thunderf00t vs Ray Comfort

I don't know how many people in the real world pay attention to the explosion of Evolution vs Creationism debates happening on YouTube, but as someone who does I felt I should comment on the recent 'discussion' between thunderf00t and Ray Comfort.

For those not familiar with the YouTube battleground, thunderf00t is somewhat of a celebrity on the circuit, having produced a series of videos entitled "Why do people laugh at creationists?", and also legally bitchslapping a well known creationist YouTuber who was attempting a bit of DMCA abuse. What makes this meeting particularly exciting however is that Ray Comfort is not a YouTube celebrity, but instead a well known creationist Christian evangelist in real life, famous on the internet for presenting an argument for God which relied on the convenience of eating a banana.

Anyway, after an intake of breath from the 'evolutionist' camp as they prepared for Ray Comfort to get his arse well and truly handed to him by a competent biologist, there has been quite a lot of feeling of disappointment at the actual result. Unlike thunderf00t's usually cool and cutting technique, we saw a slightly shaky and almost hesitant front. What saddens me however is that this is EXACTLY what he needed to be doing, and unfortunately a lot of people won't recognise it.

Dawkins, Hitchens and thunderf00t himself (amongst many others) have spent the last few years scolding the creationist community, and even engaging in multiple legal battles with them. This was all perfectly well and good to flash up a spotlight on the conflict, but the time for (literal) name calling is starting to pass. The 'discussion' between thuderf00t and Comfort was exactly the kind of dialogue that the battlefield has been crying out for; a friendly one. Heck, subtly buried as they were, there were actually far more answers given during the discussion than usually occur in more heated circumstances. Comfort openly acknowledged that he believed speciation occurred and also that, in terms of evidence and support, the only difference between his belief in God and a figment of someone's imagination was that his God was described in a book. Conversely, thunderf00t admitted that he would save his dog's life over that of a human enemy.

The point is that nomatter who 'won', both parties found something out about the other, and more importantly, the discussion was civil. If thunderf00t or Comfort had crushed their opponent with debate tactics, nothing would have been gained. Because both of them let the other speak they managed to progress the larger debate forward and encourage future interaction. This is a far more useful achievement than either of tham walking away with a 'point' for their team.

You can see the debate here.