I mentioned earlier that Ray Comfort has challenged Richard Dawkins to a debate about the existence of God and why Evolution is scientific. Comfort was even offering to pony up $10,000 to Dawkins (or the charity of his choice) as an incentive.
My hope was that Dawkins would refuse the offer with an appropriately scathing reply, but not too publicly so as not to give Comfort any undue media exposure.
Well, it seems Dawkins did just that… but in an enhanced manner. Check it out. It’s definitely worth a read.
Dawkins responded on his own web forum. He didn’t specifically decline, per se, but upped the ante a bit. In order for him to accept the “debate” challenge, Comfort would have to donate $100,000 to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. It’s beautiful.
Not only will Comfort probably not agree to that much money, but even if he did, he’d be making a significant donation to a charity organization that stands for everything he opposes. Dawkins’ counter-offer effectively negates Comfort’s assertion that scientists are afraid to debate creationists. However, if Comfort refuses to agree to the counter-offer because of the money issue, it could be said of him that he’s not strong enough in his convictions to think them worth $100,000. If there’s more at stake than a measly $10,000, perhaps Comfort doesn’t have the stomach to stand up for his beliefs.
It’s all well and good. I certainly still hope that such a “debate” never takes place since it would lend unwarranted validity to Comfort’s misleading statements and outright lies. Nor would it serve any productive purpose. As I’ve mentioned before, it takes far less time and energy to make up lies than it does to refute them all scientifically… and Comfort is a master at making up lies.
Perhaps that is the Way of the Master.