Crybabies

If you say something completely ridiculous in front of a crowd of people, and they laugh at you, according to Ray Comfort you deserve sympathy.

Comfort has sent out a press release that basically says, "We may be dumb, but you don't have to hurt our feelings!" Complete with a comparison of himself and Kirk Cameron to those (largely mythical) early Christians thrown to the lions, Ray Comfort's whining is a model of the special pleading so common to those who promote religious views. The fact is, when you say really stupid things in public, and especially when you make extraordinary claims that you say you can back up but then it turns out you can't, you get ridiculed for it.

The solution? Stop saying obviously stupid things.

Some excerpts from the debate.

Ray's appeal for sympathy:

Atheists' Mockery at ABC's "Face Off" on God's Existence

NEW YORK, May 7, 2007 -- 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 "faced off" against two atheists from the "Rational Response Squad," in a debate moderated by ABC Nightline's Martin Bashir.

"We were delighted ABC gave us the opportunity to present our case," said Comfort, "but 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. 'Nasty' 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."

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're offering $10,000 to anyone who can provide a genuine, living transitional form supporting evolutionary claims. The debate also addressed such questions as "Who made God?" and "What about the heathen in Africa who've never heard about God?"

"The atheists made it very clear they didn't like what we said," Cameron explained. "They 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't 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."

While Comfort and Cameron will have to wait until Wednesday to see what the public thinks of the debate, they report that they've already received encouraging email from one audience member who commended their presentation: "Good 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). ...I find the 'Design means there was a Designer' 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.'"

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, "Both sincerely thanked us for our stand, and said that they were earnestly praying for us."

The entire debate will be streamed on http://abcnews.go.com/abcnewsnow 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's Nightline.