Ray Comfort Capitalizing On A Man’S Suicide To Spread Lies About Mental Illness And Life

[SilentLoner]

Ralph Barton was a popular cartoonist who shot himself in 1931.  Ray Comfort is now using his suicide to dig at atheists and, in doing so, to elevate Christianity.

 

 

Makes sense since no Christian has ever committed suicide.  Wait a minute…

Sadly, if Comfort had bothered to do any research, he would’ve learned that the reason Barton shot himself (that preceded the quote-mined bit from Comfort) was because Barton had “lost the only woman [he] ever loved”.  He was referring to actress Carlotta Monterey who had divorced him.  He was also a clinically diagnosed manic depressive who had eschewed treatment, allowing the condition to grow until it caused him to end his life.

 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/2013/09/ray-comfort-capitalizing-on-a-mans-suicide-to-spread-lies-about-mental-illness-and-life/

[Guest Babylonian Dream]

Well... being a true believer hasn't stopped him from being a pointless opportunistic dirtbag. I was more suicidal as a christian. There was no point to live back then .

[R. S. Martin]

I spent too much time today watching Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron breaking the rules of the debate and condemning liars while using blatant lies to argue evidence for God without mentioning the word faith. (They substituted it with "believe/belief.") They got put in their place and lost some of their bluster for that particular debate. And all of any remaining respect they might have had from me.

 

It is so not true that no Christian ever committed suicide. It can only be true if you excommunicate or write off as not Christian anyone who has committed suicide. And we know some people have the presumption to write off as not Christian anyone who fails to live up to their own personal criteria for what qualifies as Christian. I wouldn't put it past these two to just write off any suicide victim and say they weren't a true Christian.

 

In the video I watched, they were accused of being terrorists for threatening people with burning for eternity if they failed to obey their teachings. That's pretty strong. Who would put it past such guys to condemn a suicide victim as "not a true Christian"?

 

Maybe I should just end this rant. I'm nearly falling asleep and not sure how much sense it's making.

[amateur]

What an awful man (Ray Comfort).  Let poor Ralph Barton rest in peace, he was tortured enough in life with mental illness, and in the 1920's.  Did they even have very effective diagnosis and treatment back then?  What a disgusting thing -- to use somebody's suicide note for your own agenda.

[gall]

What an awful man (Ray Comfort).  Let poor Ralph Barton rest in peace, he was tortured enough in life with mental illness, and in the 1920's.  Did they even have very effective diagnosis and treatment back then?  What a disgusting thing -- to use somebody's suicide note for your own agenda.

 

If you are a good christian you deny mental illness as work of the devil and possession of evil influence and sometimes demons... I have heard and seen about 150x10 excuses to date. Personally I would ask for a retraction if I was the family. Mental illness is not a joke but it is treated like one in USA very often.

[Lilith666]

But if Barton had had gawd in his life, X would have been all he needed. His ex-wife would have been secondary if he'd just leaned on the invisible, incorporeal, non-communicative gawd for support and guidance.

[RipVanWinkle]

Barton died in 1931, many years before Comfort was born. What does Comfort know about him? I'll bet the arrogant bastard

knows next to nothing about Barton. If I am right he is, by implication, saying people who commit suicide because they don't have god. What a bunch of bullshit. Comfort is spreading ignorance, and doing so regardless of whom he hurts. 

 

I've had 2 personal friends who committed suicide. Both were church goers and one was a "born again Xtian" who used to attend a weekly prayer group in which I was a member. I had suggested to him that he seek psychiatric help a month or so before he died.

 

The other friend I had known for more than thirty years. I knew he had long suffered mental illness and had tried a couple of previous times to kill himself. He was on anti-depressant medication and had been for years. His father suffered from severe depression. One of has adorable daughters suffered from bi-polar disorder and had undergone multiple shock treatments which were reasonably successful, I'm pleased to say. Genetics, not the absence of god, was the cause of his suffering. Finally, medical science was able to help his daughter. It's a wonderful thing that she went to a psychiatrist rather than a church for help.

 

How many people who could have been helped by medical science have, instead, depended on god to cure their mental illness to their detriment? Gawd only knows. But the religion is to blame.  bill

[TheSpiritualPilgrim]

Ray Comfort is a moron.

[duderonomy]

Bananaman is using someone's suicide note to push a video?  Stay classy, Comfort. You make Christianity look so good.

[TheSpiritualPilgrim]

Nope. I wouldn't expect any less from good ole Ray. Even as a Christian I thought he was a douche.

[kolaida]

Well... being a true believer hasn't stopped him from being a pointless opportunistic dirtbag. I was more suicidal as a christian. There was no point to live back then .

 

I had more suicidal thoughts as a Christian, too. I think because I took it so seriously.  You'd think Ray could have found a more recent atheist who committed suicide, at least-- using a suicide from 1931? That's pretty desperate.