173 of 236 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
One for the true believers., April 11, 2005
This review is from: God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof That the Atheist Doesn't Exist (Paperback)
Although well written, like many books on apologetics Mr. Comfort's book is aimed squarely at strengthening the faith of existing Christians. Many of Mr. Comfort's arguments against atheism are also arguments against theism in general (and Christianity in particular).
For example, he asserts that ""There is no God," is... an absolute statement... For the statement to be true, I must know for certain that there is no God in the entire universe. No human being has all knowledge. Therefore, none of us is able to truthfully make this assertion."
However, "There is a God" is also an absolute statement. For the statement to be true, Mr. Comfort must know for certain that God is not a figment of his imagination or a cruel trick played by aliens. No human being has all knowledge. Therefore, none of us is able to truthfully make this assertion.
In Ray Comfort's world then, everybody is agnostic. That may be true in the strictest sense, but it's simply not very helpful.
Mr. Comfort elaborates: "[i]f you insist upon disbelief in God, what you must say is, "Having the limited knowledge I have at present, I believe that there is no God." "
Similarly, to be intellectually honest, Mr. Comfort should say "having the limited knowledge I have at present, I believe that there is a God."
Again, that mouthful is not too helpful. Are the shorthand versions really that bad?
Mr. Comfort's book is full of similar equivocations, false dilemmas and circular logic. As such, it's unlikely to convince its claimed audience, while the encouragement it gives to true believers may be negated if these errors are pointed out to them while witnessing.
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73 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This Book is Just Another Blunder of Ray Comfort's, June 7, 2008
This review is from: God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof That the Atheist Doesn't Exist (Paperback)
I bought this book late last year because I was curious what Ray Comfort's reasoning was behind his claim that "god doesn't believe in atheists." I was immediately struck by the silliness of many of Ray's arguments, and his continuous use of the bible for his "proof."
Before I start to explain what I didn't like about the book, I'll tell you what I did like. I think that Ray is a good writer, and the chapters are fairly short, which make for quick and easy reading. Well, that was a short list, wasn't it?
Now for the problems...
There are gaping holes in every single one of Ray's arguments, and his use of the bible is nothing more than circular reasoning. I also find it odd that on the back of the book it stated that, "Contrary to popular opinion, the existence of god can be proven - absolutely, scientifically, without reference to faith or even the bible." Hmmm.... that's funny. Didn't Ray change that claim to exclude the use of the bible for his debate with the Rational Response Squad in May of '07? I sense a little deception on Ray's part there.
Another problem with Ray's arguments is he uses a lot of quotes of scientists taken out of context. One example is Ray says in his book that in a Time Magazine article "subtitled 'Geologists show that carbon dating can be way off' should show you that scientific proof isn't worthy of your trust."
This is a clear lie because I was able to go to the Time Magazine website and found this article archived. The truth is that in the article the scientists themselves rejected the Carbon-14 date and used a different, more reliable method. It's not that Carbon-14 isn't useful, as even the article said that it was a "vital tool for historians and paleontologists," it's just that some dating methods are more useful for certain periods of time and certain substances, and scientists know this, and can adjust their methods as they go.
On page 67, Ray says, "If you are a believer in evolution, answer this. Did the fish first that crawled out out the ocean to be come an animal have lungs or gills?"
I find this comment extremely ignorant because if Ray would do just some basic research he would see that some tetrapods had both lungs and gills. In fact, from Kenneth Miller's book "Finding Darwin's god," pages 124-125, it says, "In 1991, two British scientists reported on an unusually detailed skeleton of Acanthostega, a remarkably fish-like tetrapod. Paleontologists have recognized for years that the earliest tetrapods retained scores of fish-like characters, but this specimen of Acanthostega was so well preserved that it contained....internal gills. No other amphibian possesses internal gills, and the structures preserved within the fossil make it clear that Acanthostega could breathe with its gills underwater, just like a fish, and could also breathe on land, using lungs."
These are just two of the large blunders by Ray Comfort in this book.
"god Doesn't Believe in Atheists" is a very poor attempt to distort the truth, and deceive people about the science of evolution (among other things). It would take just a small amount of research to see all of the lies that Ray uses in this book, and I think that is despicable, and says a lot about his supposed 'truth.' If he did have the truth he wouldn't be forced to lie about the facts as much as he does.
I think the title of this book should be renamed "Why Atheists Don't Believe in god," because it's a picture perfect example of the many fallacies that christians use to fool themselves into believing, and atheists know the truth behind these many fallacies. These are many of the reasons "Why Atheists Don't Believe in god."
For a more detailed response you can find my chapter by chapter refutation of Ray's book on my blog called Arizona Atheist.
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34 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
What is the use of logic anyway?, April 5, 2008
This review is from: God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof That the Atheist Doesn't Exist (Paperback)
On the back of his book, Mr. Comfort promises to absolutely, scientifically, and without reference to faith or the Bible prove that God exists. He then goes on to extensively quote the Bible, while referring to faith and failing to employ science in his arguments. I guess the saying; "You can't judge a book by its cover" pertains to the back cover as well.
Recently, I had a conversation with a college student who was upset because he was required to take so many "useless" general education courses, such as History and Introducttion to Logic and Formal Reasoning.
At the time, I hadn't yet read this book. If I had, I could have used it and the quasi-arguments Mr. Comfort uses as examples of the type of rhetoric that a general education is designed to protect us from.
Although this book is not a convincing argument in support of atheism, it is clearly an embarrassment to fundamentalism (which is no small task).
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