An atheist debate and a response

Todd Friel debates Dan Barker over the existence of God. Watch this 4 min segment and get a taste of the debate that took place. A full debate is available in audio below the video.

Note: If you choose to listen to the podcast, keep a barf bag handy.

A rational response:


TastyPaper said...

I see what you mean about the barf bag. Holy crap, so it wasn't enough that they had the debate, but while the atheist was speaking they have a little propoganda line keeping the brainwash in place. Sickening, truely.

.:webmaster:. said...

The podcast posted below the video is even more disturbing, IMO.

SpaceMonk said...

I thought Dan was doing really well on that podcast, except for when they wouldn't let him reply.

I've seen those guys use that same little trick on their website. You can watch videos of the same guy, and Kirk Cameron, witnessing to people in the street.
They pull that same "liar, thief, adulterer at heart" line out every time.

It seems the average person is dumbstruck by it, whether they take it onboard or not. It's really frustrating when their lack of experience doesn't allow them to hit back with the obvious come backs.

It's like watching someone be mentally victimised in front of your eyes with nothing you can do to stop it.

It was refreshing to see that Dan wouldn't let them have it all their way this time.
So they just had to try and stumble on through it all and then cut him off... all the while making fun of him.

I think even their own listeners, with any sense of fairness, will see who really came off looking worse out of that.

They'll brush it off easily enough though.

Pull The Other One! said...

I've also looked at Ray Comfort's web page, and he's definitely obsessed with those Have-you-ever-told-a-lie?-type questions that he used on the podcast.

He actually refers to his technique as 'bypassing the intellect'.

You've got to admire his honesty!

He certainly does catch people off guard with his questions. You can see why the technique is successful.

But it isn't just the intellect that gets bypassed. Comfort conveniently ignores the most important question - the one on which his, and every other ministry depends: 'Is the bible actually true?'

Ah!, there's the rub!

Jim Arvo said...

To the question "Have you ever told a lie?" I would respond with "Please explain the relevance of that question first, then I'll consider answering it."

If he's intent on bypassing the intellect, then my first objective would be to get him back on the right road.

Jamie said...

Wow. I just visited their website. As a Canadian, I don't think I truly understood the meaning of the term "Culture War" until listening to a bit of one of the podcasts.

There was even an ad for a board game that would teach people the "truth" about Intelligent it's still all sell, sell, sell, isn't it?

Pull The Other One! said...

Ray's best stuff is his anti-evolution material. He waves a banana at you, claiming that it is evidence of design due to its convenient shape and easy peeling.

What he doesn't mention is that the bananas we buy in the shops have been specially bred (you could call it artificial evolution), and that wild bananas are much rounder and full of big seeds.

Even better though is when he rings up several airlines asking if he can take an orangutan with him on a plane (in the cabin). When he is told that he can't, he expresses his astonishment that they won't allow SOMEONE OF THE SAME SPECIES AS US on board.

Then he and Kirk take an actual orangutan (he's called Charlie if I remember correctly) to a 'restaurant', which obviously had no qualms about letting Charlie in. (I would have admitted Charlie and barred Ray and Kirk myself).

Sitting at a table in the studio, sorry, 'restaurant', Ray and Kirk then start expressing their amazement at Charlie's naughty antics - 'Look, he's grabbing the table cloth!' etc.

'How could he possibly be related to us!'

Actually Ray and Kirk, watching you only confirms it.

Pull The Other One! said...

I forgot to put in a link to a good response to the banana theory:

'Behold, the atheist's nightmare!...'s even curved towards the face!'

Anonymous said...

BTW the next verse in exodus says "Yet he (God) does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Exodus 34:7

What an amazing compassionate and merciful God! What kind of God would punish me for what my great-grandfather did.

This guy stops short of the evil side of God. I wonder why he never finished out the paragraph that includes this verse.

Hmmmm. Dumb ass

Jamie said...


Two things this doesn't explain

1. Oranges, which can be hard to peel AND frequently squirt you in the face (did God not create those?)

2. How banana's can be from God because of the way they fit in your hand and your mouth, but how oral sex between two consenting gay adult males is from the devil...

Anonymous said...

Every one of the arguments that pop up while he's speaking are addressed in books like The God Delusion or Sam Harris' works.

The tactic is incredibely unfair because they're making counter-arguments that the speaker cannot argue against. For all the viewers know, he had perfectly good rebuttals that he didn't get to use.

eel_shepherd said...

Pull The Other One quoted (concerning bananas):
"...'Behold, the atheist's nightmare!...'s even curved towards the face!'"

But it isn't. It's curved away from the face. That's why when you eat the first bite, you are eating from the middle of the banana, the top part falls onto the ground, and a new banana tree grows there. It's all part of god's plan...

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