180: Changing the Heart of a Nation is a 33-minute
schlockumentary (originally meant to be titled "Hitler, Religion
and the Holocaust") anti-abortionist film by Ray Comfort. The
title represents the aim to "reverse" people who hold a
pro-choice stance to become staunch anti-abortionists.
It was released on September 26, 2011, and in less than a
month the documentary passed 1 million views on YouTube. Typical
ploys are used to get people to watch the film, the most obvious is
the suggestion that this is a historical film about Jews and Hitler.
The web page says nothing about abortion, just "A shocking award
winning documentary" which will "Rock Your World".
The
video appears to be dozens of instances of Ray Comfort randomly
interviewing random strangers and convincing them that abortion is
bad.
In the trailers, Comfort argues that this "reverse"
of views can be done in an argument that takes about 33 seconds on
average. The actual argument is not included in the trailers. The
video case and disk do not give a hint that the video is about the
Holocaust or abortion. Rather, it only says "Public advisory:
Graphic content" and the quotes praising it only claim the film
is very moving or inspiring.
Ray planned to release this video
online for all to view for free, as well as distributing 200,000 DVD
copies freely on 100 university campuses across the United States (so
far, their website says just over 5,000 have been given out).
However, as PZ Myers noted, this is more than just another Creation
Intro to Origin of Species stunt, but this
video is a "begging video."
It appears that Ray Comfort is asking for mass donations to help
spread this video first before trying to save the babies. (When
inviting financial backing for the film Ray Comfort promised this
film would change American opinion 180 Degrees and put Americans
against abortion. Presumably a great many donors are deeply
disappointed because this is not happening or will become deeply
disappointed when they realize it is not happening.
[
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111125152537AAei42x]
)
Who is Ray Comfort?
Who is Ray
Comfort? He is a scientifically-illiterate Christian creationist,
best known for his banana argument (winning him the nickname "The
Banana Man"). He is also known for open street preaching and
mass-distributing propaganda material to the public and students and
for criticizing people who do not subscribe to his beliefs and views,
particularly atheists and non-Christians. To learn more
about Ray Comfort, you may also want to check him out on
IronChariots. The DVD of 180, nor the official webpage
180movie.com do not provide any background info on Comfort.
The
website only introduces Ray Comfort as "the author of more than
seventy books and the co-host of the award-winning TV program (with
actor Kirk Cameron)
The Way of the Master." Nothing else
is included, no other credentials of any sort. This is because Ray
does not have any degree or training in the fields of science,
history, or even theology. The website does not explain who Ray is or
what faith he belongs to, it does not say if he is a born-again
Christian or Jewish (for the record, he's Christian, not Jewish).
Rather, it tries to make Ray look impressive by sharing that he has
written over 70 books, however this is giving a rather false
impression. Ray Comfort's books almost virtually repeat the same
exact contents as previous books (same arguments, same style, etc.).
Often, the books usually mirror what is already stated in his WOTM
programs or on his blog.
Award-Winning
Documentary?
Ray Comfort labels 180 an "award-winning
film" both on the DVD cover and on his
website. Unfortunately,
the award that it won, the "Telly Award," is not that
impressive.
What are the Telly Awards? The Telly Awards is an
online video collection that takes place on YouTube. How popular are
the Telly Awards? They have about 500 subscribers on YouTube and
about 750 people following them on Twitter. The Telly Awards have
been around for 30 years, "Honoring commercials, film video
productions, and online content."
There are numerous
categories and subcategories with pages of videos who were all given
an award (there are several pages' worth of winners just for the
videos starting with "A" in the History category). For the
32nd Annual Telly Awards, Ray bought a Telly Award fee for someone to
view it and sign it off.
The Telly Awards come into two
degrees: Silver and Bronze. Ray's 180 video, submitted as "Hitler's
Religion",
won the bronze level.
Movie
walk through
The film is just over half an hour. This article
will provide a walk through of the events that take place in the film
(all in order), but also provide a side criticism of the contents of
the film.
Several times throughout the review, I mention a interview/debtate Ray Comfort had with a scientist called thunderf00t. Thunderf00t is a highly popular YouTube atheist and has made scores of videos promoting science as well as refuting creationism and addressing the flaws in Christianity.
This interview/debate took place two months before the publication of Ray Comfort's 180, but it essentially covered the entire scope of what would be discussed in the 180 film.
There are several key elements in this interview/debate that I will make special note of throughout this critical review of 180.
One of the first important part is pointing out Ray Comfort's sole intent to "pin down" thunderf00t. It seems this was the whole point of Ray Comfort's effort with this interview/debate, which Ray Comfort carried this same intent unto the general public with this anti-abortion film -- to "pin people down", making them feel cornered into accepting Ray Comfort's views towards abortion.
Introduction
The
movie starts off with Ray Comfort, only telling the audience that he
is Jewish, and trying to remind people of the history of the
Holocaust. Ray says that in Germany, it is illegal to make statues of
Hitler and give the Nazi salute. In Austria it is illegal to deny the
Holocaust, or you will be sent to prison. Ray says that in both
countries, they have a mandatory history of the Holocaust classes so
its children can learn from the horrors of the past and thus will not
be doomed to repeat it.
Why does Ray Comfort say he is
Jewish? He repeatably proclaims himself in his books, programs, and
tracts as a genuine born-again Christian. Why the sudden change in
identity? Does Ray hope saying that he is Jewish will give him more
credit on speaking on the Holocaust, or give him more sympathy from
his critics? Were Ray's parents Jewish, and does Ray think Judaism is
a race?
When Ray was asked why he claims to be Jewish, despite constantly calling himself a Christian, Ray says his mother is Jewish and he has Jewish blood.
However, simply having Jewish family does not make you Jewish.
Judaism is not a racial component, it is a religion. As with any
religion, you can join, leave, or replace it with another religion of
your choice (or drop religion altogether). It seems throughout this
video, the only ones who think Judaism is a race is Ray Comfort and
the Nazis.
Who was Hitler?
Ray
then goes around asking over a dozen lay people who Adolf Hitler was,
and none of them have a clue.
Asking lay people who Hitler
was and they don't know the answer does not give your position extra
credence. If that were so, as thunderf00t pointed out in one of his
videos, we can therefore debunk mathematics based on that line of
reasoning.
All this really shows is the desperate need to address and improve the American educational system.
Steve: the neo-Nazi and Holocaust deniers
In
Huntington Beach, Ray encounters a neo-Nazi named Steve who hates
Jews, blacks, and America. Steve believes that Christianity is a
Jewish lie. Ray tricks Steve with the "Spell the word shop. What
do you do at a green light" trick, to say that Steve makes
mistakes and could therefore be mistaken about Christianity. This
does not move Steve at all, and turns the table and says Ray Comfort
is mistaken about Christianity. Steve does not believe Hitler killed
as many people as reported, but regardless he does not think Hitler
was evil at all.
For those who think that all neo-Nazis are
like Steve (very anti-Christian), then meet
“Father” Angelo Idi.
Idi is a Neo-Nazi and a Christian priest. He works in the parish of
St. Francis, in Vigevano. He says he is ”proud” of his “right
wing beliefs” and even in his part of the world as the Austrian
Times expose reveals, Idi is not the only neo-Nazi Christian
priest.
Steve did make one correct statement: Ray Comfort is
mistaken about a lot of things regarding Christianity.
Next,
Ray asks several people who Hitler was, they get it generally right.
Return to Huntington Beach, Ray meets a German man who denies the
Holocaust ever took place and admires Mein
Kampf. He does not believe Adolf
Hitler was evil and believes Jews run America (he also believes
Judaism has done nothing but bring more evil into the world). During
the talk between him and Ray Comfort, he raises his voice at Ray
Comfort, claiming Ray is blind by hatred to see clearly.
It
is a fact the Holocaust did take place in Europe. While Ray does
provide a very poor historical retelling of what actually happened in
regards to Hitler and the Nazi Party, Ray does show piles of dead
bodies in the interment camps during the Holocaust. As for the man's
statement that Ray is blinded by hatred to see properly, that may be
so in regards to the non-religious or those who do not agree with his
worldview (which can include the religious). Ray Comfort makes no
attempt to hide his grudge against atheists, and despite being
corrected countless times by atheists, he still repeats the old lies
and continues to label them. Ray even insults other Christians by
calling them names like idolaters, backsliders, not true Christians,
hypocrites, and such. He constantly tries to make them (and
non-Christians) feel unworthy, guilty and bad people by taking them
through his twisted verbal trickery
"
are you a good person?" tactic.
Would you kill
Hitler? How about his mother?
Ray then
asks several people one of his favorite question: ''It's 1939. You
have a high-powered rifle and Adolf Hitler is in your sights. Do you
take him out?'' They show two people, both answer yes.
Next
question ''It is about 30 years earlier, Hitler's mother is pregnant
with Adolf, would you take her out?'' Only two people are shown, both
answer yes. The second person said he lost his grandmother, aunt, and
father in World War II when Adolf Hitler attacked the Soviet Union.
Therefore, the man says he would kill Adolf's mother, Adolf Hitler,
and all of Adolf's relatives.
It makes sense that people of
the present would put a swift end to Adolf Hitler if they were
somehow teleported back in time to Germany, with their current
knowledge of the events of the Holocaust. However, even if Adolf
Hitler was hypothetically killed in early 1939, it is possible that
anyone else could have taken Hitler's place and started World War II
and Holocaust. Humans are unpredictable and their decisions and
choices can be influenced by the constantly changing of events. This
was brought to Ray's attention by an early debate with thunderf00t,
to which Ray responded with a long whine "You don't know that"
to which thunderf00t responded the converse cannot be known
either. (
see 9:00 - 9:27)
Regarding those who answered yes for the second
question, not once did Ray stop them and say "What!? Wait a
minute, the mother did not do anything evil, she was not the one who
started the Holocaust. Why are you punishing her?"
This
is not a new argument coming from Ray Comfort. His partner Kirk
Cameron already provided this argument in Chapter 10 in his book
Conquer Your Fear, Share Your Faith Leader's Guide in 2009. In
the case if he would kill Hitler, Kirk says he would be hesitant to
pull the trigger. Rather, Kirk says Jeffrey Dahmer was more evil than
Hitler. Kirk argues that if you find it justifiable to kill Hitler,
then you should be fine with killing ALL murderers and rapists before
they commit the crime. And yet, Kirk said he would not hesitate to
kill a man who was going to rape and kill his mother (Kirk even
quotes Scripture (1 Timothy 5:8) to defend his choice to murder said
criminal). In this case, Kirk admits he would stop a murder/criminal
before the crime took place. And yet, Kirk ''hesitates'' to stop a
crime before being committed if it is against 6 million people who
are not members of his family (all the while saying that another man
like Dahmer is more evil).
Overall, what Ray and Kirk strive
for together is to enforce moral absolutes. And yet, Ray Comfort
stated that he would be perfectly justifiable in killing another
person out of self-defense.
Comfort used this exact argument in a
debate with YouTube user thunderf00t (
skip to 12:31 in the video to about 12:39)
Ray admitted two
things;
- killing someone is the same as murder (TF asked if Ray could make a
"distinction" between murder and killing someone, to which Ray answered
"No.")
- killing someone out of
self-defense is not murder (despite that Ray just admitted they are
indistinguishable)
What this all boils down to, Ray Comfort
and Kirk Cameron cannot defend moral absolutes. They cannot maintain
the claim that the "Law of God" (Ten Commandments) is
absolute and yet they willingly break it constantly (through the case
of lying, work on the Sabbath, etc.). If they both agree that "thou
shall not kill" is absolute, and yet they are perfectly fine
with killing another person if said person would harm someone in
their family (or someone close to them). They agree they would kill
the criminal before the crime would take place, but they label such a
thing as "moral relativism." See the contradiction? They
defend "moral absolutes" and yet would break it given the
circumstances - which in conclusion shows that Ray and Kirk are
"moral relativists" too.
Additionally, there is a
certain irony here given, that many anti-abortion activists have no
problem using the Great Beethoven Fallacy to argue cases at the
''other'' end of the spectrum.
Finally, in the debate between Ray Comfort and Thunderf00t (
see 14:20 - 14:53), TF asked Ray (in the sense of shooting Adolf's mother while she was pregnant with Adolf) if he [Ray] would abort one baby in order to save millions of lives. Ray Comfort immediately answered "that is a ridiculous question" and later on followed by
"I would never justify abortion" and then is very quick to run away to a different subject. So here is what we get from this;
- Ray Comfort already knows the question "would you kill Adolf's mother
when she was pregnant with Adolf to save millions" is ridiculous, AND
YET he uses that argument regardless to pressure people to adopt his
views. Despicable.
- Based on that statement, not even Ray Comfort would kill Hitler before
he was born. What is really telling in the debate, Ray Comfort presses
Thunderf00t over and over that TF could save millions and millions of
people with "just one little move with your finger" and kill Adolf's
mother with a sniper rifle. Ray Comfort made his intentions clear
numerous times during the debate that he wanted to corner and pin TF
down to make atheists look bad. Instead, what Ray reveals is that he
would allow Adolf to be born and eventually start a Third Reich.
Hitler, the
anti-Christian
Next the film shows
several pictures of piles of dead people from the Holocaust (with the
genitals blurred out).
Ray then comes in and says "Adolf
Hitler hated Christianity, he called it a disease and one point said
'the heaviest blow which ever stuck humanity was Christianity' and
adding 'it was the invention of the Jew' (Sources not provided). He
killed and imprisoned genuine pastors and replaced them with his own
Nazi pastors. He also replaced the Cross with the swastika. Printed
over a hundred thousand copies of his own twisted Bible. He rewrote
the Ten Commandments and then created his own Aryan anti-Sematic non-Jewish Jesus. But most
importantly, all this sprung from the fact that Hitler had created
his own image of God, or as what the Bible calls an idolater. He had
another God before the God of the Bible. Like Judas Iscariot, he
professed to be a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, but his motive was
for his own evil agenda. And that agenda was very clear, he said 'he
alone who owns the youth gains the future.' Adolf Hitler deceived the
youth of Germany, he deceived many within the traditional church, but
most of all he deceived the millions of Germans who believed his lie
of the supremacy of the German race."
(Quoting
Hitler; "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but not human. They
cannot be human in the sense of being made in the image of God..."
-Adolf Hitler, May 1923 speech, Munich).)
Next, Ray shares a
short story of a man you was at the scene where the Nazis killed
16,000 Jews on April 6, 1942 Jews, thrown them into a trench to be
buried (with some of them still alive). The story is from Michael
Berenbaum from The World Must Know
Adolf Hitler hated Christianity? That is a bold
statement, so what sources does Ray provide to support his
statements? Ray’s source (although he doesn’t cite any) is the
Trevor-Roper translation of the Table-talks, which just so happens to
be full of mistranslations (Source: "
From the isolated comparisons I made, Trevor-Roper's English appears to be an almost verbatim translation of Genoud's French";
and Genoud himself cannot be relied on as a
neutral author.) and this piece is no exception.
Jim Walker on NoBeliefs.com
has a detailed article revealing why it is not a credible historical
document. The translations are wrong, the biases of certain
translators, unreliable sources, the reflections on the thoughts that
do not occur in Hitler's other private or public conversations, and
finally nowhere does Hitler denounce Jesus or Christianity.
Hitler
was a Christian creationist his whole life. When FDR accused Hitler
of not being a Christian, Hitler said this: “What repulsive
hypocrisy that arrant Freemason, Roosevelt, displays when he speaks
of Christianity! All the Churches should rise up against him—for he
acts on principles diametrically opposed to those of the religion of
which he boasts.”
Incidentally Ray Comfort referred to
Hitler as an "idolater" but idolater means something
different from atheist. At least here Comfort does not claim that
Hitler was an atheist, in fact Ray pointed out that Hitler believed
in the "image of God" which is a belief that can only be
held by a Christian. In response to distance himself from Hitler, Ray
argues in this film that Hitler was an enemy of Christianity. Ray
made the following claim in the film: ''[Hitler] killed and
imprisoned genuine pastors and replaced them with his own Nazi
pastors. He also replaced the Cross with swastika. Printed over a
thousand copies of his own twisted Bible. He rewrote the Ten
Commandments''.
Hitler also imprisoned genuine scientists,
dissidents, intellectuals who disagreed and criticized Hitler. There
is a difference in being Anti-clerical and being
Anti-christian
Hitler did NOT replace the cross, that is an
outright lie. Ray's source for this false claim does no come from
Nazi policy, rather it comes from Rosenberg.(Source: quoted in
William Shirer, "The rise and fall of the third reich",
p213) Hitler rejected all plans to remove the cross.
Hitler put the cross of many merits, awards, and badges in the Army.
The Nazi Party buried their dead and planted crosses for tombstones.
There is also the Leo Schlageter memorial, a huge memorial glorifying
the Christian cross in memory of the Nazi Leo Schlageter, a martyr
for the German cause.
See NoBeliefs archive for loads of photograph examples. One last note,
this flag is the very symbol of the Nazi "Deutsche Christen" movement, which is a
red flag with a Christian Cross and a swastika on it.
As for
Hitler making his own copies of his twisted Bible, Ray also does the
same with his book:
Evidence Bible: Irrefutable Evidence for the
Thinking Mind. It is a very unscientific book that includes
passages aiming too provoke the readers to be against various views.
Ray does similar things by making tracks about the Book of John and
such; crafting the Bible in a way that fits Ray's worldview and then
mass distributing them.
Ray did not give a single example,
reference, or a clue when or where did he ever rewrote the Ten
Commandments to make the rest of Germany accept. Here is what Hitler
DID say about the Ten Commandments: “The Ten Commandments are a
code of living to which there’s no refutation. These precepts
correspond to irrefragable needs of the human soul; they’re
inspired by the best religious spirit, and the Churches here support
themselves on a solid foundation.” Even if Ray's statement were
true, Ray himself constantly gets the Ten Commandments wrong. The
only time in the Old Testament where the Commandments are called the
"Ten Commandments" is in Exodus 34 (which Bible scholars
agree were the first list of Commandments), but they do not mention
anything about murder, abortion, genocide, racism, etc.
As
for comparing Hitler to Judas Iscariot, basically Ray is comparing
Hitler to a fictional character that some Christian sects view as a
hero. If Judas did not betray Jesus, there would be no Crucifixion.
Not to mention, if God is all-knowing, then Judas did no wrong and
was a part of the plan the whole time.
Ray's sources for
Hitlers quotes are not provided, but after much research Ray seems to
have collected false quotes of Hitler from "Hitler's Table Talk"
which has been discredited as a untrustworthy document. Responding to
the quote "He who owns the youth gains the future" and
branding Hitler as anti-religious, here is a quote from Hitler
himself: “Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a
school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction
without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all
character training and religion must be derived from faith.”--
Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933.
Here is what Ray Comfort omits
from the Hitler quote on Judaism being a race
(with the omits in bold): "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but not human.
They cannot be human in the sense of being made in the image of God,
the Eternal. The Jews are the image of the devil. Jewry means the
racial tuberculosis of the nations.” – Hitler, quoted in
Joachim C. Fest, “Hitler”, pg 212."
Would you obey
the Nazis?
Ray then ask his other
favorite question: ''Its 1937, and you have a German officer with a
machine pointed at you, and he orders you to get into the bulldozer
and bury a bunch of Jews in a pit (some are still alive). You know
that if you say no, the German officer will shoot you and some else
will do the burial. Would you do what he says?'' Ray asks several
people, some say they don't know, some say no, and some say yes.
To
the people who said yes, Ray asks them ''If the German officer gave
you his gun (with many other Nazi soldiers pointing their guns at
you) and the German officer does not want you to bury the Jews, but
rather shoot them all down. Would you do it?'' Some say no, they
could not do that - to which Ray points out that shooting them is
more merciful, but they are willing to bury them alive?
Basically,
what Ray is attempting to accomplish here is to make these certain
interviewees look hypocritical. It is difficult to state what a
person would do in a given situation until they are actually
experiencing it, as will be demonstrated in the section
below.
Abortion and human life
Based
on all this, Ray asks the people if they value human life? Right
after they say yes, Ray asks them how they feel about abortion? Some
say they are pro-choice, its a tricky subject, even one person who
said she was pro-life but understood that opinions and views change
until you are in the situation.
Even Ray Comfort agrees
with the pro-life girl that peoples opinions change. Often, Ray uses
an argument of giving a person a choice of either two gifts: a
handful of diamonds or a glass of water. Ray's argument goes like
this: "
If I were to offer you a fist full of diamonds or a
glass of cool clean water, which would you choose? The diamonds
obviously, because no one in their right mind wouldn't. But if you
found yourself crawling through a desert, your lips are blistered,
your tongue is swollen, and you are dying of thirst. And if I was to
offer you a glass of cool clean water or a fistful of diamonds, you
would despise the diamonds and say give me the water or I would die.
that is what is called circumstantial priorities. Your priorities
will change according to the
circumstances." (Source:
"The Greatest Gamble" by Ray Comfort)
This can very well be the case regarding abortion: it really depends
on the circumstances. Certain things, like wanting diamonds or having
abortions, are not always settled in absolute terms.
Ray
then addresses the "is it a human?" question. Ray shows a
picture of a baby in the womb 6 weeks and 6 days old - showing the
babies eyes, hands and heartbeat. Ray then asks people if they think
it is a baby in the womb? When they say yes, Ray asks them to finish
the sentence "its okay to kill a baby in the women when..."
When Ray asks a lady if it is a child, she said not until 3 months.
Ray responded that Hitler said the Jews were not human and saying
life begins at 3 months is "very subjective." When
interviewing the pro-life girl on the issue of when does life start,
Ray puts himself in a scenario "I'm a construction worker and I
am going to blow that building up. I don't know if there is life in
there, but I am going to blow it up anyway. What would you say to
me?"
Why only show a fetus at 6 weeks and 6 days old?
Does Ray consider this is the point where the fetus is alive and
human? In the picture, it shows the fetus has a heart, lungs, and
such. Are these the pre-requirements to be considered alive? Ray does
a very poor job of answering the "is it human" question and
leaves us in the dark on the topic. Does Ray consider it a human
anytime before 6 weeks?
Regarding Ray's argument "it is
okay to kill a baby" is self-refuting (pointed out on YouTube by
Paul Chartley). The proper response to his question, ''It is okay to
kill a baby in the womb when...?'', is ''When it's
Hitler.''(Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3DP90hfZkc "Ray
Comfort's 180 Movie - Reviewed")
In the movie, Ray
says it is never "justifiable" to kill a child in the womb.
But how about this? Is it justifiable when God wills it. Likely, this
may be followed up by the objection God would never do such a thing.
But they forget God demanded numerous abortions to take place as said
in Hosea; God killed countless pregnant mothers during the Flood; God
ordered Jephthah to kill his own daughter; and Jesus encouraged men
to become eunuchs (which is just as effective as abortion since it
prevents creation of life).
After Ray
takes people through the killing Jews and burying them question, and
when they say they would refuse to cooperate, Ray then tells them and
yet they won't speak up against abortion. Ray brings up the
Commandment "Thou Shall Not Kill" and Hitler declared Jews
as non-humans. Thus, Hitler was able to kill people legally. Ray
brings up the quote “The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but not
human. They cannot be human in the sense of being made in the image
of God…” – citing a “May 1923 speech in Munich”, as well as
arguing that saying life begins at three months is "subjective."
Ray says Christians should be very "dogmatic against
abortion."
Again, here is what Ray Comfort omits from
the Hitler quote (
with the omits in bold): "The Jews are
undoubtedly a race, but not human. They cannot be human in the sense
of being made in the image of God,
the Eternal. The Jews are the
image of the devil. Jewry means the racial tuberculosis of the
nations.” – Hitler, quoted in Joachim C. Fest, “Hitler”,
pg 212."
Holocaust taking place in America
Ray
says that a Holocaust is being committed in America that is
sanctioned by the government. Women with the freedom of choice are
killing babies and doing it so legally, similar to how Hitler was
given the freedom of choice and in so doing he killed Jews legally.
Ray says adoption is a "wonderful option." After Ray asks
several people if their stances on abortion changed, when they say
yes, he then asks are they going to vote accordingly? They say
yes.
Comparing abortion and Hitler legally killing Jews
fails because Ray has not established specifically at what point the
fetus is considered human. If Ray is against people having certain
freedom of choices that is life-threatening, America might as well
outlaw cars since car accidents as killed more people in America than
all the wars America has been involved in.
After
interviewing people, asking them if they could think of a situation
when killing an unborn baby is justified, some could not think of
one. Ray said that the womb is the safest place in the world for a
child. One man reasoned that perhaps if it the pregnancy was due to
rape and the mother did not want to keep it. Ray responds "Why
would you kill the baby for the crime of the father?"
Following that, the video displays the following: Unborn
babies killed in the American Holocaust in the first 37 years after
Roe v. Wade
is 53,310,843. (Based on numbers reported by the Guttmacher
Institute, 1973 - 2008, with estimates of 1,212,400 for 2009 -
2010.)
How is the womb the safest place for a child? Based
on this whole film, it seems the only time when it is "okay"
to kill a baby is when it is Adolf Hitler. Also, note when Ray said
"Why would you kill the baby for the crimes of the father."
This coming from Ray Comfort is self-refuting. God punishes children
for the crimes of the father, which is even clear in the Bible.
- Ray,
as a Christian, firmly believes Adam was a real man who sinned
against God, and thus all his decedents (Ray believes that includes
all of humanity) should therefore be punished for the crimes of Adam.
In God's eyes, Adams children, to this day, are guilty before they
are even born and thus deserve eternal torment and punishment.
- When
David committed adultery with Bathsheba, they had a child. David was
the one who committed a crime, but God punished the child for the
crime of David (and God did not kill the child mercifully, God made
the child lie in pain for a week until it died, all the while
ignoring David's pleas and prayers - see 2 Samuel
12:14-18).
- God killed all the first-born of Egypt
simply because one man, the Pharaoh, kept saying "no" to
Moses (which God hardened the Pharaohs heart multiple
times - see Exodus 4:21, 7:3, 7:13, 9:12, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27,
11:10, 14:4, 14:8, and 14:17).
- Ray having stated
that no child should be killed for the sins of the father, and yet
the perfectly-god God orders the killing of children for their
father's sins, the killing of the Amalekite infants, the killing of
children without pity, and at least three books in the Bible have
Yahweh committing perhaps the most vilest atrocities we can think of; making parents eat their own
children. (read more about that here)
What
is not included in the statistics provided by Ray Comfort was the
number of annual miscarriages. Miscarriages outnumber abortions on a
ratio of 3:1, and since Ray believes God has a perfect plan, then by
such logic God allows and plans the premature deaths of children -
making God the ultimate abortionist.
More on Hitler
The
movie shows a quote by Hitler, "history will recognize our
movement as a great battle for humanity's liberation, a liberation
from the curse of Mt. Sinai...[God is] a tyrant who orders one to do
the very things one doesn't like." Source taken from ''The Ten
Commandments: Ten Short Novels of Hitler's War Against the Moral
Code'' by Armin L. Robinson (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943),
xiii.
Ray says "Adolf Hitler hated the Ten Commandments
and wanted to free people from them. He called the Ten Commandments
the 'curse of Mt. Sinai' and said the God of the Bible is a 'tyrant'
who order people to do the things we don't want to to. Clearly,
Hitler did not like the thought of ''You Shall Not Kill'' because it
did not fit into his hate-filled worldview. (Scene shows Steve)
Although he is an extreme example, it is common practice to have a
low moral standard when we free ourselves from the Ten Commandments
or when we are unaware of their true meaning. (Playing soft piano
music) It's encouraging to realize that people are willing to change
their minds about abortion. When people see things from a different
perspective, they are able to think clearly and make honest and
intelligent choices. As I spoke to people about abortion, our
conversation often lead to the issue of morals. Where morals came
from, and ultimately, the issue of the afterlife." When it goes
back to Steve, it reveals Steve does not believe in an afterlife and
thinks there probably is no God.
The quote by Hitler
regarding the "curse" of Mt. Sinai does not seem to appear
anywhere in the major histories of Nazi Germany. How can that be?
Note Ray's provided source for this quote!!! It says
"The Ten Commandments: Ten Short
NOVELS of Hitler's War
Against the Moral Code." Ray is so desperate to make his
argument that he is quoting fiction and trying to pass it on as
fact.
Ray does not provide a single piece of proof that Hitler
hated the Ten Commandments. Ray constantly interprets the
Commandments to fit his worldview, such as declaring ''Thou shall not
bear false witness against thy neighbor'' as prohibiting all lying
when in fact it only prohibits misrepresentation in court, not lying
in general. Ray constantly lies all the time regarding the theory of
evolution and science (and apparently through this film). Ray also
purposely ignores some of the Commandments all together, such as no
work on the Sabbath and do not covet.
Evangelism and
conclusion
Scene switches to Ray asking
people if they think there is an afterlife? Some people say yes or
no, but right afterwards Ray takes them down the
are you a good person? tactic. Ray tells some of them why they deny
God, because when Ray finds them guilty he states that they don't
want to be held morally accountable so they deny God's existence.
Afterward Ray sells the snake oil. He says to the guilty they can be
saved if they accept Jesus. Ray then plays his favorite
Parachute argument.
Really, this has piece has nothing to
do on the topic of history or abortion. It is the piece Ray was
aiming for the whole time: evangelism. Once Ray tricks people into
feeling morally unbalanced, he swoops in and says that God does not
find them good at all by Ray's standards of the Ten Commandments.
People do not accept God to avoid punishment any more than they don't
accept Allah to avoid Hell.
The movie
ends with Ray and a speech "Shortly after the war ended, the
American military made those living near the concentration camps go
through them. They wanted them to see first-hand what caused the
smoke to billow through the chimneys of those camps and witness what
they had allowed in the power to do. Notice their light-hearten in
demeanor as they enter the camp, obviously unaware of the horror
taken place in their own backyard. And look on the change of their
faces as they had realized what had actually taken place. No doubt
there is an abortion clinic near you. Perhaps you should pay them a
visit to see actually takes place behind their walls so you can
witness firsthand what is happening in your own backyard. (Scene
shows the various prices of an abortion clinic ($765 - $2,165), then
switch back to the picture of a 6 week old baby in the womb). Over 50
million babies have been murdered in America's Holocaust, sanctioned
by political leaders who have been put into power by the American
people. Please, never ever give your vote to any politician who
advocates the murder of a child in the womb."
Ray then
tells the viewer to go to www.heartchanger.com for details and to
help spread the video around. The video ends stating this was all
based on Ray Comfort's new book ''"Hitler, God & the
Bible"'' along with a message: "We strongly condemn the use
of violence in connection with protesting abortion. Please consider
purchasing this video in bulk and giving it to others."
In
conclusion, the film ''180'' reveals it is a propaganda film, poorly
constructed and historically flawed.
Abortion is a hot topic,
but there is no American Holocaust taking place. The U.S. government
is not ''mandating'' that women have abortions, as the Third Reich
''ordered'' the extermination of Jews and other classes of people.
Abortion is not only sanctioned by political people. Church leaders
also enforce a pro-life stance. Abortion takes place in the Bible, in
which God either takes part in or commands mortals to participate.
Christians like Ray Comfort view the bible as the perfect moral
guidebook, but it abortion is justified in it, who are they to say
that abortion is a depraved act right now? Another problem is that
even if one considers abortion to be murder, it does not
automatically make women who have abortions murderers.
A final
problem is that comparing legalized abortion to the Holocaust implies
that the U.S. government deserves the same fate as Nazi Germany -
namely, to be overthrown by force. And that's a logical conclusion
few if any anti-abortion activists are going to make. Ray makes it
very clear on his website that he believes the motive for
"pro-choice" is not for protecting women's rights, but
rather they are protecting their profits.
Further
Commentary on the Film
Ray Comfort's film is laced with poor
historical work. Ray brings Godwin's Law into the debate, and trying
to connect the imaginary dots that the Holocaust and abortions are
the same thing. Indeed Hitler ordered forced abortions, however in
1936, Heinrich Himmler created a Reich Central Office just for the
purpose “for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion.” By
this sheer fact alone, Ray's entire argument that the philosophy
shared by Hitler and Nazi Germany is the same philosophy held by
defenders of abortion is thus simply incorrect.
People
familiar with Ray and his methods, know that he is cunning and very
manipulative. Ray Comfort is well prepared in answering raised
concerns like being raped and pregnant as a result of that (“why
should the child be punished for the crime of the father?”) or the
possibility of a child born with disabilities. The interviewees are
not prepared and are not really thinking that fast on their feet.
Combined that with the key points Ray brought up about WWII and the
Holocaust against pro-choice arguments and also combined with these
people faced with someone who appears to be a higher intellectual (in
this case, Ray gives off that appearance because he has many
rehearsed responses and objections) gives a sense of intimidation -
all this contributes to human psychology to bring these people
interviewed around to agree with Ray Comfort. Ray claims that the
people he interviewed for this video are "college students"
and therefore "they are not stupid." While they may not be
stupid, it rather shows a lack of intellectual awareness especially
for someone who lives in the 21st century and never heard of Adolf
Hitler.
While these college students may not be "stupid,"
Ray is not looking for valid answers. If he was, he would have
interviewed doctors, scientists or maybe even philosophers. The
difficult question about not allowing life to form brings up another
huge problem – and unfortunately Comfort doesn’t share his point
of view on that subject – what about birth control? What about
those billions, trillions, quadrillions of lives that didn’t have a
chance to dip into existence? As mentioned before, it is propaganda
and not documentary to deny the audience counter opinions and
especially expert opinions.
The separate question of how many
people did Ray interview before convincing eight people to agree with
his message? On Ray's blog, he answered the question "Count
them. They are on the video." However, this did not answer the
question. About 2 weeks later, when the question was repeated, Ray
answered, "
Oh, boy, I couldn’t try to put it out.50-60%?"
So, from Ray, we have about eight people who agree with his message
(one of which was already pro-life) while another eight or so did not
agree. This video promised to "reverse" people's views of
abortion, but it turns out it is not very effective.
Ray
states that the film is effective, and there are two things a person
can do to battle abortion: 1) Watch 180 and pass it on (either by
buying DVDs or sharing it on the Internet) and 2) pass on the
principles shared in this video. Unfortunately, there are big
problems with these two steps. There are several legitimate
objections to Ray's flimsy logic and arguments, none of which are
addressed in this one-sided poor-historical video.
Ectopic
pregnancies
Not once did anyone (not even the lay people)
bring up the issue of ectopic pregnancies, which is a complication of
pregnancy in which the embryo implants outside the uterine cavity.
Usually, a fertilized egg travels down the fallopian tube, heading
for the uterus. In about one in 50 pregnancies, the tube is damaged
or blocked enough that the egg can't progress, leading it to implant
elsewhere. Usually implantation happens in the tube itself. This
leads to ectopic pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancies are critically
dangerous to the mother, and just one of the many conditions that can
lead to the danger of the death of the mother.
Ectopic pregnancies
cannot be saved. For the mother's safety, it must be ended. If not
caught or treated, the ectopic pregnancy will progress with the
embryo growing until the tube ruptures. Severe abdominal pain and
bleeding will result and can cause permanent damage to the tube,
which may be lost. If not treated, the mother will die. Is Ray
Comfort seriously saying that in certain circumstances such as this,
nothing should be done and we should let both the child and mother
die?
Ray finally gave a response independent of the 180 film.
On the Way of the Master radio, Ray Comfort agreed with co-host Mark
Spence that the best option for ectopic pregnancies was to get three
different professional opinions, and even when they all agree it is
an ectopic pregnancy,
they say to wait it out. Spence says
this happen to his wife, and even after 3 doctors told him it was an
ectopic pregnancy, he made the decision himself to wait (his wife
obeyed him), and later the doctor came back and said that the x-rays
misread the situation, and the pregnancy took place and they had
their child. Basically, risk your wife's life to the very end to when
it may be too late to save her. If she dies, it was not the husband's
fault, God willed it to be so. In a separate show, they asked the
question "
why does God kill babies in the form of
miscarriages?"
They answered,
God kills babies because he does whatever he wants.
Seriously, that was their answer: God does whatever he wants. They
basically use the old cop-out 'God is mysterious' and 'God's reason
is infinitely greater than ours.'
Does the Bible agree?
No
The Bible was completely left out of this movie. Ray
Comfort only focused on making people feel like hypocrites, but
excludes the Bible from the reasoning. Ray only brings up one
Commandment, but how about the Bible as a whole? Ray does not explain
why the 6th Commandment is objectively right, rather he argues from
reason that excludes Scripture. While the Commandment says not to
kill, the word kill implies when a life is taken, and for life to be
taken there has to be life present. What has not been established in
the movie is when the fetus is considered "alive" in the
womb. Ray only shows a picture of a fetus as 6 weeks old, but nothing
before that. Ray did not establish in this movie at what point does
life begin. If Ray thinks that just the first one or two developing
cells of the fetus are "alive" then by that logic every
time Ray scratches his nose he commits a Holocaust of killing cells.
We know that for a person to be alive they need a brain, but a fetus
does not start off with a brain at all. While it may live off its
mother, but so does a woman's kidneys. They are both brainless and
thus not completely alive, and no one gets upset when a person
chooses to donate a kidney.
Chapter 5 in the book of Numbers
tries to tell how to test whether your wife has been unfaithful; you
drag her to the priest, who mixes up a potion that is essentially
filth and water enchanted by pyrotechnic display and a prayer for
gods assistance. If her belly bloats and her womb discharges, meaning
that she miscarries, then she is guilt of infidelity. If not, she was
faithful all along, but still does not get an apology for her
domineering addictive husband. The point is here, that God's law in
Numbers 5 endorses supernatural miscarriages/abortions onto
unfaithful pregnancies - the reason for this was to keep the Jewish
tribes pure. It is also important to note here that Hebrew tradition,
according to the Talmud, the fetus is only water for the first 45
days, after that and until birth, it is regarded as one of its
mother's thighs. According to Genesis 30, thigh also refers to the
groin area.
Furthermore, numerous examples exist in the Bible
when and where God specifically commands forced abortions (Numbers
31:15-17, Hosea 9:14, Hosea 9:16). According to the Book of Genesis,
God killed countless women, children and unborn babies ''of every
species''. That aside, there are multitudes of examples specifically
written in Scripture that shows that God commanded abortions to take
place; commanding a pregnant woman to be burned alive (Genesis
38:24); causes abortions to punish unfaithful wives (Numbers 5:21,
27-28); forcing the Israelites to kill the unborn babies of their
enemies,
"Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath
rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants
shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped
up." -- Hosea 13:16
Not to mention, the Bible even
says happiness can be achieved by killing children: "Happy shall
he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones"
(Psalm 137:9). But what about Jesus? In Matthew 19:12, showing his
pro-life sensibilities, Jesus encourages castration: “There be
eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”
Modern believers are eager to interpret this verse figuratively. The
New International Version loosely (and hopefully) translates “Made
eunuch” as “renounced marriage.” But the literal meaning is
“castrate” and many devout Christian men in history have done it
themselves, including the early church father Origen and entire
monastic orders. Jesus gives no indication that he is speaking in a
parable, or that his words mean anything order than what he said. He
that is able to receive it, let him receive it. This is no moral
percept—this is sick. Castration keeps babies from being born just
as effectively as abortion, so why aren’t pro-lifers picketing
churches that follow Jesus? After all, Jesus never one mentioned
abortion, pro or con. He never gave advice to women about how to deal
with an unwanted pregnancy. So, modern Christians who do hive such
advice are acting very un-Christlike.
Finally, one can argue
that God is not pro-life. As already stated in the
Ectopic Pregnancies section above: God
does whatever he wants, which includes causing a child to die in the
form of miscarriages. Miscarriages are otherwise known as
"
spontaneous abortions."
According to many theologians, including Rick Warren, God has a
created each of us and has a ultimate plan for us. The Bible says
"You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life
before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your Book!"
(Psalm 139:16). This means that God already knew and planned exactly
how long we would exist. If this is the case, God is therefore
responsible for the development of all fetuses and pre-determines all
miscarriages as well as abortions (all according to His plan). Since
this is the case, it can be shown God is not pro-life at all. Every
year, miscarriages outnumber abortions on a ratio of 3:1, and since
Ray believes God has a perfect plan, then by such logic God allows
and plans the premature deaths of children - making God the ultimate
abortionist.
Appeal to Emotion, Not Reason
Ray
focuses on making his argument based on the "feelings" of
people, but when people speak their "feelings" about God
and what he his, what he wants/thinks and who God forgives, Ray
immediately says "Your feelings don't matter. God's word is his
word. You are an idolater." When Ray asked if the person being
interviewed if they would shoot Hitler's mother while she was
pregnant with Adolf, and when they say yes he does not stop to say
"HOLD ON! Are you saying you would kill an innocent woman?
Hitler killed all those people, not his mother." Is Ray saying
killing pregnant German women alright? This is why Ray's argument
fails, he is using people situational ethic on Hitler and the Nazis,
but not the same for abortion. This demonstrates a sever
inconsistency on Ray's part. Plus, if a person walks away and has a
different view of abortion based on their feelings, then their
feelings can easily change 180 degrees back when they finally find
themselves in a bad situation and they choose abortion.
American
Holocaust? Apparently not
As already mentioned in the above
review, it is an important point that bears repeating. Ray Comfort,
using flimsy logic, links the Holocaust to the American legalization
of abortion. The U.S. government is not ''mandating'' that women have
abortions, as the Third Reich ''ordered'' the extermination of Jews
and other classes of people. The systematic slaughter of an entire
race of people connected by characteristics, community and culture is
actually 180 degrees the opposite of randomly unconnected women
choosing to exercise their legal right to terminate a pregnancy that
they neither want nor can emotionally or financially support. Trying
to compare the two insults both victims of the Holocaust AND women,
because it assumes that the value of their already established lives
and self determination is the same as that of a ball of cells.
A
final problem is that comparing legalized abortion to the Holocaust
implies that the U.S. government deserves the same fate as Nazi
Germany - namely, to be overthrown by force. And that's a logical
conclusion few if any anti-abortion activists are going to make.
Prompted and/or Paid Interviewees
A YouTube user
paulchartley, otherwise known as "Phantom Video Productions",
examined the movie closely to reveal that Alicia (the girl with the
blonde braided hair who was featured quite often throughout the film)
was prompted by pre-written cards, held by one of Ray's crew
members.(Source:
Ray Comfort's 180 Movie -Reviewed and
The 180 Movie - Revisited) Enhanced footage of a segment of the
movie clearly shows a white cue card in the reflection on Alicia's
glasses. Additional evidence for this is the change in her behavior,
voice tone and body language. Although paulchartley never said
explicitly that Ray was using paid actors, it was a common inference
among his viewers. If true, this is not a surprise, as Ray is well
known for cherry-picking his interviewees and dishonest
editing.(A good example would be his Way of the Master
episode on Evolution, in which the only time he interviews someone with a
degree in biology, he only shows about
5-10 seconds of the interview and no more.)
The
videos from paulchartley eventually prompted Ray Comfort to respond:
"It may look like a cue-card to some, but it's not. If these
people are paid actors, each of them deserves an Oscar" (well
that's not a very satisfying answer, especially for someone who is
known to lie and present this film as some special "award
winning" video.) Ray made a response on his blog in which he
confused paulchartley with Thunderf00t,
and posted the full interview with Alicia on YouTube. In this
footage, shot from another angle, the camera in the key moment is
zoomed on Alicia's mouth and her glasses are not visible.
Many
Christians came to Ray's defense by claiming it did not matter if the
people interviewed were paid and/or prompted or not, the point was
the message of the film. Unfortunately, this message is flawed and
lacks historical, factual and logical support.
180
Course
Along with the DVD, Ray Comfort included a set pack
available for sell. The pack includes the following;
- 100 "180"
Gospel Tracts that repeats the bulldozer" scenario from the film
and the old
"are you a good person?" tactic.
- A copy of the book ''Why
Prolife?'' by Randy Alcorn. (Alcorn is the director of Eternal
Perspective Ministries. In November 2009, Alcorn signed an ecumenical
statement known as the "Manhattan Declaration" calling on
Evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox not to comply with rules and
laws permitting abortion. On the issue of marriage, the declaration
objects not only to same-sex marriage but also to the general erosion
of the "marriage culture" with the spectre of divorce,
greater acceptance of infidelity and the uncoupling of marriage from
childbearing.)
- And a 180 Course Study Guide
180 Course
Study Guide
Along with the DVD, Ray constructed a 64-page
Study Guide. Ray posted the
first 18pages of the Study Guide, mainly reveling the Questions section with
the Answer Key left out.
In the second section "Propaganda:
Paving the Way" the second question in the Study Guide says that
Hitler held the evolutionary view that "some races were less
advance and less worthy." The question asks "How does the
evolutionary view contrast with God's view of human life?" But
before providing an answer, lets get this straight:
Hitler did not accept evolution as true at all,
he was a Christian creationist (just like Ray Comfort).
Darwin
was against every aspect of slavery and was the most egalitarian of
his time. He praised those of different cultures and criticized the
bigotry of his peers. He wrote against the favoritism of the
Caucasian invaders and opposed the genocide of the Indigenous people,
and despite Ray's accusations and delusions, not one aspect of
Darwin's philosophy is parallel to Hitlers. Hitler based his views on
"divine right" philosophy: "Thus, it [the folkish
philosophy] by no means believes in an equality of races, but along
with their difference it recognizes their higher or lesser value and
feels itself obligated, through this knowledge, to promote the
victory of the better and stronger, and demand the subordination of
the inferior and weaker in accordance with the eternal will that
dominates this universe." (Hitler 1943, 383) In fact, the only
time that Hitler ever mentioned Darwin was to totally bash Darwin,
and every time Hitler used the term "evolution" was sense
of change, but he did not belief that evolution actually took place
with the arrival of new species;
"The fox remains always
a fox, the goose remains a goose, and the tiger will retain the
character of a tiger. The only difference that can exist within the
species must be in the various degrees of structural strength and
active power, in the intelligence, efficiency, endurance, etc., with which the individual specimens are endowed." (Source:
Mein
Kampf, vol. 1, chapter XI.)
The Nazi Party in
general rejected Darwin and his theory and supported Christianity. In
1935, ''Die Bücherei'', the official Nazi journal for lending
libraries, published a list of guidelines of works to reject,
including: "Writings of a philosophical and social nature whose
content deals with the false scientific enlightenment of primitive
Darwinism and Monism (Häckel)." (Source:
Die Bücherei 2:6
(1935) pg. 279. Quoted from University of Arizona Library, "Lists
of Banned Books, 1932-1939", transl. Roland Richter,
http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/burnedbooks/documents.htm)
Heart
Changer website
Likewise with the main website 180, Ray's
backup website Heart Changer does not include any background info on
Ray Comfort. Rather, the website only provides two audio tracts, a
recommendation for the reader to check out Ray's book the Evidence
Bible, and finally six links to different YouTube videos.
The first is a clip of Ray and Kirk in Hollywood.
Basically,
just Kirk and Ray pulling their old verbal trickery "
are you a good person?" tactic. The link just provided is a
thorough walk through and critical analysis of this argument provided
by Iron Chariots, please click on it to read for yourself and see why
this line of reasoning is flawed and ultimately false.}}
The second link is a clip from the WOTM episode
Evolution. The bulk of the video is Kirk misrepresenting the Big Bang
Theory and falsely connecting it to the theory of evolution. Then Ray
says that scientists speak in what he calls the "language of
speculation" - that is, using words like: probably, possibly,
maybe, and so on rather than speaking in absolute terms. Ray
concludes, based on this, that they do not know what they are talking
about. Ray does not interview any scientist, rather he interviews
random lay people who are not trained in the field - there is one
exception (not shown) with Ray interviewing a biologist but the
interview only lasts for less than 10 seconds with Ray not allowing
the biologist to finish what he wanted to say and the interview is
cut off. The biologist did not use any of the words from the
"language of speculation."
The link provided includes a
thorough critical analysis of the program provided by Iron Chariots.
The reason for why scientists use terms like this is because science
must remain falsifiable. As new data constantly comes in, theories
and facts may change, improved or disproven. So scientists speak with
caution and try at their best degree to be as accurate as possible.
Simply using terms like: probably, possibly, maybe, etc. are not
signs of "I-just-do-not-have-a-clue" but rather it shows
intellectual humbleness. If you do not know something, you cannot
demonstrate it, and thus you should not say that you do now it.
The third is a 5-minute clip of Ray interviewing a man named
Ron in Huntington Beach
Ron believes in Heaven, but does not
believe there is a literal Hell, rather he believes life on Earth
with all its suffering, violence and miserable pain is Hell. Ray
pulls his verbal trickery
"
are you a good person?" tactic on Ron, but it seems to have
little effect.
The fourth video is Ray and Kirk promoting their book the Evidence
Bible, meant to provide Christians with answers to various questions
and objections. The Evidence Bible is a scientific-illiterate,
poorly constructed book. It tries to convince the reader that various
fields of science are total bunk, such as biology, geology, astronomy
and cosmology. The book promotes the literal story of Noah and the
Flood, as well as a 6,000 year old Earth. It promotes pseudoscience
as well as making false statements, such as archeology support the
Bible It tries to convince readers to be against certain views and
positions, such as abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and more.
The fifth is Ray interviewing a man named Kevin.
Just a
example of Ray interviewing a random person and evangelizing the
gospel. Still using his old verbal trickery
"
are you a good person?" tactic.
Finally, the sixth link (titled "How to Make an Atheist
Backslide") is a link to a video titled "Nothing Created
Everything Promo" - to which the description bar describes as a
promo for Ray's book Nothing Created Everything (
you can read my review of this book here). Basically, it is all
based on the false assertion that atheists believe that "nothing
created everything" with Ray challenging several people to make
honey, a bee, etc. from nothing.
This "nothing created
everything" is a false statement because it asserts that all
atheists ''believe'' something when in fact atheism is defined as the
"lack of belief in god(s)" which says nothing on their
thoughts of the origins of the universe. While atheists are free to
accept any view of how the universe could have come into existence,
most atheists accept the scientific consensus that the universe began
with the Big Bang Theory, but what Ray is doing is completely
misrepresenting it on purpose. The Big Bang Theory does not say that
the universe came from nothing. Dr. Sten Odenwald (Raytheon STX) for
NASA, Education and Public Outreach program, 2001 spelled out what
scientists mean when they say "nothing:"
"How
can 'nothing' do anything at all, let alone create an entire
universe? When physicists say 'nothing' they are being playful with
the English language, because we often think of the vacuum as being
'empty' or 'nothing' when in fact physicists know full well that the
vacuum is far from empty. The primordial 'state' at the Big Bang was
far from being the kind of 'nothingness' you might have in mind. We
don't have a full mathematical theory for describing this 'state'
yet, but it was probably 'multi- dimensional', it was probably a
superposition of many different 'fields', and these fields, or
whatever they were, were undergoing 'quantum fluctuations'. Space and
time were not the things we know them to be today because our world
is a lot colder than the way it started out. Nothingness was not
nothing, but it was not anything like the kinds of 'somethings' we
know about today. We have no words to describe it, and the ones we
borrow (that are listed in the Oxford English Dictionary) are based
on the wrong physical insight."
Creationists like Ray
Comfort are known for purposely misrepresenting scientific terms. For
instance, Ray does not accept the theory of evolution because he says
it is a "theory, not a fact." While the theory of evolution
is indeed a fact, if Ray were to drop all scientific theories, he
must stop accepting the following theories: the Earth orbits around
the sun; everything is made from atoms; germs cause disease; gravity;
and so on. Every single one of these are scientific theories, and yet
Ray and most Christians accept all of these as inexcusable facts that
cannot be denied even by the greatest of faiths, so why do they
accept all of these but object to the theory of evolution? Because to
them, it does not correlate to their literal interpretation of the
bible and believe one cannot accept both as true - while this is
entirely false, given that Pope John Paul II said that they are
compatible, as well as hundreds of biologists who accept evolution
and remain religious.
