Article published November 14, 2009
ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE
Author confronts Darwin backers
Posts insult by Dawkins on book cover
Ray Comfort, left, and actor Kirk Cameron will give away 194,000 copies of Charles Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species' with an added 50-page Christian introduction.
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By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
When outspoken atheist and best-selling author Richard Dawkins called Ray Comfort "an ignorant fool," Mr. Comfort put that "glowing endorsement" on the cover of his latest book.
"To be called that by Richard Dawkins is a badge of honor," Mr. Comfort said in an interview this week.
He also penned a few words to Mr. Dawkins in the dedication of his new book, Nothing Created Everything: The Scientific Impossibility of Atheistic Evolution (WND Books, $25.95), saying he hopes Mr. Dawkins "looks beyond the hypocrisy of organized religion before he goes to meet his maker."
Mr. Comfort also boasts in the preface of the book that he is "internationally hated by atheists."
His latest book is "the most hated book on Amazon," he said, pointing out that there are 92 customer reviews on the online book seller's Web site "and 91 of them are negative. I have a one-star rating. Even Hitler's Mein Kampf has 5 stars.
"But with all these atheists saying don't buy the book, that's going to play right into my hands. Now if we can encourage atheists to have a book burning on universities. …"Mr. Comfort also is frequently ridiculed by contributors to the YouTube Web site. One video, called Origin of Stupidity, that features a young woman hurling insults at Mr. Comfort and his collaborator, actor Kirk Cameron, has been viewed more than a million times.
Atheists react so strongly to his books and teachings because they feel threatened by Christianity, Mr. Comfort reasons.
The defense of atheistic evolution "is a hill for them to die on," he said, because when it is upheld it means that "I don't believe in God and therefore there's no moral responsibility."
On the other hand, Creationism requires a person to acknowledge God's existence and be held morally accountable, he said. Intelligent design professes
that an intelligent force is behind the creation of the universe and that it did not result from a series of random events.
Mr. Comfort calls intelligent design "so rational."
Nobody can defend the premise that "nothing created everything," he argued, and once a person concedes that "something" created everything, then that person become "an anti-science knuckle-dragger who believes in intelligent design."
Mr. Comfort's foes are currently mobilizing again in response to his plans to give away 194,000 copies of a special edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published 150 years ago this month.
The 304-page edition, containing Darwin's entire text unedited and unabridged, also has a 50-page introduction written by Mr. Comfort which he says "exposes atheistic evolution's many hoaxes and the unscientific belief that nothing created everything."
The giveaways will take place on 100 college campuses across the country on Thursday.
"About six months ago, I realized that Origin of Species was public domain," he said. "It had to be because it's 150 years old. I realized that anyone could publish it, and I thought I'd like to put an introduction inside and give it to university students."
The Secular Student Alliance, based in Columbus, is encouraging its affiliates nationwide "to schedule protests" and "host speakers" to discredit Mr. Comfort and Mr. Cameron.
"We believe the best way to respond to misinformation is with a positive, educational campaign," August Brunsman, SSA's executive director, said in a statement.
Mr. Comfort has lined up 1,200 volunteers to hand the books out in a project he's dubbed "Origin into the Schools." The giveaway is already fully funded and paid for, he said.
"Reporters and universities are trying to get the list [of colleges] from us because they want to stop us, but they'd have more of a chance of flossing the teeth of the lions at feeding time at the Los Angeles Zoo," he said with a chuckle.
Mr. Comfort, 59, was raised in a Jewish family in New Zealand and converted to Christianity in 1972 after pondering the meaning of life during a surfing trip with some buddies.
When he picked up a Bible and began reading, it changed his life.
He became a preacher, pastor, evangelist, and best-selling author. Seven years ago, Mr. Comfort began co-hosting a Christian TV show, The Way of the Master, with Mr. Cameron, an actor best known for his roles on the TV sitcom Growing Pains and in last year's box office hit movie Fireproof. Their show is carried on 31 networks in 70 nations.
More information on Mr. Comfort and his Origin into the Schools project is available online at livingwaters.com.
- David Yonke
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