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.

Yesterday Richard Dawkins was kind enough to post this video on YouTube for all of us who weren’t able to attend the Atheist Alliance conference this year Burbank, California. In the video Dawkins cheerfully and graciously introduces Jerry Coyne, author of the new New York Times Best Seller Why Evolution is True.

As Jerry takes the stage he chides Dawkins for failing to mention his own new book The Greatest Show on Earth and begins the introduction to his talk on the evidence for evolution with vibrant, positive energy and a little touch of humour, along with the promise that he wouldn’t do too much creationist bashing.

Watch the full 57 minute video here:

Coyne has a gift for explanation and for making the complex understandable. For anyone who is new to learning about evolution, i would heartily recommend this as an excellent place to start. Even for those who have a solid grasp of evolutionary science, this book will be a refreshing read and would certainly be an excellent edition to your collection.

While I read the book, I particularly enjoyed the clear and articulate way that Coyne explains human embryology. I found it so utterly fascinating that I had to go back and re-read it again after I finished the entire book.

You can get the book on Amazon.com and be sure to check out Jerry Coyne’s blog at whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com.

Download the video:

This video has also been made available for free download in QuickTime format. The files are quite large so I’d suggest that you download it directly to your computer before watching. To do this, (on a PC) right mouse click + Save Target As, (on a Mac) Control + Save Link As.

• Low-resolution video (small)
• High Definition video (720p HD)

November 24, 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s most famous work On the Origin of Species. Around the world, Darwin is being remembered through film, books, events and websites for his work which changed the way we understand life on our planet.

The book pictured above, for all intents and purposes looks like a beautiful, commemorative version of his famous work, yet there is something very different about this particular edition. This 150th Anniversary edition of Origin of Species will include a 50-page preface by Ray Comfort, which specifically ‘attempts’ to discredit Darwin’s work through the use of red herring arguments, incorrect claims, misrepresentations, and which unabashedly promotes the unscientific doctrine of Creationism. You can download and read the entire intro by Ray Comfort here.  (PDF)

Ray Comfort is a Christian minister and evangelist. In late 2001/early 2002, Comfort collaborated with former child actor Kirk Cameron to launch a ministry called The Way of the Master to teach Christians how to promote their faith.  They have worked together on a television series, radio program, website and blog, all of the same name. When Comfort discovered that On the Origin of Species was public domain, he decided to publish it himself with a ’special’ introduction which would promote his own personal religious beliefs. Comfort and Cameron then teamed up to produce a short video (which they posted on the internet) to announced the project and their intentions. This month, they will be giving away more than 100,000 copies of the book at U.S. Universities, in an initiative called the Origin into Schools Project. (The are also putting the book up for sale on their website and are soliciting financial support for the ministry).

You can watch their promo video here:

On Ray Comfort’s official website (Living Waters), a press release for the altered book boasts, “In one day, 170,000 future doctors, lawyers and politicians will freely get information about Intelligent Design (and the gospel) placed directly into their hands.”

Accused of defacing Darwin’s work, Comfort and Cameron defend their actions by arguing that they have published Darwin’s entire book without removing anything. They explain that they have only added an ‘alternate viewpoint’ based on their religious beliefs,  a view they think should be considered academically (although it lacks any basis in science).

Comfort believes that his experience debating with Atheists and writing Christian books (which he sells, along with CDs, DVDs and other items, through his online store called Living Waters ministries) qualifies him to to write an intro to the scientific work On the Origin of Species. However, he reluctantly admits that “he is not an ‘expert’ on the subject of evolution”.

Indeed, there is no scientific basis for Comfort’s arguments. He uses rhetoric and his interpretation of the bible to challenge Darwin’s work. It is almost laughable how a Comfort opens his introduction with quotations, trying to suggest that there should be an academic debate between creationism and evolution, when in fact creationism disregards scientific evidence. Suggesting that academic freedom means allowing science-denying ideas to have a place in academics is ludicrous but nevertheless is one of the many red herring arguments that Comfort employs.

In his introduction, Comfort evokes a fallacious argument about DNA, using the old ‘coming together by sheer chance’ ploy.  (Darwin himself never knew about genetics or DNA during his lifetime, although his theories remain consistent with our understanding of DNA today.) Of course evolution does not endorse such a chance happening, quite the opposite. Natural selection is absolutely not chance. Random genetic mutations are selected or rejected (or ignored) because of their impact on the species’ survival, either positively or negatively. If a random genetic mutation benefits an individual’s odds of reproducing, then naturally that individual will pass that genetic mutation on to its offspring. Then over many generations the genetic mutation will eventually saturate the species’ gene pool, becoming the norm. Conversely, if a negative mutation prevents the individual from reproducing or living to sexual maturity, then that mutation will not be passed on.  If a random genetic mutation is neutral, meaning that it does not impact the individual’s survival or reproductive capabilities at all, then it does not come into the equation of natural selection.  Therefore, one can see that the chance argument reveals Comfort’s lack of understanding of evolutionary science (as he has himself admitted to).

There are many such arguments in Comfort’s introduction, such as incorrect claims regarding the absence of transitional fossil evidence. Not only does he deny the existence of transitional fossils, he also wrongly defines what a transitional fossil would be.

To a person reading this volume, who is unfamiliar with evolutionary science, they would be very much misinformed. Comfort completely misrepresents evolution. Whether it is because of his lack of understanding, or intentionally to push his own agenda, it really makes no difference. Comfort’s creationist introduction is littered with falsehoods, misinformation, fallacies and red herring arguments. The fact that this is being pushed into the hands of students should sound alarm bells. Not only is it biased in promoting an unscientific (and religious) belief, but it directly contradicts the evidence and facts of science.

Reader beware…

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© HumanitarianAtheist.com, 2009

Rational Explanations of Evolutionary Biology explained in a succinct and easy to understand manner. The God Delusion is one work that helped to liberate my thoughts further still from the cult-like teaching mechanisms of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Even nine years after my exit, this book was a catalyst to a newer freedom . It struck such a cord with me and I feel that the last vestments of guilt and doubt have been stripped away.

Republished from RichardDawkins.net here is an excerpt from the first chapter:

“Carl Sagan, in Pale Blue Dot, wrote: “How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, ‘This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant’? Instead they say, ‘No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.’ A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths”…

…Some people have views of God that are so broad and flexible that it is inevitable that they will find God wherever they look for him. One hears it said that ‘God is the ultimate’ or ‘God is our better nature’ or ‘God is the universe.’ Of course, like any other word, the word ‘God’ can be given any meaning we like. If you want to say that ‘God is energy,’ then you can find God in a lump of coal.

Weinberg is surely right that, if the word God is not to become completely useless, it should be used in the way people have generally understood it: to denote a supernatural creator that is ‘appropriate for us to worship’…

…One of Einstein’s most eagerly quoted remarks is ‘Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.’ But Einstein also said,

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it…”

Read more for yourself at RichardDawkins.net or better yet, if you can get your hands on a copy of his book you will find that he systematically discusses virtually every argument that religious believers will raise to deny evolution and prove their god is god. It is a fascinating read and one that I highly recommend.