I think that because I don’t believe in god it would be irrational to have an opinion as to whether he sees me or not.
F.O.says
Wait, isn’t that the whole point of Jewish kippah?
robrosays
Primitive tribes? Does he mean like Angles, Saxons, Celts, and Picts? Now there’s a primitive lot.
I wonder what he thinks of women wearing makeup? Or hats?
I don’t know about Ray, but some fundamentalists do make noise about wearing makeup. It’s a sign of harlotry, which is a sin, don’t you know. If Ray is true to the Epistles of Paul, then he would think that women should cover their heads while “praying or prophesying” (1 Corinthians 11:5).
Larrysays
Remember Tammy Faye Baker? Gal painted her face so much, primitive tribes came to her for styling tips. Of course, she actually did have things to hide.
Saganite, a haunter of demonssays
How does he come up with such nonsense? Like there’s ONE category of “primitive” tribes, all sharing the same religious beliefs and practices for the same reasons? Oh, because he doesn’t care about reality in the slightest. Yeah, I’m sure shamans and the like put paint on to AVOID the spiritual realm coming into contact with them, right. They tend to be really rabid antitheists, dontcha know. As for atheism, that part is true: What doesn’t exist can’t see me. But he, of course, makes it out to be a sort of defense mechanism, that deep down we know we’re wrong, rather than it simply being how the world is.
birgerjohanssonsays
I think I get it. A high sin content lowers the albedo of (female) lips, so wimminz put lipstick paint on to cover their sins. Men are not affected, because their higher virility makes lips shine like beacons at the wavelenght Zod is using for vision, blocking the visual signature of sin.
birgerjohanssonsays
The Sami use no paint, but have colorful folk costumes. Does make them good, or does it make them devil-worshippers? And are they still “primitive” if they use helicopters to track their reindeer?
dobbysays
Or sports fans.
birgerjohanssonsays
If I paint myself blue, Celtic style, does that make me invisible? And can I run around naked without being seen? That must be a great advantage in battle.
birgerjohanssonsays
Monks shave off the hair on top so God can spot their sin content -or lack terof- directly!
But should there not be a commandment against dying th hair? “Thou shalt not look like Marge Simpson”
rietpluimsays
Wow. Just wow. How someone can be so fucking clueless never ceases to amaze me.
I think he’s confusing us with the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal,
rietpluimsays
BTW Even if there is a God, and He can see me, so fucking what? I am doing nothing wrong. It’s not that I am, for example, killing all firstborns of a nation, or drowning almost the entire population in a world wide flood.
Hoosier Xsays
This is officially the stupidest Internet meme that was ever made into a movie poster.
Hoosier Xsays
Even the makers of Expelled didn’t use “If man descended from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” in their advertising. So Ray Comfort is dumber than the makers of Expelled. And presumably just as dishonest.
rietpluimsays
So God is a voyeur? What the hell is He thinking, spying on everybody all the time?
blfsays
The mildly deranged penguin points out it’s not what the magic sky faeries can or cannot see, it is what it/he/they/she taste like which matters. They/she/it/he do not taste like cheese, MUSHROOMS!, moar cheese, vin, yet other cheese, or even horses; the only thing she/they/he/it taste like is, well, nothing at all — just like peas. And peas are notoriously uncivil, unbalanced, evil, and even moar evil. Just like magic sky faeries… Hum……
(Peas, she points out, are, quite unfortunately, real. So they have a significant difference from magic sky faeries.)
So cultures that never heard of his god would paint their faces so this god they never heard of wouldn’t see them “sin”.
Seems legit.
Saadsays
They paint their faces because they don’t want to be seen by the god they think doesn’t exist. I don’t even.
He’s trying really hard to top the banana one.
ospalhsays
Monks of the well know Christian, primitive tribe of the Swabians but spinach in their minced meat and covered it with dough, so god – or maybe the abbot – wouldn’t see them eat meat on Fridays. It’s seen as a cute story here, and Maultaschen are enormously popular.
Saadsays
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the leader of one of the largest primitive tribes, hides behind decorative exotic robes and a cap and a luxurious palace. FSM still sees him.
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem))says
This is using the bigoted word “primitives” to claim these people are stupid enough to think their own god is also stupid enough to be fooled by face-paint, so they can do anything forbidden by their own religion, in disguise.
This is clearly a racist spin on the old, “god is always watching everything you do (even in the dark), so you better be good”
*retch*
rietpluimsays
Oh my Gawd I did it I visited the website I watched the trailer oh my eyes are melting my face is melting my brain is evaporating ahhhhh rrrhh
“Little bit racist?” – Religion is worse than racism and in fact it is the textbook example of racism. Lying to one another that one religion is more inclusive than the other… as long as they trust HIM. Just the facts of what every religion is done to the native populations around the world can be the basis to get rid of all religions without any remorse or charity. Organized religion (specifically the Christian sects) is been mocking the natives tribes, have been wandering around the world destroying cultures and languages, families and social bonds. They have been and still are forcing people to pray to characters out of fables, characters that those people can never ever see unlike the sun, moon and the rain that they have been trusting for thousands of years.
Silver Foxsays
Too bad Claude Levi Strauss isn’t still with us. He’d set Comfort straight about “primitive” peoples’ face paint. It’s got nothing to do with Christian notions of sin.
emergencesays
First of all, is it any wonder that Ray Comfort has insulting views about less technologically advanced cultures?
Second, the argument he’s trying to spin about atheists is pure nonsense. I don’t routinely steal things or lie or do drugs and try to justify it by saying that there’s no god. The idea that atheists only reject Christianity so they can live lives of sin doesn’t hold up. In fact, one of the main reasons that I reject religion is because I find that it permits and encourages behavior that I find unethical and monstrous. Christianity of Comfort’s strain encourages misogyny, warmongering, environmental neglect, and a whole host of other evils. Fundamentalist religious doctrine is far more self-serving than anything atheists believe.
phlosays
This is a very odd and rather revealing use of the verb “to believe”. That last sentence only makes sense if believing in something is an active choice, not an inevitable conclusion reached through critical thinking and careful evaluation of evidence. Or to put it more bluntly: this meme only works if “to believe” means something like “to pay lip service to, to go through the motions of, to pretend”.
It’s almost as if Ray Comfort doesn’t understand the very concept of an honestly held conviction.
quotetheunquotesays
It’s almost as if Ray Comfort doesn’t understand the very concept of an honestly held conviction.
Head of nail, meet hammer. I think it is likely that he is not “playing dumb” or anything, he really doesn’t get the concept.
His whole thesis here is an excellent illustration of “not even wrong.”
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem))says
re 24:
“Little bit”? yes, to emphasize how totally racist the ad is. Like calling the Atlantic Ocean, “the pond”.
[ /(needlessly explaining sarcasm) ]
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem))says
re 27:
(Refer to, NOT replying to)
Comfort is trying to mangle up ‘atheism vs theism’, into something similar to:Gravity works whether you believe in Gravity or not
so he is trying to say God is Real.[dot] BELIEF is irrelevant
as I read it, after disregarding all the racist implications.
Pierce R. Butlersays
Why don’t Southern Baptists have sex standing up?
Because they’re afraid God will see and think they’re dancing.
Gimme my hat, I gotta go.
emergencesays
@30
Does comfort get that we’re not just declaring that we don’t believe in his god? We actually offer arguments as to why the idea doesn’t make sense. Belief may be irrelevant, but argumentation and evidence certainly aren’t.
busterggisays
As god can see through anything isn’t wearing clothes futile?
sundiversays
Reminds me: Jews don’t recognize Jesus, Protestants don’t recognize the Pope, Baptists and Mormons don’t recognize each other in the liquor store. As for old Ray, he keeps sinking the standard, don’t he?
Siobhansays
The idea that atheists only reject Christianity so they can live lives of sin doesn’t hold up
Actually, hedonism was one of my lead-ups to atheism. At least I can claim all of my partners are adults, unlike the Catholic Church.
phlosays
@30
Of course he is saying that his god is real – but the whole thing still doesn’t work as criticism of atheists! If you are honestly convinced that X does not exist, then you would have to be NUTS to worry about X seeing you. As explained above – this only works if you redefine the meaning of the word ‘believe’.
Rich Woodssays
@rietpluim #13:
I am doing nothing wrong. It’s not that I am, for example, killing all firstborns of a nation, or drowning almost the entire population in a world wide flood.
You don’t get it. Those are examples of doing things right.
rietpluimsays
They are??? Then Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot and all the other darn evil atheist mass murderers must be in heaven right now!
unclefrogysays
that poster and the thought behind it is in simple language a threat to all unbelievers.
If you do not bow down to our god he will condemn you to hell for ever anyway.
Further you must listen to what I say about our god because!
It is Fear one of the major tools used by “missionaries” to convert the “primitive” to bow down the cross of jesus ever since the spanish landed in Mexico.
uncle frogy
Saganite, a haunter of demonssays
@#32 emergence
Does comfort get that we’re not just declaring that we don’t believe in his god?
No, he doesn’t get it. Or, rather, he doesn’t accept it.
I’ve seen several clips of him arguing with atheists (or towards an assumed atheist audience via the camera) in a slightly presuppositionalist way, “you know there’s a god”. He claims to think atheists are just in denial. Whether he really thinks that or he’s just using it as a crappy debate tactic is impossible to know.
Menyambalsays
In his third paragraph/sentence, who is “they”? He mentions primitive tribes, then speaks of the individuals in those tribes, which is kind of a twist, but okay. Then he mentions atheism, which is a worldview/belief/idea and treats it as an entity. Then, in the third block, he writes about some people he calls “they”, but he doesn’t really make it clear that he means individual atheists.
It kind of tracks, but it is horrible writing. Which is no surprise.
militantagnosticsays
I wonder what he thinks of women wearing makeup? Or hats?
So that is why Mexicans wear those big sombreros. Sinners, the lot of them. Build the wall.
God hasn’t seen me sin since jr high when my mom let me wear Lip Smacker!
Lady Mondegreensays
He’s really become obsessed with atheists, hasn’t he? I wonder how he deals with his own doubts.
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem))says
[OT] Lucifer season premiere last night had an interesting dialoog between the lead LAPD detective and a forensic investigator who has a cross dangling round her neck. She asked the believer about her “faith”, as “do you really believe that stuff in your faith is real?”. The faithist responded hesitantly with “I have doubts about whether my faith tells me about real stuff. I know that sounds contradictory, but that’s kinda the point of ‘faith’, without ‘doubt’, ‘faith’ is pointless, so I have faith is all I can say. (let me get back to work)” While she is the one examining evidence very carefully under microscope and finding tiny bits of clues etc.
I like the idea that “faith” is a straw a person clings to when filled with doubt…oh wait – that’s been my usual claim, that people cling to faith to explain things they can;t figure out… OTOH what I liked about that scene, above, was the recognition that faith was a straw being clung unto. uhm rather than believing what’s written in a book because one can’t figure out where the world came from, more like using faith as a comfort for the doubts they have while faith itself is also continually under doubt.
in conclusion, faith as presented by Ham is pure poison, Lucifer [ie, the show, not the character] (ironically) presented it as more palatable. I still think that presentation was unique [without superlatives on a superlative].
to continue he shill, the show also did a really nice ‘cover’ of Dylan’s “Watchtower” (solo piano accompaniment)
.
ok, sorry for OT interruption, return to topic.
birgerjohanssonsays
blf has a point about taste.
The paint is to mimic foul-tasting souls, so various soul-eaters (including Yaweh) will be repelled.
Anyone want to wager that he thinks his twist on “The God Delusion” is extremely clever?
Crimson Clupeidaesays
dobby@8: I think we can all agree sports fanatics are more primitive. ;-)
emergencesays
@40
That’s one of those slimy, weasely, dishonest arguments I absolutely hate. For one thing, it seems to be deliberately set up to be close to unfalsifiable. I can’t just unscrew the top of my skull and show everyone what I’m thinking. I have to convey what I think through my words and actions. Claiming to know that someone believes something in spite of all possible evidence to the contrary isn’t so much an argument as an attempt at psychological warfare. Second, it’s simultaneously bewildering and hilarious that people like Comfort think that their batshit crazy theology is somehow obvious and undeniable. The bible, like all religions, consists of disjointed, outlandish fables with little to no correlation to the real world. I don’t have to be in denial of the existence of the Christian god, Christians have to come up with convoluted rationalizations to maintain their faith.
marko says
I think that because I don’t believe in god it would be irrational to have an opinion as to whether he sees me or not.
F.O. says
Wait, isn’t that the whole point of Jewish kippah?
robro says
Primitive tribes? Does he mean like Angles, Saxons, Celts, and Picts? Now there’s a primitive lot.
I don’t know about Ray, but some fundamentalists do make noise about wearing makeup. It’s a sign of harlotry, which is a sin, don’t you know. If Ray is true to the Epistles of Paul, then he would think that women should cover their heads while “praying or prophesying” (1 Corinthians 11:5).
Larry says
Remember Tammy Faye Baker? Gal painted her face so much, primitive tribes came to her for styling tips. Of course, she actually did have things to hide.
Saganite, a haunter of demons says
How does he come up with such nonsense? Like there’s ONE category of “primitive” tribes, all sharing the same religious beliefs and practices for the same reasons? Oh, because he doesn’t care about reality in the slightest. Yeah, I’m sure shamans and the like put paint on to AVOID the spiritual realm coming into contact with them, right. They tend to be really rabid antitheists, dontcha know. As for atheism, that part is true: What doesn’t exist can’t see me. But he, of course, makes it out to be a sort of defense mechanism, that deep down we know we’re wrong, rather than it simply being how the world is.
birgerjohansson says
I think I get it. A high sin content lowers the albedo of (female) lips, so wimminz put lipstick paint on to cover their sins. Men are not affected, because their higher virility makes lips shine like beacons at the wavelenght Zod is using for vision, blocking the visual signature of sin.
birgerjohansson says
The Sami use no paint, but have colorful folk costumes. Does make them good, or does it make them devil-worshippers? And are they still “primitive” if they use helicopters to track their reindeer?
dobby says
Or sports fans.
birgerjohansson says
If I paint myself blue, Celtic style, does that make me invisible? And can I run around naked without being seen? That must be a great advantage in battle.
birgerjohansson says
Monks shave off the hair on top so God can spot their sin content -or lack terof- directly!
But should there not be a commandment against dying th hair? “Thou shalt not look like Marge Simpson”
rietpluim says
Wow. Just wow. How someone can be so fucking clueless never ceases to amaze me.
richardelguru says
I think he’s confusing us with the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal,
rietpluim says
BTW Even if there is a God, and He can see me, so fucking what? I am doing nothing wrong. It’s not that I am, for example, killing all firstborns of a nation, or drowning almost the entire population in a world wide flood.
Hoosier X says
This is officially the stupidest Internet meme that was ever made into a movie poster.
Hoosier X says
Even the makers of Expelled didn’t use “If man descended from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” in their advertising. So Ray Comfort is dumber than the makers of Expelled. And presumably just as dishonest.
rietpluim says
So God is a voyeur? What the hell is He thinking, spying on everybody all the time?
blf says
The mildly deranged penguin points out it’s not what the magic sky faeries can or cannot see, it is what it/he/they/she taste like which matters. They/she/it/he do not taste like cheese, MUSHROOMS!, moar cheese, vin, yet other cheese, or even horses; the only thing she/they/he/it taste like is, well, nothing at all — just like peas. And peas are notoriously uncivil, unbalanced, evil, and even moar evil. Just like magic sky faeries… Hum……
(Peas, she points out, are, quite unfortunately, real. So they have a significant difference from magic sky faeries.)
Grumpy Santa says
So cultures that never heard of his god would paint their faces so this god they never heard of wouldn’t see them “sin”.
Seems legit.
Saad says
They paint their faces because they don’t want to be seen by the god they think doesn’t exist. I don’t even.
He’s trying really hard to top the banana one.
ospalh says
Monks of the well know Christian, primitive tribe of the Swabians but spinach in their minced meat and covered it with dough, so god – or maybe the abbot – wouldn’t see them eat meat on Fridays. It’s seen as a cute story here, and Maultaschen are enormously popular.
Saad says
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the leader of one of the largest primitive tribes, hides behind decorative exotic robes and a cap and a luxurious palace. FSM still sees him.
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says
This is using the bigoted word “primitives” to claim these people are stupid enough to think their own god is also stupid enough to be fooled by face-paint, so they can do anything forbidden by their own religion, in disguise.
This is clearly a racist spin on the old, “god is always watching everything you do (even in the dark), so you better be good”
*retch*
rietpluim says
Oh my Gawd I did it I visited the website I watched the trailer oh my eyes are melting my face is melting my brain is evaporating ahhhhh rrrhh
Chengis Khan, The Cryofly says
“Little bit racist?” – Religion is worse than racism and in fact it is the textbook example of racism. Lying to one another that one religion is more inclusive than the other… as long as they trust HIM. Just the facts of what every religion is done to the native populations around the world can be the basis to get rid of all religions without any remorse or charity. Organized religion (specifically the Christian sects) is been mocking the natives tribes, have been wandering around the world destroying cultures and languages, families and social bonds. They have been and still are forcing people to pray to characters out of fables, characters that those people can never ever see unlike the sun, moon and the rain that they have been trusting for thousands of years.
Silver Fox says
Too bad Claude Levi Strauss isn’t still with us. He’d set Comfort straight about “primitive” peoples’ face paint. It’s got nothing to do with Christian notions of sin.
emergence says
First of all, is it any wonder that Ray Comfort has insulting views about less technologically advanced cultures?
Second, the argument he’s trying to spin about atheists is pure nonsense. I don’t routinely steal things or lie or do drugs and try to justify it by saying that there’s no god. The idea that atheists only reject Christianity so they can live lives of sin doesn’t hold up. In fact, one of the main reasons that I reject religion is because I find that it permits and encourages behavior that I find unethical and monstrous. Christianity of Comfort’s strain encourages misogyny, warmongering, environmental neglect, and a whole host of other evils. Fundamentalist religious doctrine is far more self-serving than anything atheists believe.
phlo says
This is a very odd and rather revealing use of the verb “to believe”. That last sentence only makes sense if believing in something is an active choice, not an inevitable conclusion reached through critical thinking and careful evaluation of evidence. Or to put it more bluntly: this meme only works if “to believe” means something like “to pay lip service to, to go through the motions of, to pretend”.
It’s almost as if Ray Comfort doesn’t understand the very concept of an honestly held conviction.
quotetheunquote says
Head of nail, meet hammer. I think it is likely that he is not “playing dumb” or anything, he really doesn’t get the concept.
His whole thesis here is an excellent illustration of “not even wrong.”
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says
re 24:
“Little bit”? yes, to emphasize how totally racist the ad is. Like calling the Atlantic Ocean, “the pond”.
[ /(needlessly explaining sarcasm) ]
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says
re 27:
(Refer to, NOT replying to)
Comfort is trying to mangle up ‘atheism vs theism’, into something similar to:
so he is trying to say
as I read it, after disregarding all the racist implications.
Pierce R. Butler says
Why don’t Southern Baptists have sex standing up?
Because they’re afraid God will see and think they’re dancing.
Gimme my hat, I gotta go.
emergence says
@30
Does comfort get that we’re not just declaring that we don’t believe in his god? We actually offer arguments as to why the idea doesn’t make sense. Belief may be irrelevant, but argumentation and evidence certainly aren’t.
busterggi says
As god can see through anything isn’t wearing clothes futile?
sundiver says
Reminds me: Jews don’t recognize Jesus, Protestants don’t recognize the Pope, Baptists and Mormons don’t recognize each other in the liquor store. As for old Ray, he keeps sinking the standard, don’t he?
Siobhan says
Actually, hedonism was one of my lead-ups to atheism. At least I can claim all of my partners are adults, unlike the Catholic Church.
phlo says
@30
Of course he is saying that his god is real – but the whole thing still doesn’t work as criticism of atheists! If you are honestly convinced that X does not exist, then you would have to be NUTS to worry about X seeing you. As explained above – this only works if you redefine the meaning of the word ‘believe’.
Rich Woods says
@rietpluim #13:
You don’t get it. Those are examples of doing things right.
rietpluim says
They are??? Then Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot and all the other darn evil atheist mass murderers must be in heaven right now!
unclefrogy says
that poster and the thought behind it is in simple language a threat to all unbelievers.
If you do not bow down to our god he will condemn you to hell for ever anyway.
Further you must listen to what I say about our god because!
It is Fear one of the major tools used by “missionaries” to convert the “primitive” to bow down the cross of jesus ever since the spanish landed in Mexico.
uncle frogy
Saganite, a haunter of demons says
@#32 emergence
No, he doesn’t get it. Or, rather, he doesn’t accept it.
I’ve seen several clips of him arguing with atheists (or towards an assumed atheist audience via the camera) in a slightly presuppositionalist way, “you know there’s a god”. He claims to think atheists are just in denial. Whether he really thinks that or he’s just using it as a crappy debate tactic is impossible to know.
Menyambal says
In his third paragraph/sentence, who is “they”? He mentions primitive tribes, then speaks of the individuals in those tribes, which is kind of a twist, but okay. Then he mentions atheism, which is a worldview/belief/idea and treats it as an entity. Then, in the third block, he writes about some people he calls “they”, but he doesn’t really make it clear that he means individual atheists.
It kind of tracks, but it is horrible writing. Which is no surprise.
militantagnostic says
So that is why Mexicans wear those big sombreros. Sinners, the lot of them. Build the wall.
bs48906 says
relevant:
carolineborduin says
God hasn’t seen me sin since jr high when my mom let me wear Lip Smacker!
Lady Mondegreen says
He’s really become obsessed with atheists, hasn’t he? I wonder how he deals with his own doubts.
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says
[OT]
Lucifer season premiere last night had an interesting dialoog between the lead LAPD detective and a forensic investigator who has a cross dangling round her neck. She asked the believer about her “faith”, as “do you really believe that stuff in your faith is real?”. The faithist responded hesitantly with “I have doubts about whether my faith tells me about real stuff. I know that sounds contradictory, but that’s kinda the point of ‘faith’, without ‘doubt’, ‘faith’ is pointless, so I have faith is all I can say. (let me get back to work)” While she is the one examining evidence very carefully under microscope and finding tiny bits of clues etc.
I like the idea that “faith” is a straw a person clings to when filled with doubt…oh wait – that’s been my usual claim, that people cling to faith to explain things they can;t figure out… OTOH what I liked about that scene, above, was the recognition that faith was a straw being clung unto. uhm rather than believing what’s written in a book because one can’t figure out where the world came from, more like using faith as a comfort for the doubts they have while faith itself is also continually under doubt.
in conclusion, faith as presented by Ham is pure poison, Lucifer [ie, the show, not the character] (ironically) presented it as more palatable. I still think that presentation was unique [without superlatives on a superlative].
to continue he shill, the show also did a really nice ‘cover’ of Dylan’s “Watchtower” (solo piano accompaniment)
.
ok, sorry for OT interruption, return to topic.
birgerjohansson says
blf has a point about taste.
The paint is to mimic foul-tasting souls, so various soul-eaters (including Yaweh) will be repelled.
Grumpy Santa says
Anyone want to wager that he thinks his twist on “The God Delusion” is extremely clever?
Crimson Clupeidae says
dobby@8: I think we can all agree sports fanatics are more primitive. ;-)
emergence says
@40
That’s one of those slimy, weasely, dishonest arguments I absolutely hate. For one thing, it seems to be deliberately set up to be close to unfalsifiable. I can’t just unscrew the top of my skull and show everyone what I’m thinking. I have to convey what I think through my words and actions. Claiming to know that someone believes something in spite of all possible evidence to the contrary isn’t so much an argument as an attempt at psychological warfare. Second, it’s simultaneously bewildering and hilarious that people like Comfort think that their batshit crazy theology is somehow obvious and undeniable. The bible, like all religions, consists of disjointed, outlandish fables with little to no correlation to the real world. I don’t have to be in denial of the existence of the Christian god, Christians have to come up with convoluted rationalizations to maintain their faith.