Ray Comfort Plagiarized Intro to Origin of Species

Today, the Answers in Genesis Blog posted evidence that Ray Comfort (the Christian Evangelist who wrote and published a 50-page Creationist Introduction to Charles Darwin’s work On the Origin of Species) actually plagiarized at least a portion of that intro. Comfort has teamed up with former child actor Kirk Cameron to distribute the defaced scientific masterpiece to over 100,000 university students across the United States. To read the back-story on Ray Comfort and his initiative to discredit evolutionary science in favor of creationism, click here.

The evidence shows that Comfort copied, in some cases almost verbatim, the words of Dr. Stan Guffey who wrote A Brief History of Charles Darwin. Comfort himself admitted (on his own website no less) that he is not an expert on the subject of evolution. It seems that he isn’t much of an expert on Darwin either, the man he set out to discredit by calling him, among other things, the father of Nazism. Very telling, that Comfort knows so little about Darwin the man, or his science and yet he works so vigorously to challenge both.  People would be wise to consider the source of this shoddy 50-page introduction, which is littered with  red herring arguments, fallacies, untruths and now plagiarism, and yet demands to be considered on an intellectual, academic level. Creationism, a science-denying religious belief (or Intelligent Design as it’s been rebranded) is starkly out of place in the realm of scientific debate.

Read on and compare the texts for yourself.

Ray Comfort: Plagiarist

by AIGBusted at Answers in Genesis Blog

I recently had a look at Ray Comfort’s “special introduction” to Origin of Species, and, I got to thinking that the first part of the introduction sounded a little too smart to be Ray Comfort. So I did some googling and found that Ray’s introduction looks suspiciously like “A Brief History of Charles Darwin” by Dr. Stan Guffey. Here are some quotes from Ray’s intro followed by their parallels in Stan Guffey’s work:

Ray: Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, England.

Stan: Charles Robert Darwin was born February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England.

Ray: …[Y]oung Charles showed less interest in studying than in hunting, natural history, and scientific experimentation. In 1825, he enrolled at Edinburgh University.

Stan: Early in his youth he demonstrated predilections for hunting, natural history, and scientific experimentation. In 1825, after public school education, he enrolled at Edinburgh University.

Ray: On returning to England in 1836, Darwin set to work examining and disseminating the extensive collection of specimens he acquired during the voyage. He quickly established a reputation as an accomplished naturalist on the London scene. In 1839 he married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood. That same year he published his journal of the voyage of the Beagle, which brought him immediate celebrity among London’s intellectuals. In 1842 he and Emma moved to Down House in Kent. It was there that she bore ten children and she and Charles spent the rest of their lives.

Stan: On returning to England in 1836, Darwin set to work examining and disseminating the extensive collection of natural history specimens acquired during the voyage. He quickly established a reputation as an accomplished naturalist on the London scene. In 1839 he married Emma Wedgwood, and saw his journal of the voyage of the Beagle published. In 1842 he and Emma moved to Downe house, Kent where Emma would bear 10 children and she and he would live for the rest of their lives.

Ray: During his great adventure as the Beagle’s naturalist, Darwin had studied certain aspects of the morphology and biogeography of the many species of plants and animals that he had observed. He eventually concluded that species exhibited varying degrees of similarity because they were to varying degrees related.

Stan: On his great adventure as the Beagleʼs naturalist Darwin had noted and begun to ponder certain aspects of the morphology and biogeography of the many species of plants and animals that he had observed. In particular, he had begun to explore the possibility, and eventually concluded, that species exhibited varying degrees of similarity because they are to varying degrees related.

I’ve found other similarities, but I think for now this is sufficient to prove that Ray Comfort is a plagiarist and is totally dishonest.

1. 

   Savage says:

   December 14, 2009 at 4:58 am

   I wonder how Comfort is going to react to this. I’m sure Jesus will not be too impressed with him. But this is nothing new with the creationists, is it? Remember when Judge John Jones in the Dover evolution-ID trial said he was astounded by the constant lies told by ID proponents during the trial, and that while they called themselves Christians. “Lying for Jesus” is ok, I suppose. Cheating for Jesus, in Comfort’s case, to discredit evolution is more than ok.
2. 

   Daithi says:

   January 8, 2010 at 5:43 am

   The wonder of the book Origin of Species grows as our understanding grows. To think that Darwin never heard of genes or DNA, or that the fossil record was like a broken record in his day.
   For him to join the dots and not only come to conclude that evolution was at work but to tease out what that involved is astounding. Even more so when you realise that old earth geology was also in it’s infancy.
   That said, it’s not the easiest read, even today. I can’t see many creationists getting through it. I can see them reading this new intro, putting it on the shelf and saying ‘yup, I read that. It’s wrong!’

   People who still believe a 2000yr old collection of books to be literal truth will have a hard time understanding that evolutionists look to Darwin for inspiration not accuracy. It’s 150yrs old, it’s not a textbook! It’s an argument in favour, not an explanation, of evolution.

   The Blind Watchmaker, now there’s an explanation of. Another brain squeezer, to be sure, but how elegant. Whatever about Darwin, I can’t see any creationists intro-ing Dawkins!

   Yes, CREATIONISTS!! I know they rebranded as Intelligent Design, but as Savage noted, the Dover trial made that beast extinct. Their latest angle is – Critical Analysis of Evolution. Keep your eyes peeled and stay on your toes, they so love tradition lets never forget to remind them what they evolved from – young earth creationism!