***Update***: Ray Comfort has agreed to do an email interview for this site. Please leave your questions in the comments and I’ll pass them along to him.

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Ray Comfort lied about when he would be distributing his anti-evolution version of On the Origin of Species on college campuses. He had said he would be doing the deed today. But….

We had a change of plans. We went in on the 18th.

Was it pre-planned or a last-second change? I don’t know.

This really shouldn’t have been a surprise since Comfort distorts the truth for a living.

In any case, copies of his book are out and we’ve learned quite a bit:

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It seems he (and his followers) appeared at number of campuses which were not on his original list of 50 schools.

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The font size of Comfort’s section is far larger than Darwin’s words:

Is it significant? Not necessarily, but there’s no reason you couldn’t have kept the same font size throughout. The only reason I can think of to increase the font for Comfort’s section is so it stretches to 50+ pages.

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Comfort included several pictures in his section of the book.

The single picture that Darwin included in his original version of On the Origin of Species was omitted.

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Many of the Secular Student Alliance‘s affiliates had planned counter-events to this campaign. The date change meant some groups had to either revise their plans or hold their activities a day later.

So I’m particularly pleased with the SSA’s press release regarding this issue:

“We’re sorry that Mr. Comfort felt he had to mislead everyone just to avoid the counter-efforts of our campus groups,” said August Brunsman, Executive Director of the Secular Student Alliance. “Apparently he thought his deception would only work if nobody was around to tell the truth”… … In an attempt to prevent the ministry from tricking college students, the Secular Student Alliance national office assisted affiliated college groups to schedule protests, host speakers, write letters to the editor, show films, and distribute the original version of Darwin’s 150-year old masterpiece. Their plans will go forward despite Comfort’s sudden, unexplained change of dates. The Secular Student Alliance has collected resources to counter Living Waters’ efforts at http://www.secularstudents.org/originintoschools. “The best way to defeat misinformation is with education,” said Brunsman. “We would have loved to have a peaceful exchange of ideas with the ministry, but we’ll settle for having the last word in students’ minds.”

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Some people, like Atticus Hannah, found ways to pick up several copies of the book:

I set out to do all I could to keep this immorality away from youngling college students. So I put on my hat, grabbed two bags, tossed on a sweatshirt and headed out to the Ray Comfort people handing out free books at the U. I walked past the first group of people and got a book. I walked past the second group, got a book. I walked past the third group, got a book. Fourth group, book. Fifth, book. Then I doubled around, took off my sweatshirt and hat, and repeated… I walked away with 22 books. One of which is actually for one of my roommates, one of which is for me. Stitch, in the picture, is posing with all 22 of them.

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Even some Christians are embarrassed by Comfort:

So, congrats to you Ray Comfort. You have truly surpassed all previous Attie award winners. You have publically slandered a man (Darwin), you have made all Christians look like ignorant boobs, and worst of all, you have caused people to question the validity of Christ through your dishonesty. You were in the zone today, my friend.

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This just creeps me out… (with Spencer Fern, secretary of the [UCLA] Bruin Alliance of Skeptics and Secularists secretary).

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Any other thoughts?



