

(OK, I have enough money to afford a good restaurant, and I prefer to go to one; does that make me an elitist? Google says there’s a Red Lobster in Metarie, LA; it’s probably a pretty good place to eat. ;-))

@Kahomono, Red Lobster’s better than no seafood for some folks. 🙂 I’m really torn, but disinclined. I don’t want that jerk knowing where I live.

Hmmm I’m torn.

On the one hand, every dollar spent feeding me and other heathens is money that cannot otherwise be spent on the corruption of the education of children.

On the other hand I don’t trust Ray even as far as I can throw him and his banana. I don’t believe for a second he wouldn’t at the very least use this to show what a swell and loving guy he is and make the contrast about atheists “I invite them to dinner even when they spend all their time talking badly about me. How many atheists have you heard of inviting Christians to dinner who were insulting them?”

On balance I think no. I see some parsing on “publicity stunt”. No he won’t bring cameras, but you can bet your ass it’ll get covered on fundie/creationist sites and that he’ll put into his bag-o-creationist propaganda.

Since Red Lobster and chains like it serve low-quality, frozen and processed food and pass the profits on to huge corporations, Comfort’s offer does not tempt me in the slightest. Were he to offer me a delicious meal in one of the many locally-sourced and locally-owned eateries in my area, I may have a bit more of a dilemma. However, I won’t be going against my principles–atheist or other–for a meal of pseudo seafood.

Out of my hands. The Red Lobster site says:

We’re Sorry. No results were found near your location

Apparently they’re not big in New England.

Heidi, ironically I have a friend who lives on Cape Cod and likes to go to Red Lobster, because the one near him has to bring in good fresh seafood to be able to compete.

I wouldn’t participate in Mr. Comfort’s offer though, since he says it’s only for atheists, and I don’t wish to participate in discriminating against christians…

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Well, except maybe the Universe itself…

wait wait wait wait.
he asks for your mailing address.
can we say “junk mail”?
i mean, if you don’t mind getting tons of paper from a not-for-profit who doesn’t have to pay for stamps and has no regard for your personal space…
i mean, at least they’re buying you dinner first.
(albeit at red lobster.)

At its most benign, it allows Comfort to play a Don Rickles’ “I’m a Nice Guy” routine. At worst, it’s something sneaky. While he’s really bad at being sneaky, no reason to risk being part of that unlikely event.

Other Tom:

I was thinking the same thing! I would refuse to participate in such a blatant act of discrimination against Christians..
…whom I love.

Here in KS we obviously import our seafood, but the bigotry is home-grown!

As Sandra S states, and my Economics 101 professor stated, TNSTAAFL. There is a cost, at least of time. In this case, it would be a horrible time having to be in a room with a (or courtesy of) vile, hateful excuse for a human being.

I wonder, though, if I could get the voucher, then give it to the local food bank? hmmmm.

Wonder how many we’d have to request to bankrupt his pathetic excuse for a “ministry”?

It seems to me that people here are more suspicious of Comfort than they really should be. For sure, we all disagree vehemently with him about a number of things, and find him intellectually dishonest, but I’m not sure where the flamethrowing and ferocity comes from. Do really not know Christians that are nice to people just because they believe that they’re supposed to be nice to people?

Of course we do, Brandon. But we aren’t talking about a Christian here. It’s Ray Comfort.

I’m fully in agreement that the Banana-Man is in this for the appearance of doing good rather than the actuality, and that we should not wish upon his twisted, crusty little monkey’s-paw.

It’s only for atheists

I wonder if Ray’s considered how many Christians are going to become atheists just so they can get the free food. If I were a Christian, I’d certainly think about it. He should have covered his bases by further restricting it to people who were atheists before reading his post.

Please format your name and address as you would on an envelope (3-4 lines, caps/lower case, etc.)

Odd that he specifies the caps/lower case bit. Technically, you shouldn’t put your address in mixed case anyway, since the automated scanners at the PO are more likely to parse your address automatically if it’s written in all caps.

Do you take the free food despite knowing where it comes from, or do you resist on principle?

I didn’t, due to the veg bit plus the fact that I don’t really care about free food, but I can’t imagine what principle would lead me to refuse. I mean, I’m not afraid that the coupon would have Christian cooties on it, if that’s what you’re getting at.

Oh yeah I sent an email. I’m not going to pretend to be above taking a good free meal. Hopefully there’s no catch in redeeming it like having to sign something professing Jesus as my savior (something I already did in my younger days).

Of course I’m suspicious of his motives, but really what can he do to me with my name and address? Send religiously themed mail? I get that already. The lady who use to live where I live now was a Christian.

Too bad there isn’t a restaurant called “The Yellow Banana”.

Im not seeing the principal issue here. He is making an offer to atheists, so accepting it shouldn’t violate any principals. There is no deception or duplicity when both parties fully understand the conditions of the deal.

I wouldn’t accept for the reasons many others have mentioned. Chain restaurants suck. Buy from local owners, they have better food and better service.

I wouldn’t take it. To me, Red Lobster is a treat, it’s about enjoyment: not only the food, but the whole experience. What good would it do if I know that it’s been paid for by a notorious loon who will later probably use it for his own purposes? I say, give the food to the poor and hungry, not atheists.

That being said, I wouldn’t judge anybody who accepts this offer. Hey, after all, free food is free, and I am all for a healthy dose of cynicism and practicality.

Considering seafood shoots through me like prunes through a short granny, I’d accept, then also insist on Comfort providing a ride home.

Leviticus 11:12 (King James Version)

Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.

Nice try Comfort but you can’t fool me into breaking one of g0d’s commandments. Clear evidence that Ray Comfort eats from Satan’s Own Fridge. There is no way that I could sit down to eat with such a detestable hypocrite.

What the hell? So, now he’s trying to kill us all with cholesterol, mercury, and just plain bad food?

Jerk.

He said they won’t keep your address or sell it…that still leaves room for “giving” it away to someone else. If you’re not worried about that(and, like you said, not veg), I say take the dinner. (And I like the idea of then donating some money to another charity.)

doesnt it say somehweres in the old testament that eating lobster or shellfish is an abomination?

I’d take it if I were living alone and not with Christian parents who’d find the magical free food suspicious. Although if Comfort really wanted to show love for atheists, a good start might be insisting to his supporters that atheists are moral, resonable and often friendly people. That would go a long way to dispersing the prejudice a lot of us face. Then he could pat himself on the back for being a good person!

I find it hillarious how many people are refusing because they don’t like red lobster. Come on, they’ve got yummy bread!

Nope, and not just because I’m a vegetarian. I would prefer not to be associated with Ray Comfort in any way, shape, or form.

Revylution, in my eyes, the principal issue is that he wants to use this giveaway as a gimmick to excuse his other behavior. If he cares about us, and wants to show that his love for us isn’t just words, then let him do it by respecting us. When he mines quotes, when he misrepresents his opponents’ viewpoints, when he answers legitimate questions with non-sequitors, he doesn’t respect us – or his audience. If he gave you a gift certificate to any restaurant, would you excuse his behavior? Because he’s going to tell everybody else that it does – he’s made that claim before; just look at his last ‘interview’ on this site.
He’s trying to buy our love, and for me, the principal is that my love’s not for sale.

One thing to note:

Remember the debate between the Rational Response Squad and Comfort/Cameron? Where the rule set forth by Comfort was “no bibles, I can beat you without asserting the bible”, and then immediately broke his own rule in his opening statments?

If you look it up on youtube, you’ll find that there are some people who have posted the debate in its ENTIRETY. But if you watch the one posted by the Way of the Master channel, it’s been edited to remove Brian Sapient’s opening comment pointing out Comfort’s resorting to the bible against his own damn rules–among other things that were edited out.

I know this because I downloaded the debate from the first source I found, which was Way of the Master (I didn’t realize this right away) and then couldn’t find a lot of the atheist arguments I remembered.

Then I looked at the channel, realized the problem, and downloaded from another poster who had contributed a more honest version. I did keep the Way of the Master version for comparison though.

So no, I wouldn’t trust the bastard as far as I could throw him. Another deceitful bastard hiding behind a pious smile. His kind rests their case entirely on propaganda and “image” and there is no depth to which they will not sink to create the illusion that they have a legitimate case.

Hmm… Too bad I’m Canadian. And allergic to lobster. And most shellfish.

And bananas…

Get the gift certificate and then give it to someone that really needs it.

Red Lobster? Really? Read your old testament, Ray.

Deuteronomy 14:9-10
“Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.”

@Sackbut: Now that you mention it, I think I may vaguely remember the one in Nashua. Was it on Daniel Webster Highway, way down past the mall & Jordan’s? I remember there was some restaurant down there that we never got around to trying. (I went to UMass Lowell for a couple years in the late 80s.)

Take the meal on the condition that you are told exactly what it costs so you can donate the same amount to a secular charity.

Of course, I’m a Canadian Vegetarian, so I’m ‘left behind’.

Well, apparently he’s already out of them, but there’s definitely some sort of ulterior motive.

The guy’s not like one of the goodhearted religious people who despite believing in some ghastly things by believing in the bible, are otherwise moral and kind. NO, Comfort is disgusting and evil, blatantly spewing lies despite being corrected over and over an over ad nauseum. The only reason he gets away with it is because he smiles while saying some of the stinkiest BS on earth, and he has a New Zealand accent. In this country you can get away with practically anything if you did it with a New Zealand accent; if you robbed a bank with a New Zealand accent, the teller would probably open the vault with a smile then wish you a nice day.

He’s probably going to talk about how horrible and greedy we are, so if they’re transferrable, which I’m asuming they are, why not donate them to a food pantry, if there’s one in the area that’s not affiliated with a church. I’m pretty sure they’d accept it, and the lucky family who gets a free or discounted dinner would be happy.

Revyloution Says:
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:30 pm

Parse, I see where you’re coming from, but I just fail to see how he can gain in this stunt.

If I took his free food, I wouldn’t feel obligated to him in any way. Its just like the free sample people in the grocery store. They give it away hoping you will come back for more. Since we do almost all our cooking from whole ingredients, none of those products really appeal to me. But that doesn’t put me above grabbing a bite out of hunger or curiosity.

Since most people who know about Comfort are solidly on one side of the fence, I don’t see how he hopes to convert anyone with this stunt.

I can see where you’re coming from, and I agree with your reasoning. He’s not going to convert any atheists with this stunt. But I don’t think that’s the point. I think Mr. Comfort’s smart enough to realize that – so the question is, what is he buying with this free lunch?
I think he’s doing it exclusively so that he can say he has done it, so that he can show how much he ‘loves’ atheists. It’s like saying ‘I’m not racist, I gave $5 to NAACP. Why would I give money to NAACP if I were racist?’

If anything, I see Comfort as doing a great service to atheism. Most adults go through their lives without ever considering evolution. If Ray gets them started down the path of inquiry, they will soon find out how weak his arguments are and how strong ours is.

And how!

Free food and a chance to take money away from Ray Comfort? Hell yeah.

I live at the beach, and would much rather have ACTUAL seafood.

As for why he’s doing it? Smug self-satisfaction and bragging rights?

I feel that whatever coupon or voucher you get for this free meal will probably be the kicker, saying something like “One Free Meal For A Loved Atheist” in real big, noticeable letters. This way, any of us who are comfortable with our atheism online (but not in the real world) will quickly shy away from the opportunity. Then he can say “I was nice, and they didn’t show. How rude!”

I’m passing, though, because Red Lobster itself is evil, regardless of Banana Man’s influence.

Invite him to the dorm first. If he comes, tell him you won’t show up at his door, pester him with literature, or sell his info. See if he believes you.

Yeah, that would have made a difference. I’d eat at Olive Garden, and I actually know where one is. Never heard of the other two places though.