Friday, May 11, 2007

 

No Comfort in the Pews


It seems that at least some Christians felt about the same as atheists did about the recent "debate" between Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron and the Rational Response Squad. According to Marty Duren, pastor of New Bethany Baptist Church of Buford, Georgia, as quoted in the story, "Comfort and Cameron well-intentioned but unprepared, Christians say," in the Christian Post:

Now, I’m not questioning the integrity or complete ministry of Comfort, Cameron or The Way of the Master (their ministry). I'll assume that they are genuine Christ followers with pure motives. I'll also assume that The Way of the Master is a helpful, biblical approach to sharing Christ. But, they got completely shellacked in this one.

I’ll be the first to say that I might not have done any better but I’m also not the one who threw down the gauntlet for a public debate.
Perhaps as amusing as that assessment is the list of "other apologists [who] would have argued God more effectively" that was compiled by Kevin Jackson, the Christian Post reporter on the story. It notably included Phillip Johnson, Michael Behe, Lee Strobel and William Dembski – you know, the guys who are just interested in the science of Intelligent Design.
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Comments:
I was under the impression that the Nightline debate intentionally pitted lay-people against other lay-people, probably because a more academic exchange (say Dawkins or Dennett taking on McGrath or Plantinga) would bore the target audience and/or go straight over their heads.
 
Now, now ... you can hardly blame them for wanting someone a little less un-academic than Comfort and Cameron. The idea wasn't to tunnel under the audience either.
 
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