Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bill Maher challenged to intelligent-design debate
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | May 10, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern

Posted on 05/10/2006 9:38:22 PM PDT by Tim Long

Author Ray Comfort says TV satirist too insecure to accept offer

A Christian author and TV host whose latest book, "Intelligent Design Versus Evolution: Letters to an Atheist," debunks Darwinism has challenged fellow television personality Bill Maher to a public debate on the origins of the Earth.

Says Ray Comfort: "Mr. Maher, like all believers in the theory of evolution, simply has a blind faith in a theory-tale that can't be substantiated. It's just another opiate of the masses – a religion called 'Darwinism' that piously robes itself in what it thinks is 'science.' It is true science fiction."

Comfort hosts "The Way of the Master" with actor Kirk Cameron.

"I am beginning to suspect that some men may have evolved from chickens, or at least that's the impression I get when it comes to evolutionists standing up for their convictions," notes Comfort. "Mr. Maher can choose the place of the debate. I don't mind if he has it in front of his audience. He can bill it as 'Another simple-minded Christian being thrown to the lions.'"

The former host of "Politically Incorrect," Maher now hosts "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO and is known to be hostile toward religious faith.

In a statement, Comfort quotes Maher as saying last year: "Evolution is supported by the entire scientific community ... the reason there is no real debate is that intelligent design isn't real science. ..."

Responds Comfort: "I can scientifically prove intelligent design. Let's have 20 minutes each. I present my case (I won't even mention 'faith') and then he can present his case for evolution. I say that he doesn't have one. He's bluffing. I don't mind if he spends his 20 minutes telling jokes, because that's all he has."

In 2001, Comfort was a platform speaker at the American Atheists' 27th National Convention. He has also spoken on the subject of intelligent design at Yale, UCLA and other institutions.

Comfort says his publication "The Atheist Test" has sold over 700,000 copies. He's the author of more than 50 books, including "God Doesn't Believe in Atheists" and "The Evidence Bible."

Referencing intelligent design, Comfort said, "Hundreds of scientific scholars and researchers throughout the world support it – including scientists with the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institute, with doctoral degrees in biological sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, computer science and related disciplines, from universities such as Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. So Mr. Maher can't dismiss the idea as 'not scientific' just because he doesn't like that conclusion."

Added the author: "'Intelligent Design Versus Evolution' contains scores of letters written by a very intelligently designed atheist who gives evolution's best arguments. I think that's healthy. Yet pro-evolution pseudo-intellectuals are calling for censorship, by not allowing school kids the freedom to listen to both sides of the argument. That reveals their insecurity."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crevolist; goddoodit; ignoranceisstrength; pavlovian; yecliars; youngearthcultists
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 141-145 next last
To: Mr. Mojo
Maher's a goofy...talk show host, not a scientist.

The very same thing can be said about Mr. Comfort.

61 posted on 05/11/2006 3:56:12 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: The Ghost of FReepers Past; ohioWfan; Tribune7; Tolkien; GrandEagle; Right in Wisconsin; Dataman; ..

Revelation 4:11Intelligent Design
Constantly searching for objectivity in the evolution debate...
See my profile for info


62 posted on 05/11/2006 5:55:58 AM PDT by wallcrawlr (http://www.bionicear.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pcottraux

Yes those are good points. Personally I spend zero time trying to interpret the introduction to Genesis. It's a waste of time. God spent very little time on it in His word so it must not have been important to Him that we understand it fully.


63 posted on 05/11/2006 6:37:16 AM PDT by plain talk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Energy Alley

Yeah, you are probably right on that.


64 posted on 05/11/2006 7:07:51 AM PDT by trubluolyguy (I love coffee....I love it GOOD!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Echo Talon
 
Read Genesis.
 
 

read a bit more than that....
 
 
Most Christians 'believe' Evolution because they do NOT know what their Bible says. 
If, as they say, they 'believe' the words of Jesus and the New Testament writers,
they have to decide what the following verses mean:
 
Acts 17:26-27
 26.  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
 27.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
 
 
Romans 5:12-21
 12.  Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--
 13.  for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
 14.  Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
 15.  But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
 16.  Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
 17.  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
 18.  Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
 19.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
 20.  The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
 21.  so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
 
 
If there were  no one man, that means SIN did NOT enter the World thru him.
 
If Adam was NOT the one man, that means SPIRITUAL DEATH did not come thru him.
 
If SIN did NOT enter the World thru the one man, that means Jesus does not save from SIN.
 
 
Are we to believe that the one man is symbolic?  Does that mean Jesus is symbolic as well?
 
 
The Theory of Evolution states that there WAS no one man, but a wide population that managed to inherit that last mutated gene that makes MEN different from APES.
 
 
 Acts 17:24-26

 24.  "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
 25.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
 26.  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

Was LUKE wrong about this?


 
 
1 Corinthians 11:8-9
 8.  For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;
 9.  neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
 
1 Timothy 2:13
  For Adam was formed first, then Eve.  
 

 
 
Was Paul WRONG about these???
 

 
If so, is your GOD so puny that He allows this 'inaccuracy' in His Word??

65 posted on 05/11/2006 9:31:46 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: 2ndreconmarine
Now, any bozo with a HS education can claim he knows real science.

What do you expect!

They all get this idea from their excellent teachers and counselors!

We Are Number One!


66 posted on 05/11/2006 9:34:42 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Paleo Conservative
I think it should be impossible to have the words "intelligent" and "Bill Maher" in the same sentence.

Not really...

Look:


"Bill Maher" is the least "intelligent" bozo on TV.

67 posted on 05/11/2006 9:36:20 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: pcottraux
I'm a Christian personally, but I have to say that the entire Christian community has a tendency to be nothing but a huge self-parody.

WOW!

You must 'know' a LOT of folks!

68 posted on 05/11/2006 9:37:52 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Vectorian
Muslims can only be the result of hit and miss Darwinism, not something God intended.
 
(I know this is a joke; but.......)
 
 
 
NIV Genesis 16:7-16
 7.  The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
 8.  And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"   "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.
 9.  Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her."
 10.  The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."
 11.  The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.
 12.  He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward  all his brothers."
 13.  She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen  the One who sees me."
 14.  That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi ; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
 15.  So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
 16.  Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael
 

NIV Genesis 17:18-21
 18.  And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"
 19.  Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.  I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
 20.  And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
 21.  But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
 22.  When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
 23.  On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.
 24.  Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,
 25.  and his son Ishmael was thirteen;
 26.  Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day.

69 posted on 05/11/2006 9:53:04 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: Tim Long
At first glance I thought the headline was Maher being challenged to an intelligence debate.

I gave up on the sarcastic little puke years ago due to his spouting like an authority about things he had no knowledge at all--and going unchallenged by his equally uninformed guests.

70 posted on 05/11/2006 9:55:58 AM PDT by TheClintons-STILLAnti-American
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Elsie
Exodus 20 1-11
The Ten Commandments
1 And God spoke all these words:

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before [a] me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.


Now if Moses wanted us to believe that the days in Genesis were longer than a day he would have used the word thousands(generations) like he did in passage 6 and not "day".

71 posted on 05/11/2006 10:26:56 AM PDT by Echo Talon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: aliquando

Microevolution is a misnomer. It's really just changes as a result of genetic variation, and is a fact. I know of no one who disputes it. I refer to "macro"evolution as simply evolution, as microevolution is not really evolution at all.


72 posted on 05/11/2006 11:37:31 AM PDT by Tim Long (I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: pcottraux

I don't know if it would be classified as "pcottrauxology." It's basically HughRossology. : ) This view is held by many. I don't accept oldearthism, as it is only needed for evolution to occur. The fact that a carbon-14 isotope will completely decay in ~100,000 years seems to disprove the notion of an old earth.


73 posted on 05/11/2006 11:46:16 AM PDT by Tim Long (I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: MedicalMess
Communication with the cleat 42%

People talk to their shoes? No seriously, what is a cleat?

74 posted on 05/11/2006 11:50:44 AM PDT by Tim Long (I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Tim Long
No! The real Truth should be debated!!!!!!

http://www.echoesofenoch.com/hollowearth.htm

The Earth is hollow!!!!!!!!!!!

I read it on the Internet therefore it must be true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Bible says so too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..........

Isa 40:22 "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."

.......and we all know that the Bible is the literal Word of God!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets all get together and get this into our Godless Public School System as a viable alternative to what the Godless Geologists profess!!!!!!!!

Who's with me?

The illustrious founder of the Hollow Earth Society is ready to debate this with atheistic comedians like Bill Mayer:

75 posted on 05/11/2006 11:55:20 AM PDT by DoctorMichael (The Fourth Estate is a Fifth Column!!!!!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoctorMichael

Funny you should mention that. I was just thinking about the hollow earth theory. You know Newton believed it. I guess that makes him an idiot. Did you every see "Journey to the Center of the Earth" with Pat Boone"? If I ever went to the earth's core, I'd want it to be like that. An ocean and Dimetrodons. : )


76 posted on 05/11/2006 12:03:37 PM PDT by Tim Long (I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: Tim Long

I'm not surprised Maher wouldn't debate anyone. What exactly is he qualified in?

I saw his "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" movie. He can't act either. It was a bad movie, although the women were good.

I gotta say this Comfort guy is an aggressive marketer. I'll bet he makes $10 million this year between the book, cable show and speaking appearances.

Maybe he'll start his own dinosaur park.


77 posted on 05/11/2006 12:13:30 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: <1/1,000,000th%
I'll bet he makes $10 million this year between the book, cable show and speaking appearances.

I REALLY doubt that.

78 posted on 05/11/2006 12:15:37 PM PDT by Tim Long (I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: <1/1,000,000th%
Maybe he'll start his own dinosaur park.

He may have to in Kent Hovind's gets shut down for good.

Kent Hovind: I knew there was something I forgot to do... Oh, that's right, pay my taxes.

79 posted on 05/11/2006 12:17:15 PM PDT by Tim Long (I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: DoctorMichael

to me that doesn't sound sound like a hollow earth, but viewing the earth from space or from the air.


80 posted on 05/11/2006 12:18:31 PM PDT by Echo Talon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 141-145 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson