{"id":3175,"date":"2007-05-07T18:08:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-07T18:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/05\/aggressive-atheism\/"},"modified":"2007-05-07T18:08:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-07T18:08:00","slug":"aggressive-atheism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/05\/aggressive-atheism.html","title":{"rendered":"Aggressive Atheism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Atheists\u2019 Mockery at ABC\u2019s \u201cFace Off\u201d on God\u2019s Existence<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

NEW YORK, May 7, 2007 \u2014 A 100-year-old Baptist church in the heart of New York was the venue Saturday for an ABC debate on the existence of God. Actor Kirk Cameron and best-selling author Ray Comfort \u201cfaced off\u201d against two atheists from the \u201cRational Response Squad,\u201d in a debate moderated by ABC Nightline\u2019s Martin Bashir.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were delighted ABC gave us the opportunity to present our case,\u201d said Comfort, \u201cbut we were taken aback by the aggressive nature of the debate. The audience was evenly divided between believers and atheists. The believers were very polite and quiet, while the atheists were extremely vocal. \u2018Nasty\u2019 is an appropriate word. We felt life a couple of goldfish in a pool of hungry Piranhas, and were getting a sense of what the early Christians must have felt in a Roman coliseum.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the debate, Comfort presented proof for the existence of God, while Cameron offered evidence to show that the theory of Darwinian evolution is unreasonable and unscientific. They pointed evolutionists to www.IntelligentDesignVersusEvolution.com, where they\u2019re offering $10,000 to anyone who can provide a genuine, living transitional form supporting evolutionary claims. The debate also addressed such questions as \u201cWho made God?\u201d and \u201cWhat about the heathen in Africa who\u2019ve never heard about God?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atheists made it very clear they didn\u2019t like what we said,\u201d Cameron explained. \u201cThey were full of mockery and sarcasm, belittling the many great scientists and intellectuals who recognize the existence of a Supreme Being. But the average American isn\u2019t viciously anti-God. In fact, polls show that more than 90 percent believe in His existence. Our hope is that the program will cause people to think deeply about the evidence presented, and challenge them to consider this most important issue of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Comfort and Cameron will have to wait until Wednesday to see what the public thinks of the debate, they report that they\u2019ve already received encouraging email from one audience member who commended their presentation: \u201cGood job last night! Although I received my invitation to the show via the atheist camp, I must confess that I was impressed with the two of you (and that I was embarrassed by at least two atheist audience members, whose hostile questions bordered on heckling-I admired your calm and courteous responses). \u2026I find the \u2018Design means there was a Designer\u2019 argument to be perfectly logical. I just have yet to come across convincing evidence that this Master Designer of the Universe inspired the Judeo-Christian Bible.'\u201d<\/p>\n

Another encouragement, Comfort added, was that both mothers of the two atheists in the debate are Christians-one of whom was in the front row of the audience. Comfort stated, \u201cBoth sincerely thanked us for our stand, and said that they were earnestly praying for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire debate will be streamed on http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/abcnewsnow<\/em><\/span><\/a> on Wednesday, May 9, at 2:00 p.m. EDT (11:00 a.m. PST) and an excerpt will be aired that night on ABC\u2019s Nightline.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Contact: Mark Spence, 562-920-8431, Ext 304, mark@livingwaters.com<\/em><\/span><\/a>
<\/em><\/span>
Remember that verse from the Bible\u2026\u2019the devil stalks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.\u201d Elsewhere the Scripture says that Satan \u2018goes to and fro upon earth.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a theory for some time that the Spirit of Atheism that haunted Eastern Europe during the Communist regime has now moved West. The mark of the beast is that it was not just agnosticism, but aggressive atheism. This was the sort of atheism that would spit and snarl and howl with rage. This is the atheism that mocks and derides God and all things holy. In fact it isn\u2019t really atheism at all, it is inyerface rebellion and hatred of God.<\/p>\n

It reminds me of the time I got involved in a religious discussion with an English student who didn\u2019t engage with the question of God\u2019s existence at all. He avoided all reason and all rational discussion and simply snarled, \u201cI hate God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, there we are. It\u2019s with us folks. Recognize it for what it is. It\u2019s big, it\u2019s dark, it\u2019s nasty and it bites. Furthermore, we might see the intellectual expression of it in your Richard Dawkins, Philip Pullmans, Hitchens etc. but there is a darker and even nastier side to it. For every intellectual aggressive atheist you can bet there are two dozen ignorant, boorish and thuggish atheists lurking in their shadow. These are the atheists who won\u2019t argue with you at all. They\u2019ll wear the uniforms, carry the nightsticks and drive the police wagons. They\u2019re \u2018Agent Smiths\u2019 who will wear the trench coats, man the listening devices and send in the boys. They\u2019re the guys who will drive the ambulances that take off the believers to mental hospitals.<\/p>\n

OK, once again, I\u2019m exagerrating to make my point aren\u2019t I\u2026.aren\u2019t I?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atheists\u2019 Mockery at ABC\u2019s \u201cFace Off\u201d on God\u2019s Existence NEW YORK, May 7, 2007 \u2014 A 100-year-old Baptist church in the heart of New York was the venue Saturday for an ABC debate on the existence of God. Actor Kirk Cameron and best-selling author Ray Comfort \u201cfaced off\u201d against two atheists from the \u201cRational Response […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAggressive Atheism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Atheists' Mockery at ABC's "Face Off" on God's ExistenceNEW YORK, May 7, 2007 -- A 100-year-old Baptist church in the heart of New York was the venue\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/05\/aggressive-atheism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aggressive Atheism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atheists' Mockery at ABC's "Face Off" on God's ExistenceNEW YORK, May 7, 2007 -- A 100-year-old Baptist church in the heart of New York was the venue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/05\/aggressive-atheism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. 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