Rational Response Squad

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Logo of the Rational Response Squad.
Logo of the Rational Response Squad.

The Rational Response Squad, or RRS, is a group of atheists who confront what they consider to be irrational claims,[1] most notably those made by theists, and in particular, Christians. The co-founders of the RRS are Brian Sapient and Rook Hawkins, (aliases used for anonymity). Kelly O'Connor, Sapient's girlfriend, is also a prominent core member.[2] The Rational Response Squad, along with the filmmaker Brian Flemming, made headlines in December 2006 with their Blasphemy Challenge.

Contents

The Blasphemy Challenge

The Blasphemy Challenge, started in December 2006, is an Internet-based project which aims to get atheists to come out and declare themselves as atheists.[3] The challenge asks atheists to submit videos to the website YouTube, in which they record themselves blaspheming or denying the Holy Spirit.[4] According to the RRS' interpretation of several passages of the Bible (specifically, Mark 3:28-29 and Matthew 12:30-32), this action is considered an unforgivable sin.[5] Thus, users who took the challenge saw themselves as crossing a point of no return to prove that they truly did not believe in the biblical God and would "accept the consequences" if after their death they find that the Christian form of the Abrahamic God does exist.[3] The first 1001 users who took the challenge received a DVD of Flemming's documentary film The God Who Wasn't There.[6] Publicly known persons such as the illusionist Penn Jillette, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and Raël participated in the project.[7][8]

Response from Christians

Many Christian groups have responded to the Challenge with "Challenge Blasphemy", "Praise the Lord Challenge"[9] and "Truth Challenge".[citation needed] These projects are designed to directly counter the Blasphemy Challenge by encouraging individuals to show their faith in Jesus Christ by posting videos of themselves praising God, or praying by name for the members of the Rational Response Squad or users participating in the Blasphemy Challenge.[10]

YouTube controversies

The Rational Response Squad's YouTube account was suspended on March 23, 2007 but was later reinstated.[11] The reason for the suspension was due to Uri Geller claiming that Rational Response Squad had infringed his copyrights when posting a video featuring him, but Geller did not own the copyrights in question.[12] In May the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed suit against Geller on behalf of Brian Sapient "asking for damages due to Geller's violation of the DMCA, a declaratory judgment that the NOVA video does not infringe Geller's copyrights, and that Geller be restrained from bringing any further legal action against Sapient in connection to the clip."[13]

On September 16, 2007, Wired magazine reported that "YouTube had banned a group called the Rational Response Squad (RRS) after it complained its videos were being taken down due to spurious DMCA requests from" someone working on behalf of the Creation Science Evangelism ministry.[14] It further noted that while this highlights problems with DMCA, the ministry's own website said that "none of the materials ... are copyrighted, so feel free to copy these and distribute them freely."[14] In response to the claims, the RRS posted a message that it is ready to help sue CSE and/or Eric Hovind.[15] The account was restored on September 18, 2007.

Debate with The Way of the Master

Brian Sapient, speaking at the debate at Calvary Baptist Church.
Brian Sapient, speaking at the debate at Calvary Baptist Church.

Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Connor,[16] members of the RRS, participated in a debate with representatives from The Way of the Master, actor and evangelical Christian, Kirk Cameron, and his colleague, Ray Comfort, at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan, on May 5, 2007. Nightline aired the debate online and included a short two-segment summary on its May 9th broadcast.[17] At issue was the existence of God. Nightline correspondent Martin Bashir served as moderator at the event.[18]

Cameron and Comfort challenged the Rational Response Squad to the debate. They claimed that they could prove the existence of God scientifically without using the Bible, though Comfort does reference the Bible when he participates in such discussions,[19] and did so during the May 5 debate.[20] In a May 8, 2007 clarification, Comfort stated that he would cease using the qualifier "without mentioning faith or the Bible" from his claims to avoid misunderstandings.[19]

The debate also entered topics outside of science, including history, the question of connections between religion and morality, and philosophical viewpoints such as Pascal's Wager.

References

  1. ^ Irrational Precepts page at RationaResponders.com
  2. ^ The "Our Team" page at RRS
  3. ^ a b "Beliefwatch: Blasphemy", Newsweek, Jan. 8, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. 
  4. ^ "Atheists challenge the religious right", Christian Science Monitor, January 04, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. 
  5. ^ "The Blasphemy Challenge", ABC News, Jan. 30, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. 
  6. ^ The Blasphemy Challenge Official site accessed on February 18, 2007
  7. ^ Blasphemy Redux on Culture and Media Institute accessed on February 18, 2007
  8. ^ Rael takes the Blasphemy Challenge on YouTube accessed at February 18, 2007
  9. ^ Bansal, Monisha; "Blasphemy Site 'Playing Texas Hold 'Em With Eternity'"; CNSNews.com February 5, 2007
  10. ^ Christian Youth Challenge YouTube Blasphemy on the Christian Post accessed at February 18, 2007
  11. ^ http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/the_rational_response_squad_radio_show/5637 "Rational Squad deleted from Youtube"
  12. ^ "Brian Sapient sues Uri Geller", Forbes, July 9, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-17. 
  13. ^ "Sapient v. Geller", Electronic Frontier Foundation, May 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. 
  14. ^ a b "YouTube Supports "Fraudulent" Creationist DMCA Claim", Wired, September 28, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. 
  15. ^ "We're Ready to Help Sue Creation Science Evangelism", Rational Response Squad, September 14, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. 
  16. ^ O'Connor, Kelly; "D'Souza - Nothing to Refute Here" rationalresponders.com; November 8, 2007
  17. ^ Face-Off - Does God Exist - Part1 on Google Video
  18. ^ Bashir, Martin; "Prepare for a Conflict: The Nightline 'Face-Off' No-Holds Barred Battle Over the Existence of God"; May 7, 2007
  19. ^ a b Correction to article; "Evangelist Challenges Atheists to Debate on ABC"; April 29, 2007
  20. ^ Video of Comfort's opening arguments at the May 5, 2007 debate, in which he references the Bible beginning at the 2:58 mark.

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