Comments

  1. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Not surprising at all.

    Never trust a creationist. They will either willfully lie to you or be so incredibly wrong and deluded they don’t realize they are lying to you.

    Either way, no bueno.

  2. The Mellow Monkey says

    Since the phrasing of the answers always seemed a bit off in the context of the questions supposedly asked, this is pretty much exactly what I figured he did.

    Utter sleaze.

  3. says

    Wow, nothing like lying for Jesus. Funny that atheists tend to take that bearing false witness commandment with far more morally serious weight than they do.

  4. says

    Seriously, when you’re so intellectually dishonest as to be a creationist–when you’ve been given a lot of the facts, as Ray has–it’s not at all surprising that for you truth is optional in general. I’m not saying that it’s impossible to be that intellectually dishonest and still be honest otherwise, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to buy a used car from a creationist who is dishonest enough to deny vast swathes of evidence (your average know-nothing creationist isn’t in the same boat).

    Creationism breeds dishonesty.

    Glen Davidson

  5. viaten says

    Ray Comfort and his kind all seem to be operating on the same principle. If it brings people to Jesus or else makes for a bigger us/them gap in the minds of believers, then God is OK with it.

  6. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Ray Comfort and his kind all seem to be operating on the same principle. If it brings people to Jesus or else makes for a bigger us/them gap in the minds of believers, then God is OK with it.

    You’d think with all the infallibility and divine guidance and such that the strength of their message alone would be strong enough to not need all that lying.

  7. steve oberski says

    PZ, I’m wondering if you independently recorded your interview by Ray Comfort and have any plans on using it ?

  8. viaten says

    You’d think with all the infallibility and divine guidance and such that the strength of their message alone would be strong enough to not need all that lying.

    Yes, you’d think so, but their message of faith doesn’t have much strength if it requires faith to begin with to see it. They also have to counter Satan’s powerful deceptions. They’re fighting fire with fire. I’m sure they implicitly figure God would say, “Whatever it takes.”

  9. rogerfirth says

    Wow, nothing like lying for Jesus. Funny that atheists tend to take that bearing false witness commandment with far more morally serious weight than they do.

    Look up “pious fraud”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pious_fraud

    Aren’t the godbots always whining about moral relativism? Some of us (obviously not the godbots) tend to feel fraud is fraud – period.

  10. theignored says

    How did the host of the video get the original version? Is that second version the only one that Comfort ever showed?

  11. viaten says

    How did the host of the video get the original version? Is that second version the only one that Comfort ever showed?

    Both are from Ray’s YouTube channel (see the video description). Ray might not have figured and probably didn’t care that someone might spot it.

  12. stevem says

    Thou shalt not bear false witness.

    Seems to me Ray must not “believe” that this ‘commandment (IX)’ is synonymous with “Do not lie, ever”. He must think “false witness” only refers to “saying somebody did something when they didn’t” (or didn’t when they did). Lies about Jesus is simply a contradiction in terms, Jesus is Truth. How is it even possible for truth to be a lie? (according to Ray)

  13. carlie says

    I desperately hope that Comfort comes across at least one person who answers his “Have you ever lied about anything?” question with “Depends; does taping people answering questions and then overdubbing it with different questions entirely count?” It would never see the light of day, but it would still be satisfying to know it happened.

  14. carlie says

    I wonder if the people in the video know what he did to their little recordings. They must feel quite used.

  15. says

    Well, according to Ray, we’re all liars and equally guilty before the eyes of his god; therefore, what’s a little lie or two in Jesus’ name?

  16. prae says

    Unfortunately, it’s not just creationists. It’s a more or less common technique in TV.

  17. Lofty says

    Unfortunately, it’s not just creationists. It’s a more or less common technique in TV.

    Yes I’ve noticed how interviews I’ve witnessed first hand are completely different when presented to the public.
    Information is just so many sound bites to be manipulated into a “just so” story.

  18. Menyambal --- Ooo, look! A garage sale ... says

    I’m noticing that Ray stands up and to the right of his camera’s POV. That makes people he is talking to have to shift their gaze oddly to face him or the camera. IIRC, looking up and to the left, as his victims have to do, is sometimes a sign of lying.

  19. John Morales says

    Menyambal, first, that’s an arguable claim, and second, Ray’s schtick is that he’s damning his interviewees via their own claims — the which would fail if he were also suggesting they’re lying about them.

    (In short, I think you’re over-thinking this)

  20. David Marjanović says

    Christ, what an asshole.

    Seems to me Ray must not “believe” that this ‘commandment (IX)’ is synonymous with “Do not lie, ever”. He must think “false witness” only refers to “saying somebody did something when they didn’t” (or didn’t when they did). Lies about Jesus is simply a contradiction in terms, Jesus is Truth. How is it even possible for truth to be a lie? (according to Ray)

    Also, who exactly is thy neighbour against whom thou shalt not bear false witness?

  21. olefin says

    “Comfort maintains that he fairly represented the professor in the film, and that while the trailer for the movie was only a short clip of the interview, Myers is given more talking time than most people in the film. He said that much of the professor’s interview was very relevant, and that it would have shown a lack of integrity if he had misrepresented Myers in the movie.”

    http://www.gospelherald.com/article/entertainment/48408/ray-comfort-produces-evolution-movie-atheist-claims-he-was-misrepresented.htm