 Logo of the Rational Response Squad | |
| Formation | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Type | Atheist activist group |
Region served | Global |
The Rational Response Squad (RRS) is an atheist activist group that confronts what it considers to be irrational claims [1] made by theists, particularly Christians. The most visible member of RRS is co-founder Brian Sapient. [2] The Rational Response Squad, along with the filmmaker Brian Flemming, made headlines in December 2006 with their 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 existence of the Holy Spirit. [4] According to the RRS' interpretation of several passages of the Bible (specifically, Mark 3:28-29, Matthew 12:30-32 and Luke 12:10), 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 1,001 users who took the challenge received a DVD of Flemming's documentary film The God Who Wasn't There . [6] Magician Penn Jillette, [7] author Christopher Hitchens, philosopher Daniel Dennett, and Raëlism founder Raël participated in the project. [8] [9] It was also the first YouTube video of comedian and Internet personality Pat Condell. [10]
The Rational Response Squad's YouTube account was suspended on March 23, 2007, but was later reinstated. [11] The suspension was prompted by Uri Geller's statement that the RRS had infringed his copyright when posting a video featuring him.[ citation needed ]
On May 7, 2007, Geller's company, Explorologist, filed a copyright lawsuit against Brian Sapient of the Rational Response Squad. [12] [13] On May 8, 2007, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed suit against Uri Geller on behalf of 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." [14] The case was dismissed by Chief Judge Walker in February 2008, due to "lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction." [15]
In August 2008 a settlement was reached and "[a]s part of the legal settlement, Explorologist[Geller] has agreed to license the disputed footage under a non-commercial Creative Commons license, preempting future legal battles over the fair use of the material. A monetary settlement was also reached." [16]
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. 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." [17] In response to the claims, the RRS posted a message that it is ready to help sue CSE and/or Eric Hovind. [18] The account was restored on September 18, 2007.[ citation needed ]
Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Connor, [19] 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 9 broadcast. [20] At issue was the existence of God. Nightline correspondent Martin Bashir served as moderator at the event. [21]
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 refer to the Bible when he participates in such discussions, [22] and did so during the May 5 debate. [23] 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. [22]
During the debate, both sides employed and responded to arguments for God's existence, including the cosmological argument and Pascal's Wager. The debate also entered topics outside of science, including history, and the question of connections between religion and morality.
James Randi was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims. Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87.
The Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God (TAG) is the argument that attempts to prove the existence of the Christian God by arguing that logic, morals, and science ultimately presuppose a supreme being and that the Christian God must therefore be the source of logic and morals.
Kent E. Hovind is an American Christian fundamentalist evangelist and tax protester. He is a controversial figure in the Young Earth creationist movement whose ministry focuses on denial of scientific theories in the fields of biology, geophysics, and cosmology in favor of a literalist interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative found in the Bible. Hovind's views, which combine elements of creation science and conspiracy theory, are dismissed by the scientific community as fringe theory and pseudo-scholarship. He is also controversial within the Young Earth Creationist movement; Answers in Genesis openly criticized him for continued use of discredited arguments abandoned by others in the movement.
Uri Geller is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other illusions. Geller uses conjuring tricks to simulate the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy. Geller's career as an entertainer has spanned more than four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries. Magicians have called Geller a fraud due to his claims of possessing psychic powers.
Ray Comfort is a New Zealand-born Christian minister and evangelist who lives in the United States. Comfort started Living Waters Publications, as well as the ministry The Way of the Master, in Bellflower, California, and has written several books.
The Way of the Master (WOTM) is a United States-based Christian evangelism ministry, founded in 2002 and headed by New Zealand-born evangelist Ray Comfort, American former child actor Kirk Cameron and American radio host Todd Friel. The organization produces a television show, a radio show, books and tracts, an online course in evangelism, small-group training courses, and a website. The ministry's logo incorporates the letters, WDJD, standing for "What Did Jesus Do?" and a reference to Mark 16:15: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
The God Who Wasn't There is a 2005 independent documentary written and directed by Brian Flemming. The documentary questions the existence of Jesus, examining evidence that supports the Christ myth theory against the existence of a historical Jesus, as well as other aspects of Christianity.
The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a US nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal, as well as to fight the influence of religion in government.
The God Delusion is a 2006 book by British evolutionary biologist and ethologist Richard Dawkins. In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator, God, almost certainly does not exist, and that belief in a personal god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsig's statement in Lila (1991) that "when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion." In the book, Dawkins explores the relationship between religion and morality, providing examples that discuss the possibility of morality existing independently of religion and suggesting alternative explanations for the origins of both religion and morality.
The Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit is a counter-argument to modern versions of the argument from design for the existence of God. It was introduced by Richard Dawkins in chapter 4 of his 2006 book The God Delusion, "Why there almost certainly is no God".
Ethiopian philosophy or Abyssinian philosophy is the philosophical corpus of the territories of present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. Besides via oral tradition, it was preserved early in written form through Ge'ez manuscripts. This philosophy occupies a unique position within African philosophy.
GodTube is an online video platform which provides Christian video content. It is owned by Salem Web Network, the internet division of Salem Communications. GodTube includes music videos, comedy, children, animals, sports, news and inspirational clips.
Margaret Downey is a nontheist activist who is a former President of Atheist Alliance International and founder and president of the Freethought Society. She also founded the Anti-Discrimination Support Network, which reports and helps deal with discrimination against atheists.
Charles Lee Smith was an American atheist and white supremacist author and activist widely known for being the last successful conviction for blasphemy in the United States.
The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) is United States federal law that creates a conditional 'safe harbor' for online service providers (OSP), a group which includes Internet service providers (ISP) and other Internet intermediaries, by shielding them for their own acts of direct copyright infringement as well as shielding them from potential secondary liability for the infringing acts of others. OCILLA was passed as a part of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and is sometimes referred to as the "Safe Harbor" provision or as "DMCA 512" because it added Section 512 to Title 17 of the United States Code. By exempting Internet intermediaries from copyright infringement liability provided they follow certain rules, OCILLA attempts to strike a balance between the competing interests of copyright owners and digital users.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit advocacy and legal organization based in the United States.
Kirk Thomas Cameron is an American actor, evangelist, and television host. He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains (1985–1992), a role for which he was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.
Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 801 F.3d 1126, is a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, holding that copyright owners must consider fair use defenses and good faith activities by alleged copyright infringers before issuing takedown notices for content posted on the Internet.
David Wood is an American evangelical apologist, social critic, and YouTube personality, who is the head of the Acts 17 Apologetics ministry. Though covering a range of topics, he is most well known for his YouTube videos in which he opposes and criticizes Islam, particularly Islamic views on theology and morality, as well as the Quran in general and Muhammad as a person, quoting Islamic sources such as the Quran and hadith.
The Atheist Experience is an American live, weekly televised webcast based in Austin, Texas. Listeners are encouraged to call in to discuss the existence of God and related topics. Calls from theists are usually given priority, as the aim of the webcast is to encourage theists to question their theistic beliefs and thus, theists are often asked to explain what they believe, and why.