Rational Response Squad
Encyclopedia
The Rational Response Squad, or RRS, is an atheist activist group that confronts what it considers to be irrational claims
, most notably those made by theists, particularly Christians. The most visible member of RRS is co-founder Brian Sapient (an alias used for anonymity). The Rational Response Squad, along with the filmmaker Brian Flemming
, made headlines in December 2006 with their Blasphemy Challenge.
, in which they record themselves blaspheming
or denying the existence of the Holy Spirit
. 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. 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. The first 1,001 users who took the challenge received a DVD of Flemming's documentary film The God Who Wasn't There
. Magician Penn Jillette
, author Christopher Hitchens
, philosopher Daniel Dennett
, and Raëlism
founder Raël
participated in the project. It was also the first video of comedian and Internet personality Pat Condell
.
claiming that Rational Response Squad had infringed his copyrights when posting a video featuring him.
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." However, the case was dismissed by Chief Judge Walker in February 2008, due to "lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction."
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." In response to the claims, the RRS posted a message that it is ready to help sue CSE and/or Eric Hovind
. The account was restored on September 18, 2007.
Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Connor, 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. At issue was the existence of God. Nightline correspondent Martin Bashir
served as moderator at the event.
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, and did so during the May 5 debate. 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.
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
.
Irrationality
Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking or acting without inclusion of rationality. It is more specifically described as an action or opinion given through inadequate reasoning, emotional distress, or cognitive deficiency...
, most notably those made by theists, particularly Christians. The most visible member of RRS is co-founder Brian Sapient (an alias used for anonymity). The Rational Response Squad, along with the filmmaker Brian Flemming
Brian Flemming
Brian Flemming is an American film director and playwright.- Early career :Flemming was born and raised in California's San Fernando Valley, and studied English at the University of California, Irvine, graduating in 1998...
, made headlines in December 2006 with their Blasphemy Challenge.
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. The challenge asks atheists to submit videos to the website YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, in which they record themselves blaspheming
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
or denying the existence of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
. According to the RRS' interpretation of several passages of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
(specifically, Mark 3:28-29 and Matthew 12:30-32), this action is considered an unforgivable sin. Thus, users who took the challenge saw themselves as crossing a point of no return
Point of no return
The point of no return is the point beyond which one must continue on his or her current course of action because turning back is physically impossible, prohibitively expensive or dangerous. It is also used when the distance or effort required to get back would be greater than the remainder of the...
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. The first 1,001 users who took the challenge received a DVD of Flemming's documentary film The God Who Wasn't There
The God Who Wasn't There
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.- Jesus...
. Magician Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette
Penn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, comedian, illusionist, juggler, bassist and a best-selling author known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of atheism, libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and scientific skepticism.-Early...
, author Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
, philosopher Daniel Dennett
Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett is an American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the Co-director of...
, and Raëlism
Raëlism
Raëlism is a UFO religion that was founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon, now known as Raël.The Raëlian Movement teaches that life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of extraterrestrials, which they call the Elohim...
founder Raël
Raël
Claude Maurice Marcel Vorilhon is the founder and current leader of the UFO religion known as Raëlism....
participated in the project. It was also the first video of comedian and Internet personality Pat Condell
Pat Condell
Patrick Condell is an Irish-English writer, political commentator, comedian, UKIP patron and atheist internet personality. He performed alternative comedy shows during the 1980s and 1990s in the United Kingdom, and won a Time Out Comedy Award in 1991...
.
Response from Christians
Some Christian groups have responded to the Challenge with "Challenge Blasphemy" and "Praise the Lord Challenge". Those 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.YouTube controversies
The Rational Response Squad's YouTube account was suspended on March 23, 2007 but was later reinstated. The reason for the suspension was due to Uri GellerUri Geller
Uri Geller is a self-proclaimed psychic known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other supposed psychic effects. Throughout the years, Geller has been accused of using simple conjuring tricks to achieve the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy...
claiming that Rational Response Squad had infringed his copyrights when posting a video featuring him.
In May the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
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
NOVA (TV series)
Nova is a popular science television series from the U.S. produced by WGBH Boston. It can be seen on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries...
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." However, the case was dismissed by Chief Judge Walker in February 2008, due to "lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction."
On September 16, 2007, Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
magazine reported that "YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
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." In response to the claims, the RRS posted a message that it is ready to help sue CSE and/or Eric Hovind
Kent Hovind
Kent E. Hovind is an American young earth creationist. Hovind speaks on creation science and aims to convince listeners to reject theories of evolution, geophysics, and cosmology in favor of the Genesis creation narrative as found in the Bible...
. The account was restored on September 18, 2007.
Debate with The Way of the Master
The Way of the Master
The Way of the Master is a United States-based Christian evangelism ministry, founded in 2002 and headed by American former child actor Kirk Cameron, New Zealand-born evangelist Ray Comfort, and American radio host Todd Friel...
, actor and evangelical Christian Kirk Cameron
Kirk Cameron
Kirk Thomas Cameron is an American actor best known for his role as Mike Seaver on the television situation comedy Growing Pains , as well as several other television and film appearances as a child actor...
, and his colleague Ray Comfort
Ray Comfort
Ray Comfort is a New Zealand-born Christian minister and evangelist. Comfort started Living Waters Publications and The Way of the Master in Bellflower, California and has written a number of books.-Early life and career:...
, at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
on May 5, 2007. Nightline aired the debate online and included a short two-segment summary on its May 9 broadcast. At issue was the existence of God. Nightline correspondent Martin Bashir
Martin Bashir
Martin Bashir is a British journalist and media personality, currently with NBC News as a contributor for its Dateline program, and an afternoon anchor for MSNBC, hosting Martin Bashir...
served as moderator at the event.
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, and did so during the May 5 debate. 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.
During the debate, both sides employed and responded to arguments for God's existence, including the cosmological argument
Cosmological argument
The cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of a First Cause to the universe, and by extension is often used as an argument for the existence of an "unconditioned" or "supreme" being, usually then identified as God...
and Pascal's Wager
Pascal's Wager
Pascal's Wager, also known as Pascal's Gambit, is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist Blaise Pascal that even if the existence of God could not be determined through reason, a rational person should wager as though God exists, because one living life...
. The debate also entered topics outside of science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, including history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, and the question of connections between religion and morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
.