It seems that Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort have decided that they want to get in on the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by giving away free copies of the book to college students. While that seems both generous and out of character, it turns out that it is neither.
They’re printing a special version of the book with a fifty-page introduction written by Comfort which “reveals the dangerous fruit of evolution.” They aren’t really giving the book away. Comfort’s Living Waters ministry is providing the books for a very low cost to churches or individuals who want to help. Those folks get to give the books away. Now, to be fair, they’re selling the book for as low as 99 cents a copy (if you buy forty or more), so it’s close to a giveaway.
Their special version also has an incorrect title.
There are a couple problems that I see here. First, it’s telling that they want to “trick” people into getting their gospel message. I suspect they know that they wouldn’t be able to attract those godless students with fifty thousand free copies of a Ray Comfort book. They have to give away a very famous book on evolutionary theory… and then they tuck away their message in the beginning of the book, decrying the book’s contents (but failing miserably).
The second problem is that the message itself is absurd. Comfort and Cameron have repeatedly proven that they have absolutely no knowledge of evolutionary theory. Not only do they have no knowledge, but they’ve demonstrated willful ignorance at every turn, using the same, tired objections that have long-since died an unspectacular death by debunking. Cameron’s famous crocoduck comes to mind. Whatever shred of credibility they may have once had (if ever) vanished long, long ago.
Here’s an excerpt from the website about what’s in the introduction.
This introduction gives the history of evolution, a timeline of Darwin’s life, Hitler’s undeniable connections to the theory, Darwin’s racism, his disdain for women, and his thoughts on the existence of God. It lists the theory’s many hoaxes, exposes the unscientific belief that nothing created everything, points to the incredible structure of DNA, and the absence of any species-to-species transitional forms.
Comfort always seems to bring up the “nothing created everything” argument when discussing evolution. He also repeats his “no transitional forms” argument. It almost sounds as if he doesn’t understand evolutionary theory. I’m never sure if he really is that actively and willfully ignorant or if he really does know that his points are absurd, but he’s got nowhere else to go.
You can read the full fifty-page introduction here (pdf). After a brief history lesson, Comfort starts right into his default “a building must have a builder” shtick. The DNA segment shows a complete lack of understanding of natural selection. It gets worse from there and becomes a cornucopia of monstrous ignorance.
Kirk Cameron also narrates a video (also embedded below) which explains the program. I transcribed it so you can read the text of the video if you can’t watch. It’s also full of nonsense.
Cameron disqualifies himself right at the beginning when he states “Our kids can no longer pray in public.” Ummm… what? They most certainly can pray in public. They can even pray in public schools. But Cameron has to start off with a message portraying the horrifying state in which we find ourselves. Our kids can’t pray, they can’t open bibles in school, the Ten Commandments can’t be displayed in public places… all nonsense.
But then he gets to the really horrifying stuff. In a survey of fifty universities in the United States, sixty-one percent of professors in psychology and biology identified themselves as atheists or agnostics. The horror! I would have thought it would be higher. He doesn’t mention professors of physics, chemistry, sociology, math, or history, though. I found that a bit odd.
When explaining the book giveaway, he says that they just want to “present the opposing and correct view.” Seriously? the “correct” view? He continues with the mind-numbing “both sides of the argument” plea, again showing that his understanding of what does and does not constitute “science” is lacking… or non-existent.
The main point is that they want to give away these books to university students and they need your help.
There’s a Facebook group that was created to thwart Comfort and Cameron’s shenanigans. The idea is to get your hands on as many books as you can, remove the 50-page introduction, thus restoring the book to its original form, and then re-giving them away at the same university.
There’s no mention on the Living Waters site about which universities are included, so you’ll have to just pay your local one a visit on November 19th to check. They don’t sound like they’re really targeting fifty specific universities, though. They don’t seem that organized. Anyone can order the books and give them away wherever they want, it seems. You even get a free poster with your order.
…and fifty pages of nauseating woo and ignorance.
Here’s the video. Below is the transcript.
Transcript:
Are you concerned about what’s happening to our country? One by one, we’re being stripped of our God-given liberties. Our kids can no longer pray in public. They can no longer freely open a bible in school. The Ten Commandments are no longer allowed to be displayed in public places and the Gideons are not even allowed to give away bibles in schools.
Did you know that a recent study revealed that in the top fifty universities in our country, in the fields of psychology and biology, sixty-one percent of the professors described themselves as atheists or agnostics. That’s sixty-one percent. No wonder atheism has doubled in the last twenty years among nineteen to twenty-five year olds. An entire generation is being brainwashed by atheistic evolution without even hearing the alternative and it’s radically changing the culture of our nation.
There’s only one way to change the heart of a nation and that is to change the sinful heart of the individual and that’s through he power of the Gospel. Only God can take the sinful heart of a man or a woman and cause them to love that which is right and just and good.
Now listen to this. On November 21st, 2009, the world will celebrate the 150th year since the publication of Charles Darwin’s book Origin of Species. Now when my friend Ray Comfort heard about this and that the book was public domain, he actually wrote a fifty page introduction for the book which gives the history of evolution, a timeline of Darwin’s life, Adolf Hitler’s undeniable connection with the theory, Darwin’s racism, his disdain for women, and Darwin’s thoughts on the existence of God and put them in the book.
It also lists the theory’s many hoaxes. It exposes the unscientific belief that nothing created everything. It points to the incredible structure of DNA and the absence of any species-to-species transitional forms actually found in the fossil record. It then presents a balanced view of creationism with information from scientists who actually believe that God created the universe, such as Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Copernicus, Bacon, Faraday, Louis Pasture, and Johannes Kepler. And most importantly, this introduction presents a very clear gospel message.
On Thursday November 19th, just a few days before the 150th anniversary of the book, fifty thousand copies of this special publication will be freely given out at those top fifty universities. Now think of it. In one day, the Gospel and clear presentation of intelligent design will be placed into the hands of fifty thousand of our future doctors lawyers and politicians. And we’re working with Campus Crusade for Christ, Answers in Genesis, and the Alliance Defense Fund to get copies of Darwin’s Origin of Species into the hands of this generation. And all we want to do is present the opposing and correct view, rather than being censored, which is exactly the case at present. These students aren’t stupid. They should be given both sides of the argument and allowed to make up their own minds, right? We think that’s healthy.
This is a beautiful 304-page full color cover edition of Darwin’s famous Origin of Species book that will be given away free on the 150th anniversary of the book, so who isn’t going to take it and say “thank you very much?”
There’s nothing to fear. Ray Comfort and I are going to a local university to give away one thousand free copies ourselves on November 19th and we’re very excited to do this. Listen, for instance, to UC Berkeley’s policy right here in California. Their own website says, “Anyone is free to distribute non-commercial materials in any outdoor area of the campus.” Besides, what are they really going to do? Ban the Origin of Species? That’d be big news, especially when their own bookstore sells it for $29.99.
So get a hold of 100, or 500, or 1,000 copies for yourself or for your church and go to your university. We’ll give you a free poster and a clear and simple strategy. Go there as a team and get the gospel into the hands of this generation; the hands of future doctors, lawyers and politicians. Remember this is America. It’s still the land of the free, the home of the brave. And this is a life and death issue.
(Ray Comfort starts speaking)
We’ve had a number of requests from people asking if we could expand our giveaway from fifty to a hundred universities. If we want to be able to do that, we need to act quickly… have more books printed. Today we know of 130 yard sales that are being held across the country to raise money to try to make this happen. One millionaire has said he’ll match the biggest donation given to the project. Those that would like to help us reach that goal can get details on LivingWaters.com. Please be in prayer for us and thank you for listening.
“No wonder atheism has doubled in the last twenty years among nineteen to twenty-five year olds. An entire generation is being brainwashed by atheistic evolution without even hearing the alternative and it’s radically changing the culture of our nation.”
Hahaha! I didn’t realize it was my biology professors that turned me atheist. I thought it was from much of Christianity not making sense to me and from (independently, not in school) reading about ancient Central and South Americans’ religion and from discovering uncontacted (and thus have not heard about Jesus) tribes. I suspect he has not tried to find an atheist and ask why that person believes what they do.
Fortunately, if my observations of kids at the schools I attended hold true generally, extremely few college students will be pulled in by this and many of them will already be inclined that way. Unfortunately this is a huge waste of money and paper.
I agree that there’s really not much danger in them handing out the books, but it seems an awful waste of paper.
And I also agree that Christianity doesn’t need the help of university professors to diminish its value. It does that quite well on its own. I think it was Asimov who said that there is no greater force for atheism than the bible. 🙂
If previously (as claimed) the US was a ‘Christian Nation’ which is now being converted to atheism wouldn’t the statement “An entire generation is being brainwashed by atheistic evolution without even hearing the alternative” not make a lot of sense?
Surely the descendants of the christian forebears would certainly hear the alternative but turn towards a better explanation?
Let us make a book and on the cover we’ll put the words “Holy Bible” and inside we’ll put the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible.
It’s time to use their own underhanded, scummy tactics against them. The time for playing nice is over.
Also, lets hijack the church and get science taught there so we can get the opposing and REAL correct view.
I am very curious why you are so persuaded that Christianity is irrational. I am a Christian and a reasonably intelligent person that does a lot of thinking. I am no scientist. But it really strikes me that Christianity, or at least a Supreme Being, is easily the most rational explanation for existence. I can see that it seems to many to be an undesirable explanation, but hardly irrational. After all, we are presented with a basic pardox which is the existence of something somewhere sometime, none of which is likely to be able to account for its own existence. So what is so irrational about Christianity and what is so rational about atheism?
Thanks for visiting, Cleve!
My view is that any supernatural beliefs are irrational, though some are fun (salt over the shoulder, wishing on a star, not walking under a ladder). I joke about those kinds of things with my daughter all the time.
However, when a supernatural belief starts to take over your life and your thinking, I believe there’s a problem… and there are certainly “degrees” of the problem. If you wish on a star expecting the wish to come true, it’s a small problem. If you decide to withhold medical treatment from your child because you think prayer will work far better, then the problem is huge.
Claiming the existence of a “Supreme Being” seems to be something asserted without proof. Since there is a complete lack of evidence for one, my default position is a corresponding lack of belief. If such proof were to somehow manifest itself, I would more than happily change my position.
Christianity posits a very specific version of a Supreme Being… as does Islam and Hinduism and Catholicism and Raelism and Mormanism. Each lays claim to an absolute truth about a Supreme Being and what that Supreme Being requires of us… and each is different, sometimes radically different.
I don’t see any religions offering any evidence of their claims to truth… other than their self-referential holy books, which are non-starters. The irrationality that I see in religion has a pretty firm grounding there. How can one religion claim absolute truth when it has no more evidence than any other religion?
As for the existence of everything, I’m quite comfortable in saying that I don’t know how the universe got here. I find the study of it fascinating, however, and enjoy pondering the different theories, but there’s no way we will every “know” if and when there was a “beginning” of everything.
However, just because we don’t know something doesn’t mean that it has a supernatural explanation.
That’s sort of my answer in a (big) nutshell. I’d be happy to discuss it further with you if you’d like.
Cheers!
Odd that these two are so obsessed with the American nation-state. Do they not want to distribute their comedy elsewhere or does their neo-cult have some sort of political implications perhaps?
Cleve – xtianity doesn’t have its own creation myth; it simply steals the Judaic one for reason of geo-history, subjugation, and negation. If the Jewish mythology is so beneficial, why not convert? (Like I don’t no the answer to this one…)
I will admit that many Christians have a very shaky foundation for their own beliefs. But I don’t think this necessarily debunks the historicity of the Christian faith (which, by the way, is the only faith in which the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a historical fact).
Not only do we have the writings of the earliest apostles of Jesus, but likewise those writings of the church fathers (Irenaeus, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, etc.) who knew and spoke to the apostles or spoke to those who knew and spoke to the apostles after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Christianity alone is the only religion that can convincingly be argued. Even Judaism, its parent religion, is indebted to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, because if He fulfilled the Jewish Scriptures, then we know Judaism was true.
This might sound like an oversimplification, but after three years of atheism, I have looked into these things for myself. You would be hard-pressed to push me from my position.
But if I might, I would like to suggest a video series which has independently come to many of the same conclusions I have:
The Real Jesus
God Bless!
I’m not sure where you got the idea that anyone thinks a shaky foundation of someone’s own beliefs would debunk the historicity of the Christian faith. I’m also a bit baffled about your parenthetical statement regarding the resurrection as “historical fact.” It is certainly no such thing.
There are no eye-witness accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. There is only hearsay. In addition to that, the only hearsay is only in the bible itself, so that’s hardly any basis for claiming historical truth.
Christianity can be no more convincingly argued than any other religion, including (but not limited to) Judaism, Islam, Mormanism, and Hinduism… and even Scientology. Every religion makes a claim of absolute truth and has their own talking points to back up their claims. Each one would scoff at your claim that Christianity is the only one that can be convincingly argued. Even among Christians, there are radical differences in the beliefs held by different sects, with many sects claiming to hold the only “correct” interpretation of the bible.
Anyone looking in from the outside can see the absurdity of your statements. With so many religions, all of them claiming to be the one special, true religion… all of them claiming to have extraordinary reasons for their truth… all of them claiming to hold the only path to salvation… it’s a bit of a stretch to say that yours in the only one that can be convincingly argued.
I’ll be happy to take a look at the video series you linked. Thanks for the link and for your visit.
Great article, and it’s very encouraging to see people posting THE TRUTH about what’s happening.
It’s ironic that atheists are more interested in the truth than religious people, and it’s that fact that will see the end of religious domination on earth. Let’s leave the world as a better place than when we entered it.
Dan,
I hate to break it to you… But prayer in public schools is not allowed.
I know for a fact, as that was the reason my parents took me out of public school and started homeschooling me.
I prayed SILENTLY before a test, and was kicked out of the classroom and sent to the principal’s office. I was not allowed to retake the test and was suspended from the school for a week. All because I bowed my head in prayer.
I didn’t ask anyone else to pray with me, I didn’t force anyone else to listen to my prayer, yet I was given an unjust punishment for it.
Interestingly enough though, there were Muslim children who were allowed to leave the school to go pray whenever they wanted to.
I find that hard to believe, but assuming it’s true that the reason you were sent the the principal’s office and received a suspension was, indeed, that you simply prayed silently before a test (and not for some other real or imagined offense), then it was a gross error on the part of the teacher and is an extreme exception.
I find your story somewhat implausible, though, and feel that perhaps you’re not divulging all the pertinent information. Did the issue ever make the news? I’d be interested to see a third-party writeup of the event.
Regardless, it is not the norm and there is no law, state or federal, that prohibits individual prayer in public schools. If you can find an exception to that statement, I’ll happily amend it, noting a rare exception.
It was not in the news because my parents and I are not media whores like others. However it was an issue that I brought up in my homeschool Student Government group. I personally wrote a bill stating the allowing of prayer back in schools. I wish I still had the paperwork to prove to you that it is not allowed. I tore another girl apart when she it was time for question and answer after her “take the ‘under God’ out of the pledge” bill with the information I had found. Apparently I was not the only one who this has happened to. One of my best friends was put into “Alternative School” because she pulled her bible out during Study Hall. It is a very real thing.
There is no pertinent information to share, because it is a simple case of prejudice. I was informed when I was sent to the principal’s office that I was breaching “Separation of Church and State” and that I should feel lucky that all I was getting was a suspension.
Our Country was founded on Christian religious beliefs. “In God We Trust” is printed on our money, and it’s just one form of showing this. The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
No where does it say excluding Christianity.
I’m not saying that we should throw Christianity at people and make them believe the Bible. That’s not what our Country is about. It’s about allowing people the right to choose. Heck, I personally don’t believe in Organized Religion, and I’m skeptical about the bible. It was written by man, and man is not infallible, along with being translated several times into different languages. Everyone knows languages don’t directly translate.
You can remain skeptical, I don’t really care. I just wanted to share that you were incorrect with your accusations.
oh and for the record…
The date was June 25, 1962. On that date it was decided that prayer should not be allowed in the public schools in the United States.
Sorry Lark… but it looks like that homeschooling didn’t do you any good.
It is absolutely NOT illegal for students to pray in school. The date you supplied above (June 25, 1962) is the date that the supreme court decided that: “it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools.”
That means that you can’t be forced (by school officials) to pray in school – a public school is NOT allowed to require prayer. It says NOTHING about students praying on their own behalf.
So – your little ‘kicked out of school’ story about a silent prayer before a test…. I’m afraid it’s quite obviously bullshit. Nice try though!