Ray Comfort on the stupidity of atheism/atheists

[Brian63]

You may know him as The Banana Man and a frequent street evangelist somewhere (?) in California. He regularly makes videos of his street encounters where he presents dumb arguments for his religious beliefs to clueless people who have a variety of clueless beliefs, and when he stumps them it appears as if Christianity is the right go-to religion after all. He seems to place a heavy emphasis on arguing against atheists, however, frequently invoking arguments and analogies from design especially. I confess to following him on Facebook just to see what he is up to. His most recent post was the harshest thing I have ever seen him say about atheists. Short and to the point and very revealing that he has a lot of pent-up feelings---

I often think words that may come across as too strong to describe the intelligence of an atheist, so I usually settle for Sir Isaac Newton’s “senseless,” and the Bible’s “fool.”

Usually he insults atheism and not atheists themselves (or at least not so directly). Hate the sin, love the sinner. This is a blatant change of tone though. He has recently had some difficult personal medical issues and is probably rethinking some of his life's positions. I have long suspected that he actually privately doubts his religion more than he publicly lets on. Does anyone else keep up on him? Several months ago I had a short email exchange with him also, but he did not respond to my last message.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I never heard the name before so I went to youtube out of curiosity. He's your standard stuff so maybe you're right. He certainly likes his religion. In the vid I watched he seemed overly concerned about death, almost like he was afraid of death. That's the impression I got. So if he's checking out and has never come to terms with death I can see how it would be troubling for a person like him.

As an aside he doesn't seem to have conversations with people, but rather has a prepared script and only wants to preach. Maybe if he had the ability to listen, as opposed to simply hear, he would have reconciled his fascination with and fear of death by now.

 

[Brian63]

He is very popular among evangelicals and has had some friendly or hostile exchanges with Penn Jillette and Richard Dawkins (Dawkins called him an idiot). Comfort managed to get on air with Lawrence Krauss about science matters (link). He presents a tough dilemma---when someone is so ignorant and peddles that ignorance onto so many other people, do you engage them head on and give them an aura that their bad scientific views deserve merit, or do you try to ignore them and not give them publicity they have not earned?

...he seemed overly concerned about death, almost like he was afraid of death. That's the impression I got.

He is a frequent (ab)user of arguments by analogies, especially for the need to repent before death arrives. He will tell his followers that *not* evangelizing is like a doctor not telling the patient that they have cancer, even if they diagnosed them as having cancer. Well, the doctor does not want to make the patient feel bad, so just keep quiet about it, right?

Or if he notes that someone's house is on fire, then he needs to tell people inside to get out in order for them to survive. So he places a huge emphasis on evangelizing, and scaring people into repenting before they die.

As an aside he doesn't seem to have conversations with people, but rather has a prepared script and only wants to preach.

Exactly. He has a notorious "Good Person Test" where he determines that the person is not a good person because they broke any of the 10 commandments at any time in their life, and so deserve hell. Then he moves on to how they can avoid it by repenting.

The Atheist Experience show did a debate with him years ago which has been the most watched out of any of their episodes, with the hosts and Ray going back and forth on some of these issues.

I have mixed feelings about a guy like Ray. On the one hand, he uses such terrible logic and psychologically manipulative techniques that it will be okay when he rides into the sunset one day. His lasting impact on the world will be to have made many people in it dumber and more frightened and oppressed. On the other hand, he seems to genuinely think that he is helping others everywhere, and I appreciate that even if he is entirely misguided and closed minded.

 

[Random Person]

Atheists made and keep Comfort famous.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Atheists made and keep Comfort famous.

Yeah, but famous as 'the banana idiot.'

 

[Politesse]

The bible's "Fool"?

Does he mean the "fool" that you go to hell for saying? Brave man, I guess.

Matthew 5:22: "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire."

 

[Keith&Co.]

The bible's "Fool"?

Does he mean the "fool" that you go to hell for saying?

Well, there's a lot of biblical imagery in the Tarot. Maybe he means the The Fool card? But that's the seeker, the one who knows he knows nothing, stepping out on the beginning of a quest for actual knowledge.

 

[Politesse]

The bible's "Fool"?

Does he mean the "fool" that you go to hell for saying?

Well, there's a lot of biblical imagery in the Tarot. Maybe he means the The Fool card? But that's the seeker, the one who knows he knows nothing, stepping out on the beginning of a quest for actual knowledge.

With a dog! You know you can trust a guy who hangs out with a dog.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Atheists made and keep Comfort famous.

Apparently we are his drug, his fix, and that seems to be the case. Glad to be of legal service I suppose. Are we somehow his source of happiness?

I'm left to wonder if he ever had a close friend or family person who he could laugh and tell jokes with, or even knows what that is. He seems so uptight, even manic.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

The bible's "Fool"?

Does he mean the "fool" that you go to hell for saying?

Well, there's a lot of biblical imagery in the Tarot. Maybe he means the The Fool card? But that's the seeker, the one who knows he knows nothing, stepping out on the beginning of a quest for actual knowledge.

With a dog! You know you can trust a guy who hangs out with a dog.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_(The_Twilight_Zone)

...
Later, Hyder and Rip stop to rest and are met by a young man, who introduces himself as an angel dispatched to find them and take them to Heaven. When Hyder recounts his previous encounter, the angel tells him that gate is actually the entrance to Hell. The gatekeeper had stopped Rip from entering because Rip would have smelled the brimstone inside and warned Hyder that something was wrong. The angel says, "You see, Mr. Simpson, a man, well, he'll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can't fool a dog!"
...

 

[Brian63]

I'm left to wonder if he ever had a close friend or family person who he could laugh and tell jokes with, or even knows what that is. He seems so uptight, even manic.

He has had problems with depression at least earlier in life. I am not sure if they magically went away when he had his Jesus moment.

He does devote so much of his energy, attention, and life to evangelizing. Even when you see the occasional fruit of your efforts when someone approaches and tells you how influential you were to them in a positive way, it has to be a drag to likewise see so much of your work go to waste and so many people unpersuaded by you, and wonder why God will not just step in with an extra hand. Add to that his recent problems with kidney stones, and the guy merits sympathy as well, regardless of the lack of logic to his views.

 

[DBT]

Here is a Rational Wiki page that may be of interest; https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Scien...o_Believe_the_Bible_is_Supernatural_in_Origin

 

[Brian63]

That link mentions how poor Ray is at defining words he uses in his arguments, which I would concur with. He will ask someone "Have you ever told a lie in your life?" and if they answer affirmatively, he will categorize as them as a "liar." If I ever was speaking with him in person, I would mention that I have also at least once in life told the truth. So that means I am a truth teller, right? He does not distinguish differences and degrees, or various circumstances, in how we apply labels. A word may have a certain meaning in one context and another meaning in a different context.

He also uses arguments by design frequently, but does not explicitly state the actual argument, just assumes and implies its premises instead. He also uses a helluva lot of analogies and metaphors to make his arguments instead of outright stating the arguments. That lets a lot of bad arguments go unanswered. He will say we look at a painting and know it had a painter. We look at a building and know it had a builder. We look at the all birds and rainbows and flowers (always pointing to the pretty parts of the universe, notably, never the terrible and cruel aspects) and therefore we know the universe had a creator as well. He does not get more specific in stating what it is about those qualities that lets us know they were designed. Is it the complexity, the beauty, the ugliness, the blueness, the redness, the age of them? He does not get specific.

Unfortunately he does not seem to understand that arguments by analogy are useful for understanding how something can be true by comparing some new explanation that we do not understand to a previous explanation that we already understand, but they do not actually prove that the explanation is correct. Analogies are useful for illustrations, but they are not evidence or proof.

 

[ideologyhunter]

My first take: Omigod, this is the banana guy?
I googled 'Ray Comfort banana' and got the gist of it in 3-4 minutes. There is at least a glimmer of hope for Ray. After his famous banana exegesis, there were numerous derisive responses pointing out that man's cultivation and selective plant breeding led to the 'amazing' and God-probative banana features that he'd gone nuts about. Ray later stated (on a video that Huffington Post said was later made private): he "was not aware that the common banana had been so modified through hybridization." Am I right that he no longer does his banana speech?

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Maybe he should have given his name to a brand of liquor. Probably could have sold truckloads of the stuff.

Ray clearly has psychological issues and I kinda feel sorry for people like that so we shouldn't pick on him, fun as it might be. He could probably benefit from medication of some form of cognitive therapy. He seems to have a real hardon for atheists and that's the one thing I like about him. Having someone like him bashing people without religion is a really good thing.

 

[abaddon]

Maybe he should have given his name to a brand of liquor. Probably could have sold truckloads of the stuff.

Ray clearly has psychological issues ... He could probably benefit from medication of some form of cognitive therapy...

I don't see it. He seems socially competent and happy enough, and that's all it takes to be a mentally healthy person. He has a standard level of intellect and he likes opinions better than learning. He's highly confident about the opinions, which he shares with his favored ingroup. So he's a standard, typical human.

What psychological issues did you see? Don't say "superstitious" because that's typical of humanity and therefore not a psychological issue.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
- Voltaire

 

[James Brown]

My first take: Omigod, this is the banana guy?
I googled 'Ray Comfort banana' and got the gist of it in 3-4 minutes. There is at least a glimmer of hope for Ray. After his famous banana exegesis, there were numerous derisive responses pointing out that man's cultivation and selective plant breeding led to the 'amazing' and God-probative banana features that he'd gone nuts about. Ray later stated (on a video that Huffington Post said was later made private): he "was not aware that the common banana had been so modified through hybridization." Am I right that he no longer does his banana speech?

Well, he wrote a book about his banana argument.

Then he made a film about the banana argument, and his response to those who mocked him or criticized his thinking.

Later he used the same rationale with regard to coconuts, pineapples, and artichokes.

So I'd be cautious before saying that Comfort took the criticism seriously, learned a lesson or two, and is now working to improve his arguments.

 

[bilby]

Maybe he should have given his name to a brand of liquor. Probably could have sold truckloads of the stuff.

I think 'Southern Comfort' is already taken.

 

[Learner]

He also had the movie: "The Fool - the true banana man story".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlCc_TA7gw8

Its an old parody he's been doing for sometime before that famous vid.