The Atheist Blogger

A few months back, Ray Comfort asked Richard Dawkins to debate with him. Dawkins agreed, but requested a $100,000 donation to his foundation for reason and science (the standard rate he requests), and that the debate would be recorded. Ray offered $20,000 instead, and Dawkins refused. Ray could have left it at that, saying he was not able to pay anything higher, but instead he released a video with a futile attempt to mock Dawkins over a quotemined section of “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”. That alone was cowardly, but what happened a few days ago is enough to disgust any upstanding member of society.

As most people know, Thunderf00t is a very popular atheist YouTuber, and also a commentator on science, mainly evolutionary biology. He has been featured on many blogs, including Pharyngula, on certain issues such as the VenomFangX DMCA debacle and his popular “Why do people laugh at creationists?” series. Thunderf00t is, by all accounts, a mainstream and prominent atheist. He might not have books, but he has over 50,000 subscribers and the entire atheist blogosphere behind him.

So Thunderf00t decided to ask Ray Comfort to a discussion, since he was going travelling and would be close to where the Living Waters ministry is based. He dutifully contacted Living Waters, but they told him to contact Ray directly on his blog. This is the comment (now removed from Ray’s blog as requested) that Thunderf00t left:

For the attention of Ray Comfort,
Your staff (T Ramos) suggested I post this here.

I run the popular pro-science youtube channel under the screen name of Thunderf00t.

For context.
Thunderf00t 54 000 subscribers
Thewayofthemaster 9 000 subscribers

This summer I will be touring the US and should passing near to LA (the Mnt Wilson Observatory).

You have previously stated that you wish to have a public discussion with “prominent atheists.”;

My proposal would be simple and honest.
You and me, one room, one camera. Through civil discourse we examine our points of contest and points of agreement. We both then take a copy of the video. I will put it up uncut on my channel.
You are free to do with your copy as you wish.

If you have an interest in such a project, let me know some windows of opportunity and we will see if we can converge on a date.

If you accept or decline the offer, please delete this post. To otherwise will lead to pointless speculation about motives.
I would rather not have made such an invitation in public but it was suggested by your staff

Best wishes,
Thunderf00t

Polite, honest, and with all good intentions. Thunderf00t established himself as a popular science-minded atheist, and proposed a simple format for discussion. He didn’t even want a debate! He just wanted the two of them to sit down and discuss their views as any two men would do in a polite conversation. He requested it be recorded, so that others may watch, and Ray can do whatever he likes with his copy. The key thing to note at this point is that Thunderf00t demanded no money.

Ray Comfort accepted the proposal, but with his sick and twisted sense of morality:

Regarding your request for a debate. I would be more than happy to do this. The only condition would be an honorarium of $US100,000, payable to “Professor Richard Dawkins,” on my behalf.

In other words, Ray wants to use Thunderf00t to get to Richard Dawkins. He gets a decent and well-thought out proposal to a discussion, and Ray turns it around and throws back an insult. This is a despicable act of cowardice, and is deeply unfair to Thunderf00t, who was willing to give Ray the discussion he wanted, for free, and by means of a civil conversation. What kind of morality is that? Punish a person who comes to you with an honest request in order to get back at someone who you failed to meet the requirements of before? It’s beyond Ray’s usual ridiculous nature; this was pure greed, coupled with the kind of scheming you get from stereotypical “evil geniuses” in films.

Ray once agreed with Ben Stein’s criticism of Richard Dawkins, that he was fine with Intelligent Design, just not certain designers, like God. Well now Ray has shown his true colours, we can say a similar thing about him. Ray is not interested in debate or discussion with “prominent atheists”, only discussions with certain prominent atheists…namely Richard Dawkins.

Of course, who better to explain this than Thunderf00t himself:

Do Thunderf00t a favour and favourite his videos, rate them with 5 stars (it counters the votebotes that attack his account regularly), and leave a comment on his channel. He certainly deserves it.

Thanks to a reminder by the Friendly Atheist, I have now pre-ordered my copy of Ariane Sherine’s latest book “The Atheist’s Guide To Christmas”:

Unfortunately, there's probably no Christmas either...

The book comes out in the UK on October 1st, and Brits can pre-order a copy through Amazon (sorry Yanks). Whilst you are there, don’t forget to pre-order a copy of Richard Dawkins new book, “The Greatest Show on Earth” if you haven’t already (what on earth were you waiting for?!?).

Dawkins’ book is of course about Evolution, whilst Ariane’s is a compilation of tips offered by scientists, comedians, authors, etc in order to help you survive the Xmas holiday. All that we have left to wonder about is how many other things we can use that font (and indeed the colour scheme) on before it gets old. Perhaps we could make some un-festive “There’s probably no god” wrapping paper?

Now what are you waiting for? The post is over! Go order the books! Ariane Sherine reported earlier on Twitter that the book was now at the #34 spot on Amazon’s future releases chart. 34??? Methinks that score needs vast improvements! Let’s have it at #1 position by the end of the week; if we did it for the Atheist Bus Campaign, we can do it for a book.

Update: Aparently Ariane reads my blog, and has kindly given me a hi-res image of the book cover. Now you have literally no excuse not to pre-order it!

A new Carnival of the Godless is up at (((Billy))) The Atheist, so go check it out! There are some excellent blog posts featured, and I recommend every atheist blogger (whether new or old) to submit something and put themselves up for hosting it! I’ve managed to forget for several carnivals, but I’ve set an alert on my computer so I should remember now.

Carnivals are a great way of getting new people to visit your blog, which means the stuff you write is spread to even more people, some of whom may have not even heard about your blog before. It’s a win-win situation for both you and the people who read the carnival!

In my random stumbling around on the internet, I found a bunch of creationist websites that contained photos of various creationists as part of some kind of “about our team” page. Now some of these pictures are just plain and boring, but there are a few that simply cry out for a funny caption. So I’ve decided to create a caption competition in order to correct this massive lack of creationist captions, and here is the first picture.

So dear reader, what exactly is Eric Hovind reaching for? Why does he have a look of terror on his cute creationist face? Why is he clinging to that rock so desperately? The answer to those questions is up to you.

Now onto the issue of a prize. As a student I generally don’t have any money, which means I cannot promise a prize, although I do have an extra signed copy of Ray Comfort’s latest masterpiece “You can lead an atheist to evidence, but you can’t make him think”. To be quite honest, such a book would be better off as a booby prize instead, but it is all I can offer at the moment. Perhaps I could get some cheap badges made, I’m open to suggestions.

So really, it’s a double competition now: Whoever comes up with the best caption and a great idea for some cheap (but cool) prizes will win…er…one of the prizes (and a copy of Ray’s book that I will sign / doodle in). You have a week to do so; off you go!

So my last two rather sporadic posts talked very briefly about the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist, and Secular Student Societies (AHS) AGM, and how I got elected to the executive position of Secretary. What I thought I’d do is write a more detailed account of my weekend.

I caught the train up to Coventry at around 13:00 on Friday 19th, and the journey was pretty decent. There was only one change (at Reading) and I managed to not leave my suitcase on the train like I did the last time I was travelling across the country (luckily that time the train was in the station for 30 minutes so I was able to get back on board and retrieve it!). I was in a carriage that had laptop plug sockets, so I booted up and watched some comedy clips I had to pass the time. A couple of hours later, I was arriving into Coventry. I’d already phoned Stewart of Warwick Atheists so he could meet me at the station, but lines got crossed somewhere (my fault probably) and he had gone to Leamington station instead! Not panicking, I followed his directions to a bus stop and caught the bus to Warwick University Campus.

I finally met up with Stewart and Alex (of Oxford Atheists) at a university café, and they took me to a bar on campus. There I was greeted by several other Warwick atheists, and the British Humanist Association (BHA) representative, the lovely Andrew Copson. The afternoon went on, many drinks were had, and more and more atheist students from all over the country kept on entering the bar. We eventually moved away from the noise of the band to a spot next to the bar, where we could pull two tables together and order our meal. At some point during the evening, we tried to come up with a list of atheist songs, that is, songs that either mention atheism or could be interpreted as atheistic. We then proceeded to try and find these in the jukebox. I seem to remember putting in “Losing my religion” by R.E.M and “Thoughts of a dying atheist” by Muse; for some reason Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was also selected.

Then we all decided to go to the shop, buy (more) alcohol and sit on the grass in a circle and chat. The AHS Press Officer, Chloë Clifford-Frith had also arrived, and I caught up with her on the various press issues I had blogged about. I dutifully surrendered a blanket I had brought along so that people could sit on the grass, a decision I would come to regret as it started raining, since I had to sleep under it that night.

The next morning (I slept over at Stewart’s house) was a rush to get ready in time to catch the bus. The morning was a lot of administration, listening to the reports from various people on the status of the organisation, and voting on very specific issues to do with the constitution. Being students though, we tried to keep it fun, and soon it was time for lunch. We went to a Asian restaurant on campus where I had a delicious plate of ribs (was very cheap too), before heading back to yet more voting.

Soon, it was time for the part everyone had been waiting for, the election of the new Executive. Jenna (the outgoing secretary) ran unopposed as the new President, but she still presented a very well thought out plan for the next year, and was quickly elected to the position. Both myself and a guy named Michael put ourselves forward for the Secretary position, and we were grilled by a series of questions from the committee. I aimed my “campaign” at working with national and international organisations (BHA, NSS, Secular Student Alliance, etc) and making administration more effective. Something I said must have been good, because I was voted in as the new Secretary. Stuart was then voted in as the new Treasurer, and after a few more discussions about our web presence, we all went out for a meal.

Secretary Adrian Hayter, President Jenna Catley, Treasurer Stuart Pilbrow

By Sunday, we were all tired, although not as tired as me since Elles decided that she was lonely without me to talk to on Skype, and decided to call my mobile at 7 am, waking up everyone in the living room (my ringtone is Dawkins saying “Science is interesting, and if you don’t agree you can fuck off”). Nevertheless, we got on with a morning of activities, including a discussion of possible merchandise, and a workshop on how to organize Fresher’s Fairs. The day ended with half the group (myself included) deciding to miss out on the BBQ as it was raining, and to head home instead.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and I hope to help organise more events like this one in the future as the new Secretary!