In which it’s finally time for me to attack Ray Comfort again

It’s been a while since I last took apart a piece of Ray “banana-man” Comfort silliness, and I’ve been missing a good chance to sharpen my snark a bit. Here’s a perfect occasion: the mustachioed buffoon has a new post that’s all about murder-in-the-womb abortion (so you know this’ll be good) and weird distortions of reality and morality. Let’s get to it!

Atheists get their moral guidance by what society dictates. Contemporary society dictates that it’s okay to kill whatever is in the womb, because they aren’t considered to be human. This was Hitler’s rational in Nazi Germany. As far as he was concerned, Jews weren’t human, therefore he was justified in putting Darwin’s theory into practice.

Wow. I don’t think it’s common to see such massive Godwinning done so quickly and unashamedly, right in the very second paragraph. It’s as though he knew he’d bring up a comparison to Hitler and the Nazis eventually and figured, “screw it, let’s just throw it right out in the open”. That’s because he has nothing else to argue on, and probably knows it.

The rest of his argument is just as absurd: yes, atheists get their sense of right and wrong from society (ie. a collective assembly of people deciding what’s best for the survival, functioning and prosperity of their civilization). But, so does everyone else, including the staunchest of religionists. The fact that people like Comfort, who claim to observe and uphold their chosen scriptures’ teachings to the best of their ability, don’t go out and stone women to death, impose slavery on others and try to massacre gay people (amongst many other pleasantries) is testament to the fact that they chose to obey the rule of society over the rule of their religious texts (which, to them, equals the will of their deity(s)). Because they know, even if only subconsciously, that obeying their god(s)’ word to a fault will leave them with a rather unfavorable social standing, to put it quite mildly.

If there is no God, then Government sanctioned murder is okay. However, God’s Law warns that if you even get angry without cause you are in danger of judgment (see Matthew 5:22), and that if you hate your brother, you are a murderer (see 1 John 3:15). How much more will He judge those who have advocated, sanctioned, and carried out an abortion. Blood is dripping from their hands.

… Okay, I’ll admit that I rather forgot the rest of that paragraph once I’d read that just hating someone is equal to murdering them. (In your heart, perhaps?) I suppose we’re all serial killers, then, as there’s undoubtedly at least one person in everyone’s life that they hate to some degree. I know I’ve had several (mostly thugs at school). Doesn’t mean I ever intended, or would have, ended their lives, though. I’m pretty certain that can also be said for most people.

Returning to the rest of his argument: no, a secular government does not make murder okay. Then again, it also doesn’t make abortion murder. I don’t even know how Comfort went from secularism to the government and managed to tie that to abortion. Abortion is a personal choice, one of the most intensely personal choices one can ever have to make. Not a public or governmental one. And once again, someone needs to remind Comfort that people who don’t give a crap what the Bible has to say probably won’t be intimidated by its vague threats of hellfire. (Especially if it does so in a manner as stupid as claiming that hatred is murder. Jeez.)

Atheists try to justify murder by pointing to the Old Testament judgments of God upon the Canaanites. They accuse God of murder so that they can feel more comfortable about abortion. In their mind God doesn’t exist, and yet they blame Him for murder. Sure. I wouldn’t be in an abortion advocate’s shoes on Judgment Day for all the gold in China.

Now, once again, I haven’t read the Bible so I wouldn’t know just what happened with the Canaanites. But I do reckon it has to do with something big and angry and fiery and death-y, and that God did it. Regardless, as usual, Comfort has our (atheists’) position completely wrong. First of all, no-one’s “try[ing] to justify murder”, least of all by pointing to the fictitious acts of a fictitious deity as told in a book (of fiction). We are arguing that fetuses, at the time where the vast majority of abortions take place, are so pathetically underdeveloped that they cannot think, feel, know or care about anything at all. They truly are parasitic blobs of cells that have the potential to eventually become a functioning human being. But as one must repeat all the time: the promise of a future worth does not give something worth in its present state. Regardless how a blob of clay could be shaped and baked into the most magnificent pot ever, it is still a measly blob of clay at the moment and ought to be treated as such.

Also, no-one is “accusing God of murder”, as though it were a false claim. God commits murder all the freaking time in the Bible. It’s practically a pastime of his. Anytime he smites or floods or otherwise unleashes his wrath upon people for whatever reason, that’s called murder. You can’t debate definitions on this one. Also, we don’t need to pin acts of vicious violence against a fictional deity to “feel more comfortable about abortion”. The knowledge that the fetus is absolutely unable to suffer, and that terminating a pregnancy is most often done for the best reasons, is more than enough for me to be in full support of abortion rights. And finally, people who don’t believe God exists can’t really “blame him for murder”. Once again: it’s the image, the concept, of God as he is depicted in the Bible (or elsewhere) that atheists attack, not the actual entity as though he were real. Just as I can say that “Lord Voldemort is an arrogant murdering asshole” without coming across as though I actually believed that old Voldyshorts actually existed.